Redeemer Weekend Sermons

Joseph and His Brothers
Genesis • August 13, 2023
Teacher: Adam Barnett

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Samuel Emadi

“Joseph’s story is the story of the whole Bible. It’s the story of glory through suffering, exaltation through humiliation. It’s the story of the cross and the crown.”

Adversity #1: Joseph was Sold into Slavery.

Genesis 37:4 AMP

His brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than all of his brothers; so they hated him and could not [find it within themselves to] speak to him on friendly terms.

Genesis 37:18-24 NIV

But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.” When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing—and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

Adversity #2: Joseph was Falsely Accused.

Genesis 39:1-4 NIV

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.

Adversity #3: Joseph was Unfairly Imprisoned.

Genesis 39:19-20 NIV

When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

J. I. Packer

“Felt weakness deepens dependance on Christ for strength each day. The weaker we feel, the harder we lean. And the harder we lean, the stronger we grow spiritually, even while our bodies waste away.” 

Genesis 39:21-23 NIV

But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge, because the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed. 

Genesis 40:14-15 NIV

But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.”

Genesis 41:39-41 NIV

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.” So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.”

F.B. Meyer

“Joseph, though stripped of his coat, was not stripped of his character.”

Genesis 50:19-20 NIV

But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Adversity #1: Joseph was Sold into Slavery, but God saw him.
Adversity #2: Joseph was Falsely Accused, but God was with him.
Adversity #3: Joseph was Unfairly Imprisoned, but God delivered him.

Jacob and Esau
Genesis • August 6, 2023
Teacher: Garth Bolinder

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Genesis 37:1-17 NIV

Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed,the land of Canaan. This is the account of Jacob’s family line.

Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flockswith his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah,his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad reportabout them. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons,because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated himand could not speak a kind word to him. Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers,they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.” His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. Then he had another dream,and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.” “Very well,” he replied. So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?” He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?” “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan.

Genesis 37:18 NIV

But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.

Luke 19:47 NIV

Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him.

Jacob Wrestles... Who?
Genesis • July 30, 2023
Teacher: Daniel Bunn

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Genesis 32:22-32 NIV

That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sonsand crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me." The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.

Interpretation 1: Jacob wrestles God
Interpretation 2: Jacob wrestles an angel
Interpretation 3: Jacob wrestles himself

First problem: “When he saw that he could not overcome” (v. 25)
Second problem: Opponent desires to flee before daybreak (v. 26)

Jacob wrestles God: based solely on Jacob’s conclusion
Jacob wrestles an angel: not based on Genesis, but based on Hosea
Jacob wrestles himself: not based on the text at all

Narrator: “A man wrestled with him” (v. 24)

Whoever the opponent is, he (a) cannot overcome Jacob and (b) desires to flee before daybreak.

My argument: Jacob wrestles a human
If a human, then who?

Option 1: an unnamed opponent
Option 2: his father-in-law, Laban
Option 3: his brother, Esau

First Support: Connections between Genesis 32 and Genesis 33
Wrestle: אבק (32:24), Embrace: חבק (33:4)

Genesis 32:24 NIV

So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.

Genesis 33:4 NIV

But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept. 

The one who now embraces him is the same one who wrestled him

“Face of God” (32:20, 33:10)

Second Support: Connection to the Wider Story

Third Support: Jacob and Esau Reconciled?

Genesis 33:17 NIV

Jacob, however, went to Sukkoth... 

Summary: I think that the narrative of Genesis 32 points toward a human opponent. And if the opponent is human, then I suggest that Esau is the most likely candidate.

My e-mail: [email protected]

Jacob and Esau
Genesis • July 23, 2023
Teacher: Adam Barnett

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Isaiah 43:1-2 NIV

But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

Genesis 25:21-34 NIV

Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was unable to conceive children; and the Lord granted his prayer and Rebekah his wife conceived [twins]. But the children struggled together within her [kicking and shoving one another]; and she said, “If it is so [that the Lord has heard our prayer], why then am I this way?” So she went to inquire of the Lord [praying for an answer]. The Lord said to her, 

“[The founders of] two nations are in your womb;
And the separation of two nations has begun in your body;
The one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger.”

