Our lives are full of the heartbreak and consequences of broken promises. However, against the backdrop of the pain and disappointment of human failing, God’s promises are full of purpose and power, and he will never fail us, leave us, or forsake us. In God’s covenant with Abram we see the fullness of grace on full display, pointing towards the greatest fulfilled promise of all, the person and work of Jesus Christ. --

Though the age in which we find ourselves calls us to self-preservation, the call of Scripture is toward self-sacrifice. Not only is this the call of Scripture, but it is the model of Christ himself. How, then, do we mitigate risk while still doing good, loving our neighbors, and serving those in need? This sermon in the book of Genesis seeks to provide insight into this predicament, calling us not towards self-preservation or recklessness, but towards godly, biblical self-sacrifice for the glory of God.

The spirit of the age, around the world, is self-preservation. But is this really living? Are we really exempt during this season from a life of purpose and meaning and left to settle for an indefinite pause to our Christian living? Does the Bible offer any relevant answers to the present course of the world? Genesis offers clarity when clarity is needed most.

Receiving God’s call is not about the initiation of the greatness of our plans, it is an invitation into the goodness of God’s promises. As we begin a new year, let us all remember that God’s call for each of us is first to himself, and that it is only through his call that we are set forth to live in the purpose and adventure he has set forth for each of us as we make him known.

Joy is elusive when you can't see, when loss is high, when God seems far, when the world is at war and when seasons fail. An apt description for a majority of 2020. But before your heart goes too far down the road with the narrative that better days are just around the corner in 2021, Pastor Allen reaches a startling conclusion: 2020 had all the joy we could want. Further, 2021 doesn't have any more that we need.

This portion of Scripture deals with the brokenness and fracturing that sin causes in families and generations. Our decisions impact more than our own lives, and our rebellion always catches up with us in the end. However, no matter how dark the days around us, God always preserves a remnant of his people to carry his promise, a promise fully expressed in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

While we often wrestle with our individual “callings” from God, Scripture is abundantly clear that the one calling we have all received is that of obedience to the Lord. In studying the life of Noah in Genesis we learn that obedience is hard to ignite, hard to sustain, and hard to finish; it is a lifelong decision that we live out by God’s grace and with God’s help.

Family is complicated and has always been so, even back to the first family recorded in Scripture. In the story of Cain and Abel we see sin’s crouching, consequences, and continuation. When we sin, we are confronted lovingly with the God of the Bible; we can either acknowledge, repent, and master our sin with the help of God and others, or we can carry on, dealing with the consequences of our rebellion. The choice is ours, and God is always ready to receive humble, contrite hearts through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

In Genesis 3, the very good, perfect landscape of God’s creation is introduced to the presence, power, and penalty of sin. Satan’s empire here expands, focused intently on the destruction of humanity through the discrediting of God’s word and goodness. Condemnation, division, exhaustion, and separation are now the painful legacy of humanity. However, we look forward in hopeful expectation, through the covenant of the gospel, to the crushing of Satan’s head under the bruised heel of Jesus.