2021-08-29: The Shelter of the Ark

Genesis 6:9-8:22 Summary: The story of the flood confronts us with two realities of which we are often inclined to lose sight: the severity of human sin and the supremacy of God’s holiness. We can only make sense of the story if sin is actually far worse than we’re inclined to believe and God’s holiness […]

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Genesis 6:1-8 Summary: Genesis 6:5 famously gives one of the most comprehensive descriptions of human sinfulness in scripture: every intention…only evil…continually. Sin has so thoroughly corrupted God’s image-bearers and His creation that He is described as regretting having even made human beings. Though it’s not a popular notion, we cannot make sense of the flood […]

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2021-08-15: The Hope of Culture

Genesis 4:17-26; (5:1-32) Summary: Is our culture good or bad? Most of us immediately recognize that this isn’t a very helpful question since our culture, like all human cultures, is a mix of both. We find that same ambiguity in the line of Cain. Cain had some descendants who were pioneers in agriculture, music, and […]

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2021-08-08: Sin’s Deadly Power

Genesis 4:1-16 Summary: Genesis 4 is an account of life in God’s once very good creation going from bad to worse. Despite God’s gracious warning that Cain’s anger was a prowling force waiting to devour him, Cain let his envy fester to the point of murdering his own brother. We see in Cain the way […]

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2021-08-01: Crime and Punishment

Genesis 3:1-24 Summary: If Genesis 2 reveals that God created us to be deeply relational creatures–with God and with each other–Genesis 3 reveals the horrific breakdown of those relationships. As it was for Adam and Eve, so it is for us, that sin is fundamentally an issue of trust. Can I really trust God enough […]

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2021-07-04: Life in the Garden

Genesis 2:4-25 Summary: Among many other important themes, Genesis 2 reveals that human beings are created to be deeply relational creatures. The reason the entire law of God can be summarized as ‘love God and love neighbour’ is because this is the fundamental purpose for which God created us: to be in relationship with himself […]

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Genesis 1:26-31 Summary: Genesis 1 bestows an honour upon human beings that was unparalleled in the ancient world and remains very distinct from many of the anthropologies of our day. We are endowed with God’s image and given the responsibility of representing His gracious rule over His beloved creation…all of us: males and females, adults […]

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2021-06-20: The Artist’s Glory

Genesis 1:1-2:3 Summary: Genesis 1 depicts God as a master artisan who simply speaks his masterpiece into existence. Taking an earth that is a “formless void” (v.2), God shapes it and fills it to become a place teeming with beauty and with life. At each step of the process, the artist declares his work to […]

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2021-06-06: In the Beginning

Genesis 1:1 Summary: This Sunday we’ll consider just how much significance a single verse of scripture can contain, specifically those famous words: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” As we prepare to look at Genesis 1 and 2 in more detail in the weeks ahead, we begin with a broad overview […]

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Numbers 11:1-30 Summary: Israel’s grumbling about food becomes the occasion for Moses to express a crisis in leadership. He is exhausted and in utter despair (v. 15). In response, God graciously agrees to distribute the burden of leadership by placing His Spirit upon 70 elders (72 including Eldad and Medad – v.26ff). Moses’ wistful desire […]

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