Saturday, October 17

Remember John Walton’s statement, “what God does through the flood is most important of all”? The last and foremost thing that should get our attention about this narrative is God’s deliverance- His rescue and redemption in chaos.

The critical verse for this declaration is Genesis 6:13, but here’s the challenge. The translation from Hebrew to English in the NIV is stifling or I would say inaccurate.

The NIV says, “I’m going to put an end to all people….” Other translations, like KJV, ESV, and NASB have this translation, “The end of humanity has come before me …”

Where else have we seen or heard that phrase or something similar? “Come before me”? God was aware, saw, heard? Genesis 4:10- Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.

The phrase is a hyperlink, that connects the two, in both cases God is made aware of the violence and pain on the earth. The cries have come before him. Essentially what God is saying to Noah is that “Noah, the world is crying out to me, the pain of the world is before me, I hear the cries, I see the pain, and I MUST DO something.”

BTW- if you want to Geek out for a second, read Exodus 2. God also hears the people of Israel cry out because of their enslavement to the Egyptians and you know what God does to deliver them? An Ark and a baby …. Moses in the basket, swooped out of the water by Pharoh’s daughter. The word basket is the same word as ark.

God heard creation cry out, sent Noah and an ark. God heard his people cry out in Egypt and sent Moses in a basket. God heard Christ’s cry on the cross (Matthew 27:46) and sent redemption and deliverance.

My point is this. I don’t believe this is a story of God’s destruction over the earth. I believe that God, out of his great love said, “I MUST DO something.” He saw the violence, the ruin, the desolation on the land and with his creation, which he intended for good. He could either sit back and do nothing or out of his great love, take the disorder and recreate. I have a harder time believing in a god who would do nothing at the injustice that was ruining the world, than a God who did something, to redeem and deliver the cosmos from chaos.
The flood narrative is not primarily about punishment. It is about a God whose heart is moved by the cries of the suffering, a God who cannot remain passive in the face of violence and ruin. When you cry out, you are not crying into silence. You are crying to a God who has always heard and always responded.

Application

Do you genuinely believe God hears your cries, or does it feel like your prayers disappear into the ceiling? What has shaped that belief?

What do you do when your world or the world around feels like it is collapsing? Trust God’s deliverance, that he will rescue and redeem the chaos in your life. Even if it is hard.

God must do something when he hears the cries, his heart is moved, because if God did nothing, that is a greater offense. But here in lies the problem and where I will get a lot of push back. Because how many times have you said, maybe even in the midst of your collapse- why won’t God do anything? Why does it feel like God’s ears don’t hear my cries? Why does it feel like God is sitting on his hands?

Folks, I hear you, I see you, I’ve cried out in similar ways. The only thing that gives me solace is God’s character and activity throughout all of time, not just in a moment of time.
What does scripture say? His ways are higher than my ways, his thoughts are higher than my thoughts. A day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. Which simply means, we don’t know his ways, his whys, or his timing, but we still declare, “I trust in you and not in my circumstance.” You promised to rescue and redeem and I will stand on the fact that you cannot lie. I don’t know how you are or when you are, but I believe that you will.

Write out this declaration and place it somewhere visible this week: "I do not know how. I do not know when. But I believe You will. I trust You, and not my circumstances."
Take a moment with this song as an encouragement for walking out this truth this week. God You're So Good

Friday, October 16th

What else do we notice about Noah? Genesis 7:7- 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.

Don’t slide past that, that has practical and theological implications.

Think about it, the world was being handed over to its ruin because that’s what it chose. Noah and his family are rescued because of Noah’s righteousness. Which means, practically, what generational influence are you choosing? Generational influence of righteousness or ruin? What will you choose, tov or ra, good or evil, righteousness or ruin?
Noah's righteousness did not save only Noah. It saved his entire family. This is not a small detail tucked into the narrative. It is a theological signal pointing forward to something far greater. The biblical authors are drawing a line from Noah directly to Jesus. One man's obedience brought deliverance to those around him. One man's righteousness covered the unrighteous. Noah foreshadows Christ, but only partially. Noah survived the flood. Jesus did not. Jesus sank beneath the waters of death so that all who take shelter in Him might be rescued. The ark was a vessel of wood. Jesus is a living refuge for all of creation.

Romans 5:18-19 (NLT)- 18 Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. 19 Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.

