The Sobering Judgment of God | Genesis 19

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Scripture: Genesis 19

Key Takeaways:

+ The Spiritual Condition of Sodom

Ezekiel 16:49

+ The Spiritual Condition of Lot

Hebrews 11:8-10

+ The judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah is a dress rehearsal for a future and greater judgment

Jude 1:7

Luke 17:26-35

Romans 5:8-10

Matthew 11:20-24

+ Judgement begins with the household of God

1 Peter 4:14-19

1 John 2:15-17

“Sin is never at a stay; if we do not retreat from it, we shall advance in it.” – Puritan Writer

“But we can guess why He is delaying. He wants to give us the chance to join His side freely. God will invade...When that happens it is the end of the world. When the author walks on to the stage, the play is over. God is going to invade, all right: but what is the good of saying you are on his side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like and dream and something else - something it never entered your head to conceive - comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left. For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we have really chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever. We must take it or leave it.” – CS Lewis, Mere Christianity.

God Can Do The Laughable | Genesis 18:1-15

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Scripture: Genesis 18:1-15

Key Takeaways:

Ephesians 3:20

+ God’s presence is the guarantee of God’s promises

2 Corinthians 1:20-22

“I regard myself as the most wretched of all men, stinking and covered with sores, and as one who has committed all sorts of crimes against his King. Overcome by remorse, I confess all my wickedness to Him, ask His pardon and abandon myself entirely to Him to do with as He will. But this King, filled with goodness and mercy, far from chastising me, lovingly embraces me, makes me eat at His table, serves me with His own hands, gives me the keys of His treasures and treats me as His favorite. He talks with me and is delighted with me in a thousand and one ways; He forgives me and relieves me of my principle bad habits without talking about them; I beg Him to make me according to His heart and always the more weak and despicable I see myself to be, the more beloved I am of God.” – Brother Lawrence

Hebrews 5:12-6:1

James 1:2-4

Responding to the Covenant Making God | Genesis 17

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Scripture: Genesis 17

Key Takeaways:

+ Revelation

The revelation of God’s character to us is the answer for all the struggles in us.

The revelation of God’s character to us always requires a response from us.

+ Promise

+ Expectations

+ A Sign

Sign and Seal

Cleansing and Consecration

Jeremiah 4:4

Jeremiah 6:10

Jeremiah 9:25-26

Deuteronomy 10:16

Deuteronomy 30:6

Ezekiel 36:25–27

Hebrews 8:7–11

Matthew 26:26–28

Colossians 2:11–14

Galatians 3:7–8

The Pride of Babel | Genesis 11:1-9

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Scripture: Genesis 11:1–9

Key Takeaways:

Genesis 9:1

+ Pride seeks to construct a life apart from God?

  • Do I consistently spend time seeking God in his word and in prayer?—

  • Do I often spontaneously voice to God my admiration of Him, gratitude to Him, and need for Him?

  • Do I often lose arguments with God?

  • Do I pray and seek wisdom in God’s word and from God’s people before I make a major decision?

  • Do I arrange my life around God’s priorities?

  • Am I generous toward God?

Psalm 4:6-8

+ Pride is always resisted by God

Luke 14:11

+ Jesus is the Anti-Babel

Philippians 2:5-11

+ Jesus reverses Babel

Acts 2:4-11

The Thin String of Hope | Genesis 7:11-8:19

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Scripture: Genesis 7:11-8:19

Key Takeaways:

Genesis 1:31

Genesis 3:15

+ God’s judgement is severe

Genesis 7:11-23

-       a. It’s devastating

Genesis 7:21-22

-       b. All encompassing

+ God’s character is consistent

-       a. In His standard

Genesis 7:16

-       b. In His grace

Genesis 8:1

+ God’s salvation is sufficient

Genesis 7:17

-       a. It overcomes death

-       b. It sustains in the midst of death

-       c. It delivers through death

Genesis 8:13-19

Genesis 3:15

Isaiah 53:10

The Ruin and the Restoration | Genesis 3:7-24

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Scripture: Genesis 3:7-24

Key Takeaways:

+ The Ruin

“The effects of sin touch all of creation; no created thing is in principle untouched by the corrosive effects of the fall. Whether we look at societal structures such as the state of the family, or cultural pursuits such as art or technology, or bodily functions such as sexuality or eating, or anything at all within the wide scope of creation, we discover that the good handiwork of God has been drawn into the sphere of human mutiny against God. ‘The whole creation,’ Paul writes in a profound passage in Romans, ‘has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time’ (Romans 8:22).” – Creation Regained, Albert Wolters.