When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. The first came out reddish all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau (hairy). Afterward his brother came out, and his hand grasped Esau’s heel, so he was named Jacob (one who grabs by the heel). Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.

When the boys grew up, Esau was an able and skilled hunter, a man of the outdoors, but Jacob was a quiet and peaceful man, living in tents. Now Isaac loved [and favored] Esau, because he enjoyed eating his game, but Rebekah loved [and favored] Jacob. Jacob had cooked stew [one day], when Esau came from the field and was famished; and Esau said to Jacob, “Please, let me have a quick swallow of that red stuff there, because I am exhausted and famished.” For that reason Esau was [also] called Edom (Red). Jacob answered, “First sell me your birthright (the rights of a firstborn).” Esau said, “Look, I am about to die [if I do not eat soon]; so of what use is this birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear [an oath] to me today [that you are selling it to me for this food]”; so he swore [an oath] to him, and sold him his birthright. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and got up and went on his way. In this way Esau scorned his birthright.

Genesis 17:20 NIV

And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.

Genesis 25:18 NIV

“And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers.”

John Sailhamer

“The author of Genesis patiently waits until the end to thematically express the lesson behind these struggles, using the words of Joseph to his brothers: ‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good’ (50:20). Out of each of the struggles, God’s will was accomplished. The point is not so much that the struggles were necessary for the accomplishment of the will of God, but rather than God’s will was accomplished in spite of the conflict.”

Elmer Towns

“Traditionally, a number of distinct privileges belonged to the firstborn son in a family. Called a birthright, this gave the oldest son, the firstborn, a special claim on the inheritance left by his father and the unique privilege of carrying on the family name to future generations. This birthright had a special spiritual significance. The possessor of the birthright was the one who 1) became heir of the covenant of God, 2) received the promises given to Abraham, and 3) offered sacrifices for the family.”  

Genesis 27:41 NIV

Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near, then I will kill my brother Jacob.”  

Genesis 28:10 NIV

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.

Blessing and Struggle Can Coexist.

Look for the blessing in the battle.

Abraham + Eliazar + Rebekah
Genesis • July 16, 2023
Teacher: Leanne Benton

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Genesis 24:1-4 NIV

Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.”

Genesis 5:29 NIV

“He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.”

Principle 1- Search for answers according to God’s Word.

Genesis 24:5-8 NIV

The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?” Abraham said, “Make sure that you do not take my son back there. The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’ —he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine.”

Principle 2- Believe that God is faithful to His word.

Joshua 21:45 NIV

Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed;
every one was fulfilled.

Genesis 24:10-14 NIV

Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master’s camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master... He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water. Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant, Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”

Principle 3- Plead with God to reveal His will.

Matthew 7:7 NIV

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

James 1:5 NIV

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

Philippians 4:6-7 NIV

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Genesis 24:15 NIV

Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder.

Genesis 24:16 NIV

The woman was very beautiful...

Genesis 24:17-20 NIV

She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again. The servant hurried to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water from your jar.” “Drink, my lord,” she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink. After she had given him a drink, she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink.” So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels.

Genesis 24:21, 23 NIV

Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful...Then he asked, “Whose daughter are you?

Proverbs 14:15 NIV

The simple believe anything, but the prudent give thought to their steps.

Principle 4- Observe how God answers your prayer.

Genesis 24:26-27 NIV

Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord, saying “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master.”

Principle 5- Worship God for His work.

Genesis 24:50-51 NIV

This is from the Lord; we can say nothing to you one way or the other. Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has directed.

Principle 6- Submit to God’s will.

Genesis 24:54-55 NIV

When they got up the next morning, he said, “Send me on my way to my master.” But her brother and her mother replied, “Let the young woman remain with us ten days or so; then you may go.”

Genesis 24:57-58 NIV

Then they said, “Let’s call the young woman and ask her about it.” So they called Rebekah and asker her, “Will you go with this man?” “I will go,” she said.

