Back Creek Church | Charlotte, NC

Wrestling with God will leave you broken... and blessed.

When facing the consequences of his own actions, Jacob responds much the same way we all do: he presumes the worst, prays for the best, and prepares for whatever. But the Gospel offers a better way...

In this passage, twenty years of conflict reach a point of crisis. Between Jacob and Laban we see three possible responses to conflict.

In his loving sovereignty, God allows us to suffer from the sinful scheming of others. But also in his loving sovereignty, God redeems our suffering and restores what is stolen. 

Our Easter message - what you are really seeking and longing for, even if you don't realize it, is a crucified and risen Christ.

The Triumphal Entry of Jesus is a declaration that he is God, he is King, he is Prophet, and he is Priest. 

In his sovereign goodness, the Lord works around, in, and through even our sinful scheming for our good and His glory. 

Leah's story shows us God's heart for the overlooked and rejected: in our sad, we are seen; in our hurt we are heard; in our aloneness we are attached; in our sin we are saved. 

Working and waiting are areas of life in which we can find ourselves, like Jacob, wrestling with God.

Good news for weary God-wrestlers who always lose: because God wins, we get his presence and his promises. We don't have to build, bargain, or buy what he offers us freely. 

Exile means a forced absence from one's home. It's a consistent theme throughout the story of God's people. Sometimes, it's the consequence of sin (Adam and Eve; Assyrian and Babylonian. exile); more often it's a call to faith (Abraham, Joseph, slavery in Egypt, David, the New Testament command to believers to live as exiles). In Jacob's case – and in ours – there's both. This message gives three expectations for exiles from Genesis 28. 

Using deceit to manipulate outcomes promises to give, but it only takes. It takes advantage of people. It takes the Lord's name in vain. It takes matters into our own hands. It takes the blessing out of the blessing. But whatever deceit takes, God gives more through Jesus. 

We experience both blessings and bitterness in this life, which can lead us to wrestle with God.The bitterness of trials can lead us to wrestle with trust (26:1-11).The blessings of success can lead us to wrestle with strife (26:12-21)The bitterness of problems can lead us to wrestle for praise (26:22-25)The blessings of comfort can lead us to wrestle against compromise (26:26-35)

Wrestling is inevitable for finite and sinful creatures engaging with our infinite and perfect Creator. Often, it's our wants (both good and bad). that drive our wrestling with God. Our wants can lead us to wrestle with God's plan. Our wants can lead us to wrestle with God's provision.Our wants can lead us to wrestle with our position. 

Guest Preacher Josh Grimm show us the call from Proverbs to receive God's wisdom, turn from what entices us away from God's wisdom, and to embrace Jesus as our Wisdom and Righteousness. 

Student Ministry Lead Adam Jensen calls us to see that the Living God has drawn near to us and ask how will we approach Him?

We wonder at the angels' perspective, having been in the presence of God the Son from their creation and served as his messengers.We wonder at the angels' proclamation of Jesus as Savior, Christ, and Lord.We wonder with the angels at our privilege - to know Christ and his salvation in a way they can only long to look into.

The wonder of the shepherds compelled them to receive, to pursue, and to share the good news of Christmas and the One it was all about.

The wonder of Bethlehem is that God meets us in sad places and small places with salvation and his wondrous love. 

"The key to wonder is humility. Humility means being small enough to see the greatness of something and to feel unworthy of it, and privileged to be able to enjoy it.”  - Dale AhlquistThe wonder of prophecy is that it's not implausible but impossible, not prediction but promise, not delay but design.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life. He proceeds from the Father and the Son, and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified. He spoke through the prophets.

We believe... in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,     begotten from the Father before all ages,          God from God,          Light from Light,          true God from true God,     begotten, not made;     of the same essence as the Father.     Through him all things were made.     For us and for our salvation          he came down from heaven;          he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,          and was made human.          He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;          he suffered and was buried.          The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.          He ascended to heaven          and is seated at the right hand of the Father.          He will come again with glory          to judge the living and the dead.          His kingdom will never end.

We believe in one God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. 

We are called to welcome our neighbors with hospitality. In this message, we consider the gift, the grit, and the goal of hospitality as Jesus lived it. 

We must continue to welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us, and we must do so with our eyes on a mission that is not internally-focused but externally-focused. We are called to welcome our neighbors – seekers, social connections, and skeptics. Jesus and the Apostles show us how. 

By the grace given to Paul, he calls Christ followers to welcome one another by giving grace as we embrace humility, diversity, and charity. 

We welcome one another by gathering for worship and for connection. 

We believe groups are a valuable way to cultivate relational and spiritual growth because, though large crowds were following Jesus, he formed a smaller group with two goals: shared life and shared mission. 

We extend Christ's welcome to each other by telling the Gospel to one another and applying the Gospel with one another. 

God welcomes us unconditionally, sacrificially, and completely. 

One of the deepest questions of the human heart is "What is God like?" John tells us to know what God is like, we look to Jesus and to those who belong to Jesus. 

This message invites us to pray for the grounding knowledge and experience of God's power and love. 

A church transformed by Jesus is a family centered on the Gospel and invested in one another. 

Jesus invites us to bring our circumstances to Him by bringing them to church.Bring your suffering to church that we might pray togetherBring your song to church that we might praise togetherBring your sickness to church that we might seek healing togetherBring your sin to church that we might seek forgiveness together 

Hoping in stuff leads to sin and misery, but hoping in Christ leads to righteousness and joy!Hoping in stuff leads to the sins of idolatry, injustice, and indulgence while producing the miseries of elusive pleasure and eternal pain.Hoping in Christ leads to growth in patience, peace, and perseverance while bringing us the joy of knowing all pain is temporary and ultimate pleasure is forever - Jesus is the treasure! 

Jesus changes everything, including our default assumptions about time, control, and our good intentions. 

In this passage, the Apostle John teaches us who Jesus is, what Jesus did, and how we can respond to Jesus. 

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. 

In this passage, James confronts us with two kinds of wisdom available to us - worldly wisdom vs. godly wisdom. 

Because our words have tremendous power, we can use them to burn down or to build up. 

Evidence of true faith is not in what you say or what you know (though both are crucial), it's in how you are changed. 

Jesus exposes and changes our natural instincts toward partiality, rationalization of our sin, and judgment of others. 

Guest Preacher Donnie Bowker shares a message on The Journey through Genesis 24:27.

Guest Preacher, Rev, Brian Wood, delivers a message on loving Jesus more through the story of the sinful woman who anointed and kissed Jesus's feet.

Jesus changes our practice of religion: his Gospel sets us free from working to earn salvation and our delight becomes hearing God speak and doing what he says. 

Jesus changes our perspective on status, success, and stuff. 

Jesus changes what we ask when we prayJesus changes how we ask when we prayJesus changes what we expect when we pray

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."Jesus changes everything, including the trials we face. 

The first message in a series on the letter of James, the brother of Jesus. Through James's greeting we see that an encounter with Jesus changes everything, including our identity.