Grow In Faith

We are looking at Psalm 1 to see what we can learn about God and about ourselves.  I’ve said before, we don’t just read the Bible. The Bible often reads us.

The book of Psalms begins by describing two types of people—the righteous and the wicked. Jesus spoke of good and bad trees. He also spoke about a narrow road which, though more difficult and less traveled – led to a good outcome. And a wide, easy road that led to destruction. All these metaphors imply a choice. And it was said quite eloquently and poetically in Psalm 1, which is one of the most f...

Today we finish up our study of the first eleven chapters of Genesis. Yesterday we tried to go back and glean some of the most basic insights we drew out of this 30,000 foot look at the structures of our world and ourselves. Today we’ll continue that with some closing reflections.

Yesterday we made it to the end of Genesis 11. We saw the start of the turn in Genesis from the universal history to the particular history of Israel. In these last two days, I’d like to try to draw out some of the basic realities we learned about our world from these chapters.

Yesterday, we finished up our look at the story of the tower of Babel and saw how sinister pride is. It sneaks up on us when we’re least expecting it. Today, we’ll turn our attention to the very end of Genesis 11.

Last week, we took a close look at Genesis 11 and the tower of Babel. Now there is more here. Really, there is a lot that could be said about Gen 11. First of all, there is something here about technology. Learning how to make a brick (which is what allowed these people to construct a tower) may not strike us as the kind of revolutionary breakthrough that Chat GPT is, but things changed when peopl...

Yesterday we summarized the story of the tower of Babel and asked some questions about it. What did they do wrong? Why is God displeased that they are working together in this way? Well, let me start by noting that it’s not wrong to build a city. Later we will see God telling people to build cities. God loves the city. Remember, heaven is described as one. Nor is there anything wrong with working...

Our focus this week and next is on the final section in universal history - Genesis chapters 10 & 11. This section explains how 8 people - Noah and his wife, their three sons and their three sons’ wives, whom we last saw on Mount Ararat offering a sacrifice – become the world out of which Abraham was called around 2000 BC.

Yesterday we rehashed what we’ve seen in Genesis 1-9. Last week, we ended by exploring the troubling passage about Noah cursing Ham’s descendants. And as we turn the page to Genesis 10, we run into more problems, but less with the text itself, and more with how it’s been used throughout history.

Over the course of our study I’ve been stressing that the Bible is not a collection of disconnected events, inspirational accounts and morality lessons that we mine for advice – it tells a story. It is the report of God’s fulfillment of his plan to rescue us. To rescue you – through Christ.

Yesterday we looked at the reentry of sin into the picture after the flood. We saw that despite being a righteous man, Noah was plagued with the same corrupting force that caused God to send the flood in the first place and that he passed that on to his children. Today we’ll finish up Genesis 9 and the flood story by seeing how that sin spread through the generations once more.

Yesterday we finished up our look at the covenant God makes with Noah after the flood in Genesis 9. We saw that that covenant gives us good reason to care for our world and steward it well, we saw that it ascribes intrinsic dignity to human life and looks to protect it, and we saw that it illustrated the extreme grace of God, pointing to what Jesus would do on the cross.  Over the next two days, w...

Yesterday we looked at the last part of God’s covenant with Noah after the flood that addressed the intrinsic dignity of human life and our responsibility to guard it. Today, we’ll look at the sign that God gives of this covenant.

This week we’re continuing our look at Genesis 9 and the covenant that God makes with Noah after the flood. Last week we saw how that covenant was one of grace and how it provided a basis for our role in caring for God’s world. The second part of the covenant talks about our relationship with each other.

Yesterday we started looking at the end of the flood story and delved into the ideas of covenant. There are all kinds of things to pay attention to when you start to unpack the covenants.  But there are three key parts of the Noahic Covenant. And that is what I want us to focus on in Genesis 9. God modifies our relationship with the earth and other living things. He further defines our relationshi...

Yesterday we looked at the flood story from 30,000 feet above to see the four chapters that tell it. Today, we’ll delve into the end of it. I am reading Gen. 9:8 – 17.  This is right after he has left the boat.

Today we continue in this same section with a study on the way God redefined our assignment, which is in chapter 9.

Last week, we continued our study of the flood story by looking at Genesis 7. We saw how the flood story is symbolic of a death before life pattern that is present through all of Scripture, we saw how it points to God’s preservation of his people through any and all crises, and we saw how Jesus used the story to encourage us to pursue our mission without distraction. Today, we’ll pick up in the be...

This week, we’ve been looking at Genesis 7, the second chapter of the flood story in Genesis. Yesterday we talked about some of the difficulties and complexities we see in the flood story with all of its repetitions. Today, I want to jump to the New Testament to look at how Jesus uses the story of the flood to talk about his own second coming.

This week we are continuing our look at the flood story in Genesis 6-9. Yesterday we saw how the story of the flood not only hyperlinks to the creation story, but also to the tabernacle and the temple and the way in which it reminds us of God’s faithful preservation of his people.

This week we are continuing our study of the flood which takes place over four chapters: Genesis 6-9. Yesterday we looked into the similarities between the flood account and the creation account. The flood is portrayed as a sort of “de-creation” that leads to a “recreation.” In fact, it becomes a model of other “de-creation” events that we find later in the Old Testament in apocalyptic texts where...

Last week, we made our way through Genesis 6, the first chapter about Noah and the flood and explored the idea of God’s judgment. We saw that judgment is a theme that runs through the whole Bible. Today, we’ll continue in our study of the flood in Genesis 6 and 7.

Today, we continue our look at Genesis 6 and the lead up to the flood. We’ve been talking about God’s judgment as we see it in the flood, and I’ll continue today by saying that his judgment - is actually very loving. This passage suggests that God responds to our evil in three ways.

We’ve been looking at Genesis 6, the beginning of the flood story and in our last devotional we started thinking about God’s judgment. Today, we’ll continue that by noting that doing away with God’s judgment creates more problems than it solves.

Yesterday, we started to look at Genesis 6 and the story of the flood. We talked a little bit about the historicity of the flood but today, rather than try to persuade those of you who might be skeptical, I want to focus on the theology in play here – because this account tells us something very important about God. And we are going to look at Noah – and note that in a world gone bad he found favo...