Genesis 28:1-22Between a Rock and a Hard Place Isaac was determined that his son Jacob, the recipient of the covenant blessings, would not marry a Canaanite woman and sent him to find a wife from among Rebekah’s people. We, as believers, are also not to be unequally yoked. Pastor Dave...
Genesis 27:30-46 The failures of Yahweh’s earliest covenant partners – the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – point out humanity’s desperate need for a Savior to institute a new covenant. We sinners are incapable of being faithful covenant partners and of...
Genesis 27:1-29This Is a Mess! Rebekah instigated and plotted the masquerade. Jacob piled lie on lie to deceive. Esau despised his birthright. Isaac was ruled by his physical appetites. All were messed up people. As Pastor Shannon aptly expressed it, the claws of sin had dug into each one...
Genesis 26:1-16Déjà Vu, All Over Again Pastor Dave detailed nine aspects of this narrative about Isaac that are repetitions of events in his father Abraham’s life. Our first reaction to the passage is to dismiss it as redundant and tedious. Thank God for church...
Genesis 17:1-14 A recurrent theme through several chapters of Genesis has been the one-sided nature of God’s covenant with Abram. God’s promises to Abram depended only on His own faithfulness and performance, not Abram’s. His covenant of salvation with us is likewise...
This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the...
Genesis 16:1-16Does God Need Our Help? Years passed after God’s promise to Abram of countless descendants, and Abram and Sarai still had no children. How difficult it is for us human beings to continue to believe God after waiting a long time for His promises to be fulfilled! Abram...
Genesis 15:7-21The Promised Land Promised God reminds Abram that He brought him out from Ur, just as He would later remind the Israelites that He brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the land of slavery (Exodus 20:2). In both cases, God brought His people out of a place that...
Genesis 15:1-6Changed by God’s Gracious Promise In Genesis 12, God promised Abram that He would make him a great nation. In Genesis 15, Abram is struggling to hold on to that promise, given that he still has no children, not even one son. In his human nature, Abram focuses on the one...
Matthew 21:1-17Palm Sunday When I was growing up, Palm Sunday was the day we children walked down the aisles of the sanctuary waving palm branches while the congregation sang the hymn “Hosanna, Loud Hosanna.” Pray that all of us will clearly understand the deep significance of...