-       Loss of Perfection

-       Loss of Peace

-       Loss of Presence

The Restoration

-       The Search

-       The Seed

-       The Skins

Revelation 21:1–5

Revelation 22:1–6

The Fall | Genesis 3:1-7

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Scripture: Genesis 3:1-7

Key Takeaways:

+ The Serpent

-       Revelation 12:7–9

-       Ephesians 6:12

+ The Scheme

-       Ephesians 6:11

-       2 Corinthians 2:10–11

Questions God’s Word

Questions God’s Truthfulness

Questions God’s Goodness

Appeals to our Desires

-       2 Corinthians 11:13–15

+ The Sin

-       2 Corinthians 11:2–3

-       John 8:44

The Gift of Marriage | Genesis 2:18-25

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Scripture: Genesis 2:18-25

Key Takeaways:

+ Marriage is a good gift from God.

+ Marriage is designed for companionship and partnership

“…not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.” – Matthew Henry

+ Marriage is designed for permanence and exclusivity

“So, in the one-flesh union of marriage, all the boundaries between a man and a woman fall away, and the married couple comes together completely, as long as they both shall live. In real terms, two selfish me’s start learning to think like one unified us, building a new life together with one total everything: one story, one purpose, one reputation, one bed, one suffering, one budget, one family, and so forth. Marriage removes all barriers and replaces them with a comprehensive oneness. It is this all-encompassing unity that sets marriage apart as marriage, more profound than even the most intense friendship. – Ray Ortlund, Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel.

+ Marriage is designed for vulnerability and security

+ Marriage is meaningful but not ultimate

Ephesians 5:31-33

The Gift of Work | Genesis 2:4-17

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Scripture: Genesis 2:4-17

Key Takeaways:

+ Work is a good gift from God.

“Let the Church remember this: that every maker and worker is called to serve God in his profession or trade—not outside it. The Apostles complained rightly when they said it was not meet they should leave the word of God and serve tables; their vocation was to preach the word. But the person whose vocation it is to prepare the meals beautifully might with equal justice protest: It is not meet for us to leave the service of our tables to preach the word.” – Dorothy Sayers, “Why Work?”

+ Work is to be done for God and for his glory.

Ephesians 6:5–8

+ Good work that glorifies God is ethical work.

+ Good work that glorifies God is excellent work.

"The Church’s approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours, and to come to church on Sundays. What the Church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables. Church by all means, and decent forms of amusement, certainly – but what use is all that if in the very center of his life and occupation he is insulting God with bad carpentry?” – Dorothy Sayers, “Why Work?”

 “The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.” – Martin Luther

Exodus 31:1–5

Proverbs 22:29

+ Work is how we partner with God in his care of the world.

 “God Himself will milk the cows through him whose vocation that is.” – Martin Luther

+ Our identity is to be found in Jesus and his work, not ours.

“If our identity is in our work, rather than Christ, success will go to our heads, and failure will go to our hearts.” – Tim Keller

The Gift of Rest | Genesis 2:1-3

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Scripture: Genesis 2:1-3

Key Takeaways:

Proverbs 26:15

+ SHABBAT = Sabbath

Isaiah 40:28

+ God created this world and put us in for:

-       His good pleasure

-       His glory

Exodus 20:8-10

+ Sabbath Keeping: Principle vs Rule

-       As Christ followers are we required to keep the Sabbath as a rule?

Mark 2:23-28

Romans 14:1; 5-6

+ Summary of work and rest:

-       Work diligently as unto the Lord.

-       Rest consistently centered on the Lord.

