Genesis Church - Sermons

Today we start a summer sermon series where we will see Jesus’ promised victory over our enemy, giving up His life for us and securing our salvation, and fulfilling Genesis 3—The Serpent Must Die! The Bible is full of promises of the coming Messiah – some are so easy to see that even secular scholars can’t deny that these promises are talking about a future Messiah. Others...

Just 50 days after the Cross…at Pentecost…the early church numbering about 120, huddled in an upper room in Jerusalem, received the empowering Holy Spirit, for the purpose of proclaiming Christ to the lost world around them. But, the world hates the gospel and reacts to muffle the voice of the believer— and still does so today. However, there is something so much bigger, so much...

Just 50 days after the Cross…at Pentecost…the early church numbering about 120, huddled in an upper room in Jerusalem, received the empowering Holy Spirit, for the purpose of proclaiming Christ to the lost world around them. But, the world hates the gospel and reacts to muffle the voice of the believer—and still does so today. However, there is something so much bigger, so much m...

We end our journey in the book of Judges with a story that is about as awful as you can find. The story focuses on a man and his concubine seeking a place to stay the night on the way to visit the Tabernacle. Believing he has found a place of hospitality, the story quickly turns ugly as the men from the city first try to take and rape the man, but instead tale his concubine, abuse and rape her to...

The book of Judges ends with two horrible stories that reveal the distance Israel had fallen. The people rescued from slavery and brought into relationship with Yahweh became people so entrenched in their sin and idolatry that they didn’t even realize they were worshiping different gods. The story of Micah, his idols, the personal priest, and the Danites is just bizarre. More important, it i...

Puritan John Owen warned, “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” We tend to think that if we are forgiven, we can go ahead and do whatever we want. The Samson story is a stark reminder that our sinful thoughts and actions always lead to devastation. Samson’s sin took him further than he ever thought he would stray, kept him longer than he ever wanted to stay, and cost him mo...

It doesn’t take long to realize Samson is not a hero. We tend to picture Samson as this muscle bound warrior, something like Andre the Giant, who uses his incredible power to perform feats of strength. Yet, the story does not attribute Samson’s power to his workout performance. Rather, Samson’s story begins with the Spirit of the Lord stirring in him (13:25). On multiple occasion...

We are honored to have Dr. Ronni Kurtz as our guest speaker this morning! He is an Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. And, even more importantly, an EHS grad! The doctrine of the Trinity can feel abstract—how is it that one God can be three persons? When Christians set out to consider the Trinity, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by how other...

One of the great gifts God gave humanity is the gift of marriage and sex. Sexuality is designed to bring oneness to a man and woman in a covenant relationship and paint a picture of Christ’s love for His people. In the right context, sexuality is actually an act that glorifies God. On the other hand, sex is a terrible god and our sexuality is a powerful substitute. Everywhere false gods are...

The events of the first Good Friday and Easter are central for the entire Christian faith. We believe the One True and Living God accomplished something cosmic and glorious in the death and resurrection of a single human being named Jesus. While thousands died on cruel Roman crosses in the ancient world, Jesus’ death is unique as it was predicted hundreds of years before the events of that h...

The Philistines were ruthless and horrible people. A sea-faring people who were the first to use iron in warfare, they inhabited the coast on the west side of Israel. They would become the key adversaries for Israel for generations. The unfaithfulness of Israel resulted in God giving them over to the Philistines for 40 years. The Samson story is born from this moment, but there is something mi...

What does it look like when someone becomes enslaved by their idols? What does it look like when someone lets the idols of the culture around them influence their worship of the one true God? We’re going to look at examples of both questions this morning. One man is so enslaved by his idol that he resorts to murder. The other man is so influenced by the pagan culture around him that he makes...

This morning’s message is a cautionary tale that we are not to take our salvation lightly. Jesus did not pay a ransom for us so that we can pursue a life of comfort and self reliance. Our hearts are prone to wander, to putting ourselves and our needs as first priority in this life. We need to be reminded that through the work of our true deliverer, God did for us what we could not do ourselv...