Principle 7- Obey God’s call.

Adam Barnett

When God calls us to something, it is natural to think first about the cost, the timing, and the consequences. When we delay, we might miss our window of opportunity.

Search. Believe. Plead. Observe. Worship. Submit. Obey.

Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

Abraham and Issac
Genesis • July 9, 2023
Teacher: Dave Brown

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1. God's Promises to Abraham
2. Abraham's Faith
3. Jesus Foreshadowed
4. Our Faith

1. God's Promises to Abraham

Genesis 12:1-3 NIV

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

John Goldingay

The preparations presuppose that the making of a commitment between two parties can involve the tearing apart of an animal, which implies an enacted prayer: if I do not keep my commitment to this pact, may I be torn apart like this animal.

Genesis 15:17-18 NIV

When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates…”

Genesis 22:1-5 NIV

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

Genesis 22:15-18 NIV

The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

2. Abraham's Faith

Genesis 22:5 NIV

Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.

3. Jesus Foreshadowed

Genesis 22:17-18 NIV

I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.

Genesis 22:2 NIV

Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac

Luke 3:21-22 NIV

When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

John 3:16 NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

4. Our Faith

Melchizedek
Genesis • July 2, 2023
Teacher: Dave Brown

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Genesis 12:1-3 NIV

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Genesis 14:18-20 NIV

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Psalm 110:1-4 NIV

The Lord says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of your enemies!” Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, your young men will come to you like dew from the morning’s womb. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

Hebrews 7:11-28 NIV

If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also. He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life.  Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant. Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

1. Jesus is Our King
2. Jesus is Our Priest
3. God is Faithful

Blessed To Be A Blessing
Genesis • June 25, 2023
Teacher: Todd Theissen

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Genesis 12:1-3 NIV

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Genesis 22:15-18 NIV

The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

The Tower of Babel
Genesis • June 18, 2023
Teacher: Dave Brown

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Genesis 11:1-9 NIV

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

God was concerned with the hearts of the people, not the height of the tower.

Moving eastward is a euphemism for moving away from God’s intention.

The Power of a Self-Centered Culture

John Chrysostom

This is what the human race has lost in particular, not being prepared to recognize the limitations of its own condition but always lusting for more, entertaining ambitions beyond its capacity.  In this regard, too, when people who chase after things of the world acquire for themselves much wealth and status, they lose sight of their own nature..and aspire to such heights that they topple to the very depths.

Jerome

When the tower was being built up against God, those who were building it were disbanded for their own welfare.  The conspiracy was evil.  The dispersion was of true benefit even to those who were dispersed.

The Power of a Kingdom Centered Culture

Ephesians 4:1-16 NIV

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.” (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Noah + Ark: "God's Got a Plan!"
Genesis • June 11, 2023
Teacher: Leanne Benton

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Genesis 6:5 NIV

The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.

GOD’S GOT A PLAN!
We have a choice!

Rev. Jasper Williams

All of the Bible is about Jesus...all 66 books, all 1179 chapters, all 31,173 verses in your Bible are all about Jesus. If you read your Bible and you do not see Jesus, then I challenge you to read it again. Because standing in the shadows somewhere is the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. God Saves People By Grace.
2. God Saves People Through Faith.
3. God Saves People In Christ.

1. God Saves People By Grace.  

Genesis 6:8 NIV

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Grace is not a reward of the righteous.
It is a gift for the guilty.

Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

2. God saves people through faith.

Hebrews 11:7 NIV

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.

3. God saves people in Christ 

Genesis 6:14 NIV

So make yourself an ark of cypress wood (gopher wood)...

...Make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.

Pitch = Kopher = Atonement

Genesis 6:15 NIV

This is how you’re to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.

Genesis 6:16 NKJV

You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side.

Colossians 3:2 NKJV

Set your mind and keep focused habitually on the things above [the heavenly things], not on things that are on the earth [which have only temporal value]. For you died [to this world], and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.

Substance
Safety
Size
Structure

Matthew 24:37 NIV

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19 NIV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.