Welcome to After the FAP, a knowing faith many episode where we look to take a big question

and address it in just a few minutes. Typically the questions we consider will line up with our

larger topic for the season. That's certainly true for our time today. We are discussing Genesis 12

through 50, a knowing faith this season, and joining us today is Dr. Herschel York. Dr. York is the

Dean of the School of Theology at Southern Seminary and the Victor and Luis Lester Professor of

Christian Preaching. He is also the host of Pastor Well, a podcast that has featured both our very

own J.T. English and Gin Wilkin, and he has also served as Pastor at Buckrun Baptist for the

last 17 years. Dr. York, welcome to After the FAP, thanks for joining us. Thanks, it's really a delight

to get to be with you. Well, I'm glad to have you here. Here's the big question for you.

If you were going to preach or teach a big Old Testament narrative unit, like Genesis 31, for

example, where Jacob flees from Labem, how would you do that? The best place to start are the

enough is at the beginning, and you know, it's not like slices of a pie where you just going to

lift it out. It doesn't matter. I mean, you really have to set it in his context. So, you know, if

if I were, typically I would be preaching through the Book of Genesis, you know, and

right, would occur in a larger narrative. If I weren't, if I were just going to preach one

sermon, Genesis 31, I would certainly take the time to explain what's going on. I mean, there's

so much here in just 31 that is connected to the rest. You know, one of the big questions,

I think that pastors and preachers always need to ask, what is the author doing with the words

in order to tell the story? So, our job is not to simply preach the event. We're preaching the

mean of the event. What does it mean? And of course, here, there's just so much going on,

because this is God calling Jacob to go back to return. Man, I wish that time. There's

parallels here with the prodigal son. Kenneth Baylor, a book called Jacob and the prodigal son

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