Jacob is Israel – October 10, 2021

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Scripture:Genesis 25: 19-33  So she went to ask the Lord. And the Lord said to her,

“Two nations are in your womb;

        two different peoples will emerge from your body.

One people will be stronger than the other;

    the older will serve the younger.”  (25:23)

This part of Genesis begins with the birth of not one son but two: Isaac begets Esau and Jacob. From their birth, we are told that both of these sons are destined to be nations: Jacob’s descendants will become Israel and Esau’s will be Edom.read here. Running throughout Genesis and the entire Old Testament is the theme of God preferring the younger brother to the elder, allowing the younger to leapfrog over the older and receive his honor.

God’s approval despite all the shortcomings we discover about Jacob would be most reassuring. Jacob, like every one of his ancestors, is a flawed hero.Messing up is deep in Israel’s genes; God carrying them along regardless is deeper still.   The nation of Israel is born out of family dysfunction, including the family  he marries into,  which will be with them throughout their existence. The Israelites, from beginning to end, are not models of virtue or faithfulness to God. Yet how does God react to all this? God does not overlook these misdeeds, as a clueless parent might allow children to run amuck in a restaurant. Rather, God disciplines the people and then presses on with the plan anyway, even with a less-than-stellar cast of characters. God looks past the inadequacies of his people to execute his plan to bring order back into a chaotic world.

Isaac is the Father of Israel – October 3, 2021

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Isaac is the Father of Israel – October 3, 2021

Scripture:  Genesis 24: 1-9 Abraham said to him, “Be sure you don’t take my son back there. The Lord, God of heaven—who took me from my father’s household and from my family’s land, who spoke with me and who gave me his word, saying, ‘I will give this land to your descendants’—he will send his messenger in front of you, and you will find a wife for my son there. (24: 6-7)

With the death of Abraham, the promises of God are transferred to Isaac. Like his father before him, Isaac wanders into the foreign land (because of a famine) of Gerar, which is in the land of the Philistines. God delivers him and his wife safe and sound. The promise of land and offspring did not come to an end with Abraham’s death. The tenacity of God’s promise-keeping character will come to a head in the book of Exodus. God delivers the Israelites from Egyptian bondage for one reason: to keep his promise to Abraham.

Abraham is Chosen – September 26, 2021

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Bryan Bearden Preaching

Scripture: Genesis 12:1-9  The Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12: 1-3)

God chooses Abraham, a former resident of Babylon, to become the father of a nation (Israel) and a source of blessing or curse on all the other nations (depending on how they act toward Israel). No reason is given for why Abraham was chosen. However, Abraham coming out of Babylon to enter the land of Canaan and make it his home mirrors Israel coming out of Babylon and returning to her homeland after the exile.

Babylon is Evil – September 19, 2021

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Meredith Joubert preaching

Scripture:  Genesis 11: 1-9 Therefore, it is named Babel, because there the Lord mixed up the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord dispersed them over all the earth.(11:9)

To see the point, we must remember, once again, that Genesis was put together by Israelites who had been captured by the Babylonians—as in the Tower of Babel-onians. carelessness. To see the point, we must remember, once again, that Genesis was put together by Israelites who had been captured by the Babylonians—as in the Tower of Babel-onians.  The world is a mess, but there is one line—to be traced from Adam to Seth to Noah to Shem and now to Abraham—that God intends to use to clean up the mess. Or better, let’s say that God is moving to order chaos once again, not as in the days of Noah by wiping the slate clean, but by working through a people, set apart for him, as were Adam and Noah.

Everyone Drowns – September 12, 2021

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Scripture:  Genesis   6: 9-22    “I am now bringing the floodwaters over the earth to destroy everything under the sky that breathes. Everything on earth is about to take its last breath. But I will set up my covenant with you. You will go into the ark together with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives.” (Gen. 6: 17-18)

The most familiar parts of the Bible are often the parts we have the hardest time reading through ancient eyes. And everyone is familiar with the story of the flood. At least, they think they are! This isn’t  merely a beloved children’s story with cute animals. For ancient Israel, as for other ancient cultures, a cataclysmic and tragic flood had to be explained somehow. And Israel’s explanation was no more a ​”​“historically accurate”​”​ account than the others. This is the reason given for the flood, Israel’s theological explanation for a massive tragedy: it was God’s response to human failure, the failure to reflect God in the world as image-bearers. God wipes the slate clean and starts over by choosing Noah, the righteous one, as the new beginning.

Cain is a Fool – September 5, 2021

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Scripture: Genesis 4:1-16 ; 25-26

Synopsis: The first sin recorded in the Bible is Cain killing Abel, his younger brother, out of jealousy. In doing so, Cain is following in his father Adam’s footsteps in not obeying God’s direction. And, like the Adam story, this is also a story of Israel in miniature. Adam, Eve, and Cain were already in exile outside of the Garden, but Cain’s act leads him further away. Meanwhile, Adam and Eve have another son, Seth, and  people began to worship in  the Lord’s name. The line of Seth may not be perfect, as we will see again and again in Genesis. But at least they are calling on Yahweh’s name. Seth’s line will eventually bring us to Abraham, the father of Israel, the people of Yahweh.

Adam is Israel – August 29, 2021

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Adam is Israel – August 29, 2021

Scripture: Genesis 3: 8-13a  “The Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?!” (Genesis 3: 13a)

The story of Adam and Eve is neither a continuation of Genesis 1, nor another version of the creation of the cosmos. It is a different kind of story altogether. It shifts the focus of Genesis from the cosmos to Israel. Genesis 1 sets up the big picture of what kind of God Israel worships; Genesis 2–4 is a preview of Israel’s long journey in the Old Testament as a whole.  Adam and Eve’s failure to live the wise life is a miniature version of Israel’s repeated failures to do likewise.

Yahweh  is Better – August 22, 2021

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Scripture: Genesis 1  “When God began to create the heavens and the earth – the earth was without shape or form it was dark over the deep sea and God’s wind swept over the waters…” (Gen. 1:1-2)

If Genesis 1 is read with modern expectations instead of ancient eyes, the meaning of this story will be obscured. To respect and more fully understand the story, we must read it as it was meant to be read. The story of creation in Genesis 1 is an ancient story written by and for ancient Israelites. For us to understand it, we must learn to read it through ancient eyes, suspending our twenty-first-century views of science. ​”

The Genesis of  Genesis – August 15, 2021

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Scripture: Genesis 50: 21 “Now, don’t be afraid. I will take care of you and your children.” So he put them at ease and spoke reassuringly to them.

Genesis takes us from creation to the doorstep of Israel’s slavery in Egypt, and tells this story by dividing the book, not into chapters and verse numberslike we see in the current editions of our Bibles, but into ten sections that begin ​”​“This is the account of [so and so.”​”​ This arrangement reminds us that Genesis is telling the beginning of Israel’s story. Genesis is not about the world as a whole, even if it includes a creation story. It is a story about Israel’s relationship with God that is marked by struggle (which is what ​”​“Israel”​”​ means) over the twin issues of people and land. It is the first book in a five part series we call the Pentateuch, or, The Torah.  Genesis is not a textbook or personal moral guide. Genesis is a story and should be read like one. It creates a different world for us and then invites us in, leaving aside our world, as all great stories do.

The One is Shining Forth – August 8, 2021

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Scripture: Psalm 50  “God speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. (50: 1)

The Psalm that comes at the end of our series speaks of an active God whose light shines for all time and in all places. God is not silent, but calls the people to remember that they, too, can act on God’s behalf, holding all suffering peoples in hands of prayer and care and transforming the world that will shine bright into the future. May it be so.