Application

Without suggesting that one person's faith automatically saves another, how have you seen the faithful choices of one person influence the people around them -- for better or for worse? How does that reality affect the way you think about your own choices? What change do you need to make to walk the path of righteousness, for your sake and the sake of the next generation?

Thursday, October 15th

Read

Did you notice that Noah never speaks a single word in the flood narrative?
He asks no questions. He voices no complaints. He makes no dramatic declarations of faith. He simply does what God commands, again and again. The narrator describes him as a flat character on purpose.

Notice that passages- Genesis 6:8-9, 22, 7:5, 16- 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord….9 Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God…22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him…5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him… as God had commanded Noah.

Noah's entire identity in this story is defined by one thing: he listened to God, did what God said, and trusted God in the gaps. That kind of obedience is not passive. It is the most active and courageous response a person can offer when the world around them is dissolving. Quiet obedience is not weakness. It is profound trust.

Application

Noah obeyed and trusted. How can you grow in obedience and trust?

Hear- seek God, listen to God. Remember Noah remained silent. He heard God’s instructions and he did it. Which means for our lives, for many of us, it’s not that we “can’t” hear, it’s the fact that the pace and noise of life is too much. Slow down, get quiet, and listen. Psalm 46:10 is a passage we like to memorize- Be still and know that I am God. But what we miss in the rest of the passage is that it is a passage of deliverance, refuge and rescue, to bring us into union with God. Be still, quiet yourself and listen to God.

Then, obey. Are you following your way, someone else’s way, the wrong way or God’s way? I can’t tell you how many times people “complain” to me about their life, blame it on God, when they haven’t done anything to choose his way. His way is harder, narrow, but Jesus says, “he is the way, the truth and life. No one comes to the father, except through him.”
Jesus is the only way, maybe, you haven’t made that declaration.

Have you personally placed your trust in Christ's righteousness, or are you still attempting to navigate life's flood on your own terms?

If you have never declared your trust in Jesus as Savior, consider doing so today in your own words. If you have, write a brief prayer of gratitude for the righteousness that covers you.

Which is that last observation of obeying and trusting. Declare that you trust him. Declaring your trust in Him is wrestling with why don’t you trust him in a certain area of life? Because there are times where I do need to declare, “God I trust you in this.” And other times where I wrestle with him, “God, why don’t I trust you in this?” And that is a way to grow our trust, wrestling with God why we don’t.

Where are the gaps in your own life right now -- the places where you do not have all the answers, where you cannot see what God is doing? What does trusting God in those gaps actually look like for you in a practical sense?

Wednesday, October 14th
 
For those of you wondering where Tuesday’s daily faith challenge was, you didn’t miss anything. I didn’t finish it in time and we as a staff had an awesome day serving in Howards Grove Tuesday, so I made the executive decision to bump it from Tuesday to Wednesday and go into Saturday.
 
If you need a refresher from Monday, go back and read Genesis 6:13-7:24, yes, it is a lot, but it gives the framework for where we are going. Simply because, we can have more questions than answers and can get distracted with what got our attention versus what SHOULD GET our attention.
 
Let me summarize it this way, from a wonderful resource The Lost World of the Flood by John Walton. “The literary-theological interpretation of the passage takes precedence over the compulsion many feel to reconstruct the event itself…What the narrator does with the flood is more important than what the flood does, and what God does through the flood is most important of all. If this is so, then we need to articulate persuasively what the narrator and God are doing through the flood….We are brought to the conclusion that Genesis 6-9 pertains to a local flood described rhetorically as a worldwide flood to make a theological point. Such a view honors both the biblical text when read in its literary and cultural context as well as the geological evidence (or lack thereof).”
 
That may be a mouthful, so let me summarize. I believe the flood happened, to the degree by which it happened isn’t the point of the author or of God. The intention, like with all of scripture, is to understand God, his character and His activity within the human story.
 
What should get our attention? This is a story of cosmic collapse. Which if you think about it, is greater than just a “flood” regardless if it was local or covered the entire world.
 
Let me draw your attention to a few things. God brought order at creation, separating and gathering, there was the deep, the land, and the heavens, a three-tiered creation (if you look back, three tiers in the ark (Genesis 7:16)- The ark is God’s new creation.)
 
But in Genesis 7:11- 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.
 
