Sermon Video: The God of the downtrodden - Genesis 21:8-21

After the birth of Isaac, both Sarah and Abraham fail to treat Hagar and Ishmael with kindness.  In fact, Sarah seems to hate them both, and Abraham does little to provide for either of them.  God is different.  God chooses to intervene and protect them both.  When they are at their lowest point, having lost hope of even living to see tomorrow, God provides.  Why?  Among others reasons, it is because God is the God of the downtrodden, the lost and forgotten, the outcasts and rejects.  Why?  Because God's love and mercy delights in it.

Sermon Video: God's Promises - The Birth of Isaac, Genesis 21:1-7

 

After decades of waiting, the promised son of Abraham and Sarah arrives. What does this miracle birth tells us about God's promises? About us as we wait for them to be fulfilled?

Sermon Video: When the sins of God's people harm others - Genesis 20

In this chapter, Abraham returns to an old ruse, one he used disastrously back in chapter 12 of Genesis.  Like then, Abraham's plan involves deception and causes harm to others.

So, what do we do when the people who hurt us claim to be God's people?

The first step is to determine if they really are God's people, sadly many charlatans abuse God's name for their own ends.  Abraham was certainly God's guy, God even calls him a prophet in this text.

The second step is to remember that God's people are still flawed people.  Redeemed they may be, but perfect they are not.  They will fail, and those failures will at times harm others.  This isn't God's fault, it is ours.

Lastly, what ought to come next is repentance and an attempt to repair the damage coming from God's people.  In Genesis 20 Abraham does not repent, but God still requires that he be a part of the solution to fix what he has broken.  If/when God's people fail, they ought to be the first ones trying to make it right.

Sermon Video: Do Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures? - Genesis 19:30-38

In a disturbing episode that speaks to the trauma and hopelessness of those it involves, Genesis relates the origin of the two tribes that would occupy the land east of the Jordan River when the Israelites were journeying through Sinai.  The Moabites and the Ammonites were both connected with Abraham's nephew Lot which doesn't make them part of the Abrahamic Covenant (like the descendants of Ishmael and Esau) with respect to the general blessings upon Abraham's offspring, but it does mean that they are distant kin to Israel and they will have a role to play, for better and for worse, in the years to come.  The most famous example of this interaction is of course Ruth who is called "the Moabitess" over and over in her story.

In the end, there was no need for Lot's daughters to follow the course of action that they chose, because we serve one God whose character and power can be counted upon, his people never have to choose immorality.

Sermon Video: The LORD rescues Lot from Sodom - Genesis 19:1-29

Once again Genesis focuses on  Abraham's nephew Lot, a secondary character in the story Moses is telling, but one whose life has impacted Abraham's twice before, and has yet a further impactful role to play.  Here we see the grace of God playing out in Lot's life as Abraham's bargain with the LORD to not let the righteous be swept away with the wicked plays out.  Because Lot is so deeply rooted in Sodom, the angels sent by the LORD actually end up taking an active role in pushing him out of the city before the judgment falls.  In the end, the destruction of Sodom is less a story about evil been punished and more a reminder that God's grace is amazing because Lot and his daughters were saved when the day of judgment arrived.