In Genesis 12 God gives Abram a command to leave his country and customs to go to the land God would show him. God then makes a promise to Abram that through him all the nations of the world will be blessed. As the story moves forward this promise seems more and more unlikely. Abram’s wife is unable to have children and the land God promises to give them is occupied by hostile Canaanites. Abram is not a perfect man but he holds onto his trust in God’s promises and for this God counts him righteous.

In Genesis 3 we read about Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God’s gracious rule as they believe the lie of the serpent. They chose to worship creation over the creator and the consequence was death. Their relationship with God, others, and the world are ravaged by sin. This pattern of sin infected the entirety of the human race and we see in Genesis 4-11 how it continues to corrupt and wreak havoc on the earth. But in the mess of human sin, we discover a God who is a gracious redeemer. From the very beginning, we see his intention to set the world right again and one day he would through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The purpose of Genesis 1-2 is that we would know that God is the Sovereign Creator. He is sovereign over the stories of the world and sovereign over our story. He has established a good creation, and he will not abandon his creation project. The One who created all things is also our Redeemer. The one who has Redeemed us is also our creator.

In this stand-alone sermon, we dive into Psalm 16, a well-known song of David, the King of Israel. A man who had everything one could dream of: status, approval, land, kingdom, servants, throne. Yet, he declares to us in this Psalm that only God can satisfy our souls. David was not a perfect King— he was a very broken man— but God was where he turned and God was his source of Joy.

Culture tells us that rest is found in consuming and/or escaping. God shows us that rest is rooted in trust. It’s an active process of entrusting our lives and all its outcomes to God the Father.

What does it look like to work in the way of Jesus? Work is such a big aspect of our lives. So much of our time, energy, thoughts, emotions, get occupied by our work. Most of us spend 1/3 of our day at work and 1/3 of our day sleeping before we go back to work. So much of our lifetime is occupied by our work. So, if we are going to be a people who learn to follow Jesus in all of life— we must learn to think of our work (no matter the job, no matter the role) through the lenses of the gospel.

Leadership is an important part of the New Testament church. Jesus leads us away from worldly leadership and teaches us the new way of servant leadership. The way of Jesus leads us to use our power and position to serve others rather than for our own needs.