The narrative of how God uses Gideon to defeat the Midianites and Amalekites is one of the amazing moments in the Old Testament story. This is the God who promised to fight on behalf of His people, defeating their enemies in glorious ways so that He alone would get the credit. Gideon gathers an army of over 32,000 men to go fight. But this is not God’s plan, and through a process of eliminat...

Gideon is a fascinating character. When he is introduced in the Book of Judges, he is anything but a brave and mighty warrior. As a result of their idolatry and abandoning God, the Hebrew people have been handed over to their enemies, the Midianites, who treat them horribly. Midianites were notorious for stealing crops and livestock, so the Hebrews were hiding in caves and mountain dens, helpless...

If you’ve ever sung in a group setting, you might have experienced a feeling of elation or comradery with those around you. Science actually backs up that notion: studies have shown that singing produces chemicals like dopamine and oxytocin, which produce feelings of elation and aid bonding with others in the group. It also reduces cortisol, which lowers stress and anxiety, not to mention th...

Today is a special day for Genesis as we will introduce the Good Neighbor Initiative and the work of Oasis International during our service. Rachel Hart, Director of Good Neighbor, will be with us to share how we can join the mission of God in loving our refugee neighbor. Our text this morning in Judges 4 is a crazy story and, at first glance, does not seem to fit the message we intend to share. T...

What do you think about when you hear the word “idolatry”? A little golden statue encased in a make-shift shrine with primitive people bowing down to it like something from The Temple of Doom? These sorts of idols seem almost silly to our culture. It seems so distant when God commands His people to avoid making idols and warns the Hebrews about falling into the idolatry of the surr...

What do we think of when picturing a judge? A man or woman in a robe sitting on a bench and dispensing justice for a court? This is not the meaning of a judge in the Biblical book. There was no king, so as people did right in their own eyes, they ended up in oppression. As they cried out to God, He raised up deliverers, generally in the form of military leaders who became an extension of God&#8217...

The book of Joshua (just prior to Judges) details a glorious military campaign with victories on every side that resulted in God’s people being given the land God promised Abraham. But, they did not fully trust and obey God in the process. Judges begins with reminders of the faithfulness of God to keep His promises, but also shows the unfaithful path His people begin to take. Judges ends wit...

The Old Testament book of Judges opens by setting this historical story in the larger narrative of Israel’s relationship with God. As a book of history, Judges is doing so much more than giving us facts and details about events in history, movements, and leaders. The key to understanding Old Testament books of history is to see that they are revealing the true and living God in a covenant re...

Welcome to 2026! The first week in January—the time where gyms are full, weight loss programs make all their money, and financial plans are in place. It’s one thing to make resolutions; it’s a completely different thing to develop some healthy rhythms. The 70’s Christian song “Day by Day” gives us a good prayer for the New Year: “Three things I pray. To se...

Kevin McCallister just wanted to make his family disappear. The next morning he woke up and the bossy, critical, and negative group of people were gone. He was all alone, able to do whatever he wanted. Our culture loves this story because it personifies the central belief of the American dream—you can be your own person, set your own agenda, and pursue your own dreams. And, even if a couple...

Clark Griswold had a noble goal—to provide the perfect Christmas for his family. But, what ensues is a hot mess that shows all the faults in Clark and the imperfection of every person in the family. We can laugh at it because it’s someone else, yet the truth is that we also long for a sort of perfection and many of us get deeply stuck in the traps of performance and appearances. Since...

In the 1946 Christmas Classic movie “It’s a Wonderful Life”, the likable George Bailey was disappointed time and time again with how his life was turning out. Making decisions to help others in his small town of Bedford Falls meant putting HIS dreams on hold. He was not satisfied with his life because he longed for a greater purpose. At least, greater in his mind. When Old Man Po...