Joseph In Potiphar’s House
In the midst of hardship and being wronged, Joseph’s integrity remains. But it’s not because Joseph is righteous in and of himself, but because God is with him. As Joseph transitions from being a servant and into prison, we continually see God’s gracious presence with him.
Judah & Tamar
Often, texts in the Bible are more risque than we feel comfortable with. This is one of those texts. The author gives us a look into a rather shocking episode filled with sin, death, judgment, incest, and gender oppression. But God shows his grace in that, in the midst of this messy situation, this continues the lineage that would one day lead to the coming of his Son.
Sold! Joseph The Slave
As we continue through our Genesis sermon series, we come to the story of Joseph. In this chapter, the theme of family dysfunction continues as Joseph is favored by his father Jacob and Joseph’s brothers are replete with envy. In a jealous rage they kidknap Joseph and sell him into slavery for some silver and lie to their father about what they had done. Ultimately, this text points us to Jesus, who was loved by his father, hated by his brothers, and betrayed for a negligible amount of silver.
Wrestling With God
In our text from this past Sunday we see Jacob encounter God, but in a way you might not expect. In this encounter, God comes and wrestles with Jacob while he is alone. Ultimately, God enters the scene to wrestle with Jacob in order to wound and bless him. And we see Jacob limp away from this encounter changed from a cheater to a transformed man, now identified by God instead of his past.
Isaac, Son of Laughter
In this text, we see Sarah laugh at God in unbelief when he promises her a child. We often are called to wait upon God to fulfill his promises to us, but tend to fall into unbelief. In the end, God gave Sarah great joy when he fulfilled his promise and proved himself faithful.
The Covenant
In this text, we get a look at the story of God covenanting with Abraham and his offspring. God demonstrates to Abraham that God will fulfill and uphold this covenant alone. He then gives Abraham the sign of the covenant—circumcision—as a display of God’s work.
Making A Name For Ourselves
Genesis 11:1-9 tells the story of a people who build a city and a tower in order to make a name for themselves and to not be dispersed throughout the earth. But God, in love and judgment, comes down to graciously destroy their project by confusing their languages. As the narrative of scripture goes on, we see the Spirit come down to reverse the judgment of Babel and eventually all the peoples of the earth being reconciled to one another under the name of Jesus.
Naked in Sin & Covered by Grace
After the narrative of the flood, we see the man we might be tempted to make into a hero get drunk and shame himself. This is a powerful and needed reminder that though we’ve been redeemed and called by God, we are still in continual need of his grace. Ultimately, God gives us grace through Jesus not to make us heroes, but to make us trophies of his grace.
The Flood of Noah
In the story of Noah we see a world overwhelmed by sin and depravity and Noah is not an exception to the rule. But God gives Noah grace. So when God floods the earth in judgment, he instructs Noah to build an ark to preserve the seed of the women (Gen. 3:16) and the animals of the earth. This narrative leads us to see the seriousness of sin, the surprising nature of grace, and God’s righteousness in the salvation of his people.
What Have You Done?
Genesis 4 tells us the story of two brothers——Cain & Abel. We see in this story that sin often approaches without our noticing. Cain’s sin and hatred against his brother grows subtlety, starting with just mere jealousy but coming to fruitition in murderous rage. But we also see the extravegence of God’s grace in the hope of salvation as he spares Cain from judgment and marks Cain to protect him.