Notice what happens, what split open? The deep. And what opened from above? The heavens. All of which collapsed creation from the top and the bottom, a deluge of disorder. God is allowing disorder to fill the land of disorder to recreated what he originally intended. (May want to reread that).
 
Not only that, remember Genesis 6:1-4, spoke of the sons of God and the sons of man breaking the boundaries by which God created, humanity and spiritual beings intermingling. Which meant he allowed the cosmic collapse of all of creation, to recreate something new through the new Adam.
 
So what? Now what? What do we do with this? These questions I asked at the end of my message, as a summary with all that we see in the flood narrative. Today however, I want us to take each one and process the application piece.
 
How do we apply this to life? Because if all you do is say, “hmm, that was interesting, I may rethink the flood narrative.” You are missing the theological impact of this narrative, God’s character and how he is always at work.
 
It was a cosmic collapse, the inevitable unraveling of a world that had chosen violence and ruin over the order God intended. Yet even in that collapse, God was not absent. He was watching. He was grieving. He was moving. When your world feels like it is unraveling, the question is not whether God sees it. He does. The real question is whether you will turn toward Him or away from Him in the wreckage. You can blame God, get bitter, or get better?
 
Write down one specific circumstance that feels out of control. Spend five minutes in silence, surrendering that circumstance to God rather than trying to solve it.
 
Collapse can be the beginning of renewal if you let God be present in it.

Monday, October 12th

Yes, I want you to take your time today and read the bulk of the Flood Narrative (Genesis 6:13-7:24). I want you to take your time. TRY not to read it with what you think you already know. TRY to read it with fresh eyes, which means slow, deliberate, with intention of God showing you something “other.”

Then, when you are done deliberately reading it, what did you notice? What got your attention? What did you see, hear, or believe differently?

Genesis 6:13-7:24- 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”

22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

7 The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”

5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.

6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.

17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. 21 Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

What did you notice? What got your attention? What did you see, hear, or believe differently?

Greetings New Lifer-s! Pastor Bill here.

This week I encourage you to work through Romans Chapter 12 with me. I have a suggested reading portion for each day and a verse I have chosen for you to focus on.
I love nature. (the fact that almost EVERY message I do has a nature illustration might hint at that!)

The amazing migration of salmon up the rivers, against the current and against all odds to achieve their God ordained goal is, to me, a wonderful illustration of an authentic Christian spiritual journey. The Bible refers to “walking the narrow road”, “running your race”, “fighting the good fight” and many other illustrations, but let me add the salmon spawning migration to those!

Friday, October 9th

Romans 12:19-21
We will not be stopped!

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Romans 12:21

“I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
Philippians 3:12

For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.”
II Timothy 4:6-8

Greetings New Lifer-s! Pastor Bill here.

This week I encourage you to work through Romans Chapter 12 with me. I have a suggested reading portion for each day and a verse I have chosen for you to focus on.
I love nature. (the fact that almost EVERY message I do has a nature illustration might hint at that!)

The amazing migration of salmon up the rivers, against the current and against all odds to achieve their God ordained goal is, to me, a wonderful illustration of an authentic Christian spiritual journey. The Bible refers to “walking the narrow road”, “running your race”, “fighting the good fight” and many other illustrations, but let me add the salmon spawning migration to those!

Thursday, October 8th

Romans 12:14-18
There will be rapids…
“Do not repay evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.”
Vs 17

Greetings New Lifer-s! Pastor Bill here.

This week I encourage you to work through Romans Chapter 12 with me. I have a suggested reading portion for each day and a verse I have chosen for you to focus on.
I love nature. (the fact that almost EVERY message I do has a nature illustration might hint at that!)

The amazing migration of salmon up the rivers, against the current and against all odds to achieve their God ordained goal is, to me, a wonderful illustration of an authentic Christian spiritual journey. The Bible refers to “walking the narrow road”, “running your race”, “fighting the good fight” and many other illustrations, but let me add the salmon spawning migration to those!

Wednesday, October 7th

Romans 12:9-13
We swim in love.
“Love must be sincere.” Vs 9

“And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love.
But the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:13

Greetings New Lifer-s! Pastor Bill here.

This week I encourage you to work through Romans Chapter 12 with me. I have a suggested reading portion for each day and a verse I have chosen for you to focus on.
I love nature. (the fact that almost EVERY message I do has a nature illustration might hint at that!)

The amazing migration of salmon up the rivers, against the current and against all odds to achieve their God ordained goal is, to me, a wonderful illustration of an authentic Christian spiritual journey. The Bible refers to “walking the narrow road”, “running your race”, “fighting the good fight” and many other illustrations, but let me add the salmon spawning migration to those!

Monday, October 6th

Romans 12:1-2
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world.” Vs 1

There is a strong current of all things “the world” that tries to convince us to just go with the flow. Jesus makes it clear, that is the path to ruin for spiritual lives. Cultural expectations, political pressure, perhaps family pressure, “that’s just the way it has to be to make it in the world,” pick your own excuse or pressure you feel in the current of culture. “The pattern of this world.” Make the choice. Take your stand. Swim up stream!

Greetings New Lifer-s! Pastor Bill here.
This week I encourage you to work through Romans Chapter 12 with me. I have a suggested reading portion for each day and a verse I have chosen for you to focus on.
I love nature. (the fact that almost EVERY message I do has a nature illustration might hint at that!)

The amazing migration of salmon up the rivers, against the current and against all odds to achieve their God ordained goal is, to me, a wonderful illustration of an authentic Christian spiritual journey. The Bible refers to “walking the narrow road”, “running your race”, “fighting the good fight” and many other illustrations, but let me add the salmon spawning migration to those!

Tuesday, October 6th

Romans 12:3-8
We swim together… don’t try to do the spiritual journey on your own!
“In Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.’
(V5)

Friday, October 2nd

Read Genesis 6:7-10- 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 9This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

You notice that God doesn’t wipe out ALL of humanity?

No, he sees Noah, name defined as comfort and rest, and we see this word, found favor. God’s heart breaks for humanity and he still desires to rescue. We must see God’s grace through humanity.

Noah found favor with God, because he walked faithfully with him, he was righteous and blameless. He wasn’t perfect, as we will see in a few weeks, but he had a right relationship with God, and he desired to be complete or pure.

Because fast forward, God sees the brokenness of the world again and sends one who will bring comfort and rest, whose life was marked by righteousness and blamelessness. That the evil of the world was placed on his shoulders and he brought redemption to all mankind, Jesus. God doesn’t give up on humanity, he is always working to give them a choice to come back to him.

What does it mean for you to live with gratitude of grace. Don’t settle for cheap grace, casual grace, easy grace, or even simple grace. God grieved over the state of humanity and the world and extended grace through one man so the world would be saved.

The flood points to Jesus, the state of humanity, the cross and the empty tomb. That is what the authors call severe mercy. Mercy taking the form of a just response. It is amazing grace, oh how He loves us.

Instead of justifying the ways to live, can we fall into grace, recognize that God’s heart is grieved when we settle for everything else, but him. Yet, not out of guilt, but out of gratitude that we allow God to overwhelm us with His love and grace.

What does a life shaped by genuine gratitude for grace actually look like day to day?

Thursday, October 1

Let’s reread Genesis 6:5-13- 5The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 9This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.

How does God respond to the wickedness that he sees? Before we get to “wiping the slate clean”. Notice vs. 6- 6The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.
 
Unfortunately, that word regretted isn’t a great, translated word. The Hebrew word is naham which means comfort. BTW- Remember what Noah’s name means? Comfort and rest…. But back to God, the imagery that is taking place here is this, God needs to comfort himself, or another way to say it, offer himself strong comfort to the emotion he is having.
God’s response to the people and the land is grief, pain, his heart is broken for the state of humanity. God is essentially saying, “I gave you life, the earth, a path of goodness and you did this, ruined it, a path of ra, destruction. I’m in pain with what you’ve done with what I’ve given you.”

It doesn’t say that God was angry, it says that he was in pain. God had a broken heart for his creation. The dilemma is that God, out of his creative love, created humanity, to rule and care for one another and the land. But now humans are the problem because they are multiplying evil all over the land, it is ruined, what is God to do?

God hands the land over to destruction because the humans have already set the destruction in motion. They ruined the land and God hands them over to what they have chosen.

What’s interesting is the word corrupt, is the word sahat, which we said was ruined or destroyed, that is the same word God uses verse 13, sahat. God is handing them over to what they have already done.

If you want to pause and read Romans 1:18-24 it essentially is saying, “God will give us over to what we desire.” Which includes ra, wickedness, evil.

God is not a detached judge issuing a cold verdict. He is a Father whose heart broke over what his children had chosen. His pain over sin is inseparable from his love for the sinner. When you consider the ways you have fallen short this week, do not run from God. Run toward the one whose heart breaks because he loves you.

Take a moment with Run to the Father.

Wednesday, September 30th

For the next three days I want us to discus, what should get our attention?

Read Genesis 6:5-13- 5The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 9This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.

What should get our attention? What did you notice about the repletion of words? What did you notice with phrases that got your attention?

The first thing I want to draw our attention to is the state of humanity. God saw the “ra”, the wickedness of the human race.

Think back to Genesis 2, God gave the commandment to trust him, and not eat from the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil it has progressively gotten worse. Genesis 3 is about the fall of mankind, Genesis 4 is about the fall of family, and now Genesis 6 is the fall of society. What God now sees is the opposite of what he desired and created from Genesis 1.
God saw that humanity was multiplying evil, multiplying evil towards one another and multiplying evil across the land. Some translations say the land was corrupt, ruined, or destroyed.

This passage reveals that evil does not arrive suddenly -- it multiplies. Goodness erodes slowly, quietly, one compromise at a time. God looked at the world he had called good and saw it ruined.

The theme I want you to wrestle with is this; God’s heart is grieved when there is an erosion of goodness because it leads to a flood of evil. Reread that.

Folks, this isn’t about morality, it’s paying attention to the areas of our life that are eroding away. That’s why we pay attention to our thoughts (take every thought captive- 2 Corinthians 10:5) or how Jesus is always getting our attention to pay attention to the inside of the cup, not just the outside.

Or let me ask it like this? Are you imitators of Christ or a mirage of “good enough”?
Think about it, a mirage looks appealing, looks like it could satisfy, but then it fades away when you get a closer look because it was just a mirage, had no substance. Have we minimized our faith journey to a mirage of “good enough” or are we imitators of Christ?

Ephesians 4:17-5:3- Here’s the message version of a few of those verses. 30 Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted. 31-32 Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you. 1-2 Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.
Examine your life honestly today. Where is goodness quietly eroding?

Tuesday, September 29

This week’s passage asks a lot of you. There is historical complexity, cultural distance, and theological weight that can feel overwhelming. Give yourself permission to sit with unanswered questions. The goal of this discussion is not to resolve every mystery in Genesis 6 but to allow the truths embedded in the text to do their work.

Read Genesis 6:1-4- When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” 4The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward —when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

I want to draw your attention to two things today. First is the Creation language- human beings began to increase, some translations have multiplied and the daughters were beautiful (tov). God gave us the command to multiply and what he created was good.
But then notice that the sons of God “married”, some translations say took. That language should already give us a clue of what we are talking about. Who took in the creation story? Eve and then Adam. They took from the tree of knowledge of good and evil versus trusting that God was going to provide. So even in these four verses we are getting a glimpse of the creation story, but that there is something wrong.

What are we talking about when we are talking about the sons of God? There is much debate about this and if I was teaching a class we would most likely dive deeper into this debate.

Some argue this is the Sethite view. Where they see the sons of God as the line of Cain and the beautiful daughters as the line of Seth. But what gets lost in that argument is that Seth’s line isn’t perfect or sinless and it doesn’t wrestle with other areas in Scripture where sons of God is referenced.

Some argue sons of God mean the kings from other dynasties. We talked about the Sumerian King’s List from the Mesopotamia or Babylonian culture, again, I do believe there is some correlation, but it doesn’t answer the mystery that is woven underneath, especially this picture of taking.

I believe these verses are talking about the heavenly rebellion, that the sons of God are spiritual beings and just because we don’t understand the thin veil between the physical and the spiritual, doesn’t mean it couldn’t exist.

If you want to do some extra reading dive into the passages about the heavenly council in Job 1:6, 2:1. Job is brought before God and it says that Satan was roaming among the earth. Or jot down Psalm 82:6-7.

Finally, a little book in the back of the NT, Jude, actually refers to this passage in Genesis. Jude 1:6- And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.

They broke the boundary between physical and spiritual, they took, they live in darkness and will be judged accordingly when the time comes.
What are we to do with this? Why is it important? The author of Genesis is getting our attention that there is more that is going on than just bad decisions. The author is showing us that there is something truly coming against us, that the heavenly rebellion influences the human rebellion and to ignore such a battle will mean we are flat footed against our enemy.

Tim Mackie puts it this way. “Bible claims there are powers and rulers in the heavenly realm with agency who are at work in ways very different for humans to be aware of …. This interpretation may make us uncomfortable or a be difficult to understand, but that doesn’t mean it is not what the ancient authors are trying to communicate.”

Application- “The sons of God” represent a heavenly rebellion, pointing to the reality of spiritual forces at work in the physical world -- how seriously do you take the existence and influence of spiritual evil in your daily life, and does your awareness of it affect how you live?

Genesis 6 pulls back the curtain on a reality most of us would rather ignore -- there are forces at work beyond what we can see. The heavenly rebellion described in the opening verses of the flood narrative is not mythology meant to entertain. It is a warning. Jude references these spiritual beings who abandoned their proper boundaries. Paul urges believers in Ephesians 6 to recognize that our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Ignoring the spiritual dimension of life does not make it disappear -- it simply leaves us unprepared. Put on the full armor of God today (Ephesians 6:10-18). The battle is real, but so is the victory.

Monday, September 28

We are continuing our journey through Genesis where we come to the Flood Narrative. Theologian John Walton says, “(this is) some of the thorniest passages in Old Testament to interpret.”

Noah, the Ark, the flood, and what was God doing? I wonder, how much of your belief of the Noah, the Ark, and the flood is based up actual scripture versus a mixture of fiction and scripture. Or maybe it isn’t even that, as much as it is, wrestling with what appears to be a very angry, wrathful God and how do you reconcile that with love. Which means we sit with either minimizing the story of Noah, or we try and fill in the gaps with our own understanding because we want to make sense out of something that seems senseless.
What if I told you the story of Noah, the Ark and the Flood may not be everything you learned in Sunday school and that we can see the mystery of God interacting with humanity and yet, not understand it all.

That’s what I want us to do for the next handful of weeks. Yes, I know, it sounds strange to take 3-4 weeks and talk about the flood. I just think there is so much that gets lost in this narrative because we have boiled the Flood story to, people are bad, God is angry he made them, he wants to start over, so let’s wipe everyone out.

Let’s get to some of the thorniest passages in all of OT interpretation.

Today, I want you to read the passage, take your time. I probably over say it. But I want you to take your time with the passage. What gets your attention? What should get your attention? Underline, highlight, write question marks in the margin. What words are repetitive? If you have a study bible, what do the notes say? Just you and the first part of Genesis 6.

Genesis 6:1-13- When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” 4The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward —when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. 5The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 9This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 10 Noah had
three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.

Friday, September 25th

Take a moment and read Matthew 14:15-21- 15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” 16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” 17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. 18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Five loaves and two fishes in my hands is just a lunch for me and one other person. Five loaves and two fishes in the hands of Jesus feeds thousands. How have you seen what is small in life and been limited because you only see it in your hands? What would happen if you shift your view to see what you have to offer in the hands of Jesus?

Or maybe as Pastor Bill said that most people live a much smaller version of the story God has for their lives -- what fears, habits, or hang-ups might be keeping you from stepping into the fuller story God is calling you toward?

Because as I reflected on how a series of broken decisions and pain led me to where I am today. Not stuck in my pain and brokenness but working through that to be here at New Life since the inception, and pastoring here for 20 years.

I’m reminded of Paul’s message to the Corinthians about something that he battled, never resolved, but continued on the faith. Read 2 Corinthians 12:8-10- 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

How have your own failures or difficult seasons ultimately redirected you toward something God was preparing for you?

Take a moment and offer up this prayer …. Father, thank you for your faithfulness -- to us individually, and to this community. Thank you that you run toward us before we even reach the door. Give us the courage to pause, to reflect honestly, and to respond to wherever your Spirit is leading. Help us to be people who walk faithfully with you, who extend grace freely, and who are willing to fly when you call us. In Jesus' name, amen.

Thursday, September 24th

There was a statement made on Sunday during our “Ministry Spotlight” of Celebrate Recovery, where Stephanie Johanning said, “she felt like she was seen for who she was, not what she struggled with.” Founding Pastor Bill, in our interview of how we ended up here as a church, referred back to that statement of the value of being seen. Which is my desired focus for today.