 “Our hearts are restless, until they find their rest in You.” – Augustine

Matthew 11:28-30

John 19:30 

+ “TETELESTAI”

The Gift of Gender | Genesis 1:26-31

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Scripture: Genesis 1:26-31

Key Takeaways:

+ God made us male and female to bear his image

-       Matthew 19:3-6

+ Our bodies are a good gift from God and tell us who we are

“This is hugely important. If the body is merely a vehicle or a costume for the real you, then it is the equivalent of property. But we know this can’t really be the case. However much we might privilege the mind or soul over the body as the ‘real’ us, we know deep down that the body is an essential part of who we truly are. When people hurt your body, you know that they have not just damaged some of your property; they have violated you. What you do to someone’s body, you do to a person… We cannot escape our embodied-ness. Alastair Roberts sums it up neatly: ‘The body isn’t just something that clothes the self but is itself the self.” – Sam Allberry. What God has to say about our Bodies.

+ Some people feel an incongruence between their biological sex and their internal sense of self

“In many Western countries, we’ve seen a massive spike in teenagers questioning their gender. For instance, the Tavistock Centre in London, the main gender clinic in the United Kingdom, treated 51 (34 males, 17 females) children and teenagers in 2009 who had gender dysphoria or were identifying as trans*. In 2016, the same clinic saw 1,766 (557 males, 1,209 females) children and teenagers, and in 2019 it saw 2,364 (624 males, 1,740 females). That’s more than 5000% increase among females in 10 years. Researchers have documented similar upsurges, among biological females in particular, in many Western countries: Sweden, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States.” – Preston Sprinkle. Embodied: Transgender Identities, the Church, and What the Bible Has to Say.

+ Our hope is in transformation not transition

“Christian discipleship is oriented toward living out the divine image that God created us to be. Sexed bodies are part of that image. Ontologically then, transitioning would be moving us further away from who we are, not bringing us closer to it.” – Preston Sprinkle. Embodied: Transgender Identities, the Church, and What the Bible Has to Say.

-       Romans 12:1-2

-       2 Corinthians 5:17

+ See people as image bearers that are to be loved, protected, and cared for

+ Develop convictions not just gut reactions

+ Parents, own and exercise your authority compassionately

+ Seek to be a welcoming community that listens, learns, loves, and shares the truths with compassion and patience

The Gift of Being Human (Part 2) | Genesis 1:26-31

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Scripture: Genesis 1:26-31

Key Takeaways:

“The historian Tom Holland, a longtime secular progressive, recently wrote that despite his faith in God fading during his teen years, he now realizes his most fundamental instincts about life only makes sense as an inheritance from the Christian story. Holland’s book, Dominion, is a journey through Western history to narrate how our culture’s moral ideals derive “ultimately from claims made in the Bible: that humans are made in God’s image; that his Son died equally for everyone; that there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.” Human rights, a universal concern for the vulnerable, human equality, sexual restraint, the reverence for humility, and the notion of moral progress itself are just a few of our common ideals that have developed in light of the Christian story. Holland can’t get past the irony: “The West, increasingly empty though the pews may be, remains firmly moored to its Christian past.” – Joshua Chatraw, Telling a Better Story

+ To Relate to God

+ To Reflect God

Genesis 2:25

+ To Represent God

 Psalm 8:1-6

Colossians 1:15

Hebrews 2:6-9

Romans 3:23-24

The Gift of Being Human (Part 1) | Genesis 1:26-31

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Scripture: Genesis 1:26-31

Key Takeaways:

+ Every human being possesses dignity as an image bearer of God

“But human rights are just like Heaven, and, like God, it’s just a fictional story that we’ve invented and spread around. It may be a very nice story. It may be a very attractive story. We want to believe it, but it’s just a story. It’s not a reality. It is not a biological reality. Just as jellyfish and woodpeckers and ostriches have no rights, homo sapiens have no rights, also. Take a human, cut him open, look inside. You find their blood, and you find the heart and lungs and kidneys, but you don’t find any rights. The only place you find rights is in the fictional stories that humans have invented and spread around.” – Yuval Noah Harari, TED Talk

+ You Matter

+ All People Matter

+ Christianity Matters

+ Every human being is fully dependent upon God

Image: I make a sacrifice to the God → The God gives me what I want

Acts 17:24-25

Image: God reaches down in unmerited grace → We respond in joyful and obedient thanks

Ephesians 2:8-9