The Story of God - City Alive Church

Yahweh asks Abraham to do the unthinkable: sacrifice his own son, the son he waited decades for. But at this point in his journey, Abraham fully trusts the Lord. And of course, God provides a ram. The explosive truth revealed in this story is that Yahweh is not like the other gods demanding sacrifices, because Yahweh provides his own sacrifice.

After decades of waiting, God's promise comes to pass, and Isaac is born. His name means laughter, because God brings abundant joy out of their sorrow and shame. This is the God who is faithful to fulfill his promises, and he brings life out of dead places.

Abraham operates in the "family business" that he is called to in blessing the nations. In this story, he stands in the gap as a priest for a wicked people. We learn something fascinating about God: he allows a righteous few to save the sinful many.

God reiterates his covenant to Abram by giving him a new name: Abraham. And he asks Abraham to set himself apart through a physical sign: circumcision. This physical marker will set him and his descendants apart, not just as a removal of skin from the body, but as a cutting away of the old life, so they could be set apart for God.

Growing older in age, Abraham and Sarah attempt to bring about God's promises on their own terms. As a result, Sarah's slave Hagar gets deeply wounded. But God's value system is different than ours. Here this runaway slave with no answers and no hope finds out that God sees her. And not only does God see her, she gets to see God.

God has made big promises to Abraham and his descendants. But how can Abraham know they will come to pass? He is an old man without a single child. God's proof is a covenant. In this fascinating encounter with the Lord, Abraham sees the covenant God put his own life on the line to guarantee his word.

Genesis 1-11 deals with global events, describing the brokenness of humanity and the curse of sin on a massive scale. But the Story of God takes a huge turn in Genesis 12. God's solution to the curse is a people of blessing. God chooses a man named Abraham. His family will be at the center of the God's Story with the world. Through his descendants, the whole world will be redeemed.

Noah is out of step with the world so he can walk with God. God hits reset on his creation, allowing the waters of chaos to wash away the violence and wickedness. The fresh start echoes Genesis 1 as a new creation: out of the waters come the dry land, with a man, his family, and all the animals. Then God puts the rainbow in the sky, declaring peace, and pointing to a new covenant to come.

Outside the eternal life of God in Eden, Adam and Eve's family experiences the destructive effects of sin up close. Cain allows sin to corrupt his heart, he kills his brother Abel, and he is driven out from the presence of God. But Abel's death is a sign of another innocent death to come, the death of Christ. Abel's blood cried out for justice, but Jesus' blood cries out for mercy.

Adam and Eve were given authority over everything on the earth. Yet when a snake comes into the garden, they don't use their God-given authority to drive it out. Instead, they give their authority to it by listening to its voice. God's story seems to be off track as sin and death enter the world. But God promises a descendant of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent.