2 Cities Church Podcast

Big Idea: Transparency is the only way for people to see Jesus in you! In the Beginning: Joseph Genesis 41:1-36 I. Have a faith that leaves a lasting impression.   1-8 At the end of two years Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing beside the Nile, when seven healthy-looking, well-fed cows came up from the Nile and began to graze among the reeds. After them, seven other cows, sickly and thin, came up...

Big Idea: Forgotten doesn’t mean forsaken. In the Beginning: Joseph Genesis 40:1-23 I. God is always faithful.   1-7 After this, the king of Egypt’s cupbearer and baker offended their master, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guards in the prison where Joseph was confined....

Big Idea: Jesus goes with you into the pit. In the Beginning: Joseph Genesis 39:1-23 I. Jesus is in control over the pit.   1-7 Now Joseph had been taken to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guards, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egypti...

Big Idea: No faith is too weak; no family is too wicked for God. Matthew 1:1-3a This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar). In the Beginning: Judah Genesis 38:1-30 I. Thing...

Big Idea: The crushing weight of God’s will. In the Beginning: Joseph Genesis 37:1-36 I. Joseph’s pride and dad’s joy burned his brothers.   1-5 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. These are the family records of Jacob. At seventeen years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wi...

Big Idea: Jesus always delivers on his promises even when we don’t deserve it. In the Beginning: Jacob Genesis 36:1-43 I. You will be fruitful and multiply.   1-8 These are the family records of Esau (that is, Edom). Esau took his wives from the Canaanite women: Adah daughter of Elon the Hethite, Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite, and Basemath daughter of Ishmael a...

Big Idea: The Rebirth of a Nation. In the Beginning: Jacob Genesis 35:16-29 CSB I. What’s in a name?   16-20 They set out from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult. During her difficult labor, the midwife said to her, "Don't be afraid, for you have another son." With her last breath-for she was dying-she name...

Big Idea: Only God Almighty can renew families. In the Beginning: Jacob Genesis 35:1-15 I. Fathers, lead family repentance.   1-3 God said to Jacob, “Get up! Go to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” So Jacob said to his family and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselve...

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...

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 w...

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...

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 s...

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 E...

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 yourse...

Big Idea: What happens when we follow God’s leading and not the world around us? In the Beginning: Jacob Genesis 31:1-21 I. Situational awareness matters 1-3 Now Jacob heard what Laban’s sons were saying: “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s and has built this wealth from what belonged to our father.” And Jacob saw from Laban’s face that his attitude toward him was not the same as before. Th...

Big Idea: Healthy boundaries are gates, not fences.  In the Beginning: Jacob Genesis 30:25-43 I. Set boundaries around what is most important. 25-28 After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so that I can return to my homeland. Give me my wives and my children that I have worked for, and let me go. You know how hard I have worked for you.” But Laban said to him, “I...

Big Idea: 4 rules to overcome Envy & Every Enjoyment Vexes You. In the Beginning: Jacob Genesis 30:1-24 I. Everyone’s success doesn’t make you a failure 1-8 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she envied her sister. “Give me sons, or I will die!” she said to Jacob. Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God? He has withheld offspring from you!”...

Big Idea: No one can love you- or hurt you- like family. In the Beginning: Jacob Genesis 29:13-35    I. When your home isn’t a safe space. 13-20 When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran to meet him, hugged him, and kissed him. Then he took him to his house, and Jacob told him all that had happened. Laban said to him, “Yes, you are my own flesh and blood.” After Jacob had stay...

The true meaning of Easter Hebrews 11:17-19   Easter has the power to change Bad Bunny and rotten eggs.    By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and yet he was offering his one and only son, the one to whom it had been said, Your offspring will be traced through Isaac. He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead; therefore, he receive...

Big Idea: The importance of going on a journey led by God. Genesis 29:1-12 1. Find a well. Genesis 29: 1-3 Jacob resumed his journey and went to the eastern country. He looked and saw a well in a field. Three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it because the sheep were watered from this well. But a large stone covered the opening of the well. The shepherds would roll the stone from the openin...

Big Idea: Your 3 Choices when catfished: 1. get mad, 2. get revenge, or 3. get over it! Genesis 27:41-28:22 1. Esau plots revenge  Genesis 27: 41-46 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau determined in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” When the words of her older son Esau were rep...

Big Idea: You can’t Catfish Jesus. Genesis 27:1-40 1. Rebekah distrusted Jesus Genesis 27: 1-13 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could not see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he answered, “Here I am.” He said, “Look, I am old and do not know the day of my death. So now take your hunting gear, your quiver and bow, and go out in the field to hunt some...

Big Idea: King Midas could never afford what King Jesus gives freely. Genesis 26:12-25 1. Affluence won’t solve all your problems. Genesis 26: 12-16 Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in that year he reaped a hundred times what was sown. The Lord blessed him, and the man became rich and kept getting richer until he was very wealthy. He had flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and many slaves, and the...

Big Idea: Your family sets where you start the race, but not how you finish. Genesis 26: 1-11 1. Don’t flub the legacy you’ve inherited. Genesis 26: 1-6 There was another famine in the land in addition to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar. The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land that I t...

Big Idea: Don’t swim to the ship God’s already promised would come in. Genesis 25:27-34 1. Don’t wear yourself out with worry!  Genesis 25: 27-28 When the boys grew up, Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman, but Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home. Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for wild game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. 2. Don’t wear yourself out with work!   Genesis 25: 29-34 O...