Foundations of God's Plan: Abraham, the Call and the Promise

One of the great theologians of the 20th Century - John Stott - calls it "the most unifying verses in the Bible" which are "indispensable to an understanding of the Bible and the Christian mission." Do you understand the significance of God's call of Abram in Genesis 12:1-3? Are you living under the blessing given to Abraham, inherited through Christ?

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Noah: Life and Promise

After Noah and the others got off the ark, they opened the door and stepped into a vastly different world from the one they had known.  Pictures of the devastation from modern-day floods are awful to see, but they are nothing compared with what Noah saw that day.  The world was waterlogged and full of death.  The stench must have been overwhelming.  But rising above that stench, there soon came another aroma which pleased the nostrils of God: a burnt offering of thanks prepared by Noah to the Lord.  In that moment, God made a decision, a proclamation, and a promise, all of which are still in effect today and still have tremendous ramifications for our lives.  The rainbow is set in the sky to remind us of the promise.  But what kind of promise is it?  What, exactly, did God promise?  And how does this promise affect us today?

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Noah: Judgment and Grace

There's a Noah movie coming out next month, filled with stars like Russell Crowe, Anthony Hopkins, and Emma Watson.  In some of the pre-publicity interviews, Crowe has been quoted as saying that he did not see Noah as a good person at all, because he let all those people die.  (This misses the characterization of Noah as a "preacher of righteousness"--which suggests that he warned people, but they did not listen). 

This problem points to something about the story of Noah, which despite being one of the most well-known stories in the Bible, remains one of the most difficult.  This is not a "cute" story for children.  It is a story about God's judgment with a tremendous amount of death.

So what do we learn about the judgment of God in this story?

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"In the Beginning": Being Human (Genesis 3)

There is no passage of Scripture that explains and illustrates our sinful human nature like Genesis 3. 

What was the sin? 
What is our sinful nature? 
What has it done to us? 

We look for answers this week...

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"In the Beginning": Echoes of Lies (Genesis 3:1-6)

Why do we keep doing the things we don't want to do? Why do we keep doing those things INSTEAD of the things we want to do and know we ought to do? The answer is, whether the "moment" is long or short, there is a point where we give in to... temptation. Genesis 3 records the first time this ever happened. And the lies the serpent told Eve still echo back in our own inner thoughts and voices. Recognizing those lies is one step to freedom.

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In the Beginning: God Speaks

People often turn to Genesis to ask questions the text was not really meant to answer. So what questions do the first two chapters of the Bible answer? Only the most basic questions of life: "Who is God?" "Who am I?" and "Is there any hope or purpose to life?"

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Back to the Basics: 'Family Meeting' 2014

Every year near the beginning of January, I give a "family meeting" type of message to outline our goals and hopes for the coming year.  This year, the focus of the message is getting "back to the basics" and focusing on the one thing that makes any local church worth preserving.  What is that one thing?  You'll have to listen to find out!

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