What does it mean to be “seen”? “Seen” for who you versus who you want people to think you are? To be accepted, by being seen?

I want you to read a familiar story. Actually it was a story that Nevin, our Youth and Young Adult Director shared with us at our staff meeting this week. I won’t get into all of it, but Nevin asked us, what does it look like to see the characters in the story? Actually see them? See the woman, the religious, and see Jesus? What do you notice in the story of John 8:2-11?

2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us
to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Again, you may be very familiar with the story, don’t rush past it. What do you see with the woman? The religious leaders? And Jesus?

There is a way to see others that is damning and there is a way to see others that is grace filled with correction. How do you want to be “seen”? How do you want to see others? Do those match?

Spend some time in prayer, grace, conviction, and invitation around what it means to see and be seen.

Wednesday, September 23

We’ve been observing the question, how did I end up here. Yesterday we looked at Luke 15 and the prodigal story. We looked at how the younger son had to wrestle with that question when he was in the pig trough, how did I end up here? He came to his senses and went home, embraced by a father that loved him, even though he offended him.

Today, I want to keep going with the story from the older sons perspective because I think we need to ask the older son the same questions, how did you end up here?

Read Luke 15:25-32- 25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

What did you notice about the older son? What about the Father? If you could answer for the older son, how did he end up here, how would you respond?

My uncomfortable push is that we can have a tendency to be the older son. I know I have.
We think we’ve always been with the Father, but you haven’t because our heart has wandered into religion, transactional relationship with God, rigidity. As the older son said, “look all I’ve done for you, yet this son of yours.” Some of you are older sons that need to wander back, run back to the father and put your judgement away and receive his grace, for yourself and for others.

Are you extravagant with grace, like the father, or are you stingy like the older brother? How you may have wandered from God and now you need to run back to the Father?

Tuesday, September 22

This week we are reflecting on the question; how did I end up here? Yesterday we used it as a guiding element of growth and encouragement. It can also be an assessment; do I need to make a course correction in life because I have wandered from my true north? Do I need to reroute because I’ve not been walking faithfully with God or I’ve walked away from the things of God? Where you’ve paused and said, how did I end up here?

Probably why one of my favorite stories that Jesus tells is exactly that. The younger son says, “how did I end up here, especially when my father has all that he does?”

You may know the story as the prodigal son. Remember the younger son wanted his inheritance early, his father gave it to him and he went off, ran away from his father and spent it on wild living.

Read Luke 15:17-20- 17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.

Did you see it? How did I end up here? He came to his senses and went back to his father.
Keep reading, what was the father’s response? Luke 15:20-24- “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

Father’s response to the son wandering away, ending up in a place that was far from him, was a response of celebration, love, renewed identity. The son came home, came back to the father he offended and the father’s response was celebrating his son’s homecoming, love, and a renewed identity.

Reflect for a moment, some of you have wandered off and you’ve wondered, how did I end up here? Come to your senses and run to the father, come home. As you reflect, use this song as a guiding element as well. Run to the Father

Monday, September 21

Let me set our time today this week with this question- Have you ever wondered or thought, how did I end up here? How did I get here?

It could be anything, it could be driving, getting lost, and before you know it, how did I end up here? It could be your career path, you started in one place and now you are looking back and you are like, how did I end up here?

Or relationships or marriage, how did we get here? How did we end up here?
Or even your faith, how did you end up here, with your faith?

The question isn’t necessarily a bad question. It’s actually a question you can do something about. Think about it.

For instance, last week, we talked about Enoch and Noah in Genesis 5. What stood out to you about their lives? Wasn’t just their longevity, it was the statement, “they walked faithfully with God.”

I think there are times, when it is worth stopping and wondering, how did I end up here in my faith journey? How did I end up here in my character growth because I’m a different man, husband, father, friend. I’m a different woman, wife, mother, friend.

Pausing to reflect on, how are you walking faithfully with God? How have you seen the changes and growth within life and celebrating God how you got here.

Take a moment today and reflect, how have you grown, how have you walked faithfully with God?

Also encourage you to use this song, Oceans, as a guiding element, I believe the lyrics will be an honest encouragement.

Friday, September 18th

In the original passage of Genesis 5, what two names and descriptions stood out?
Let’s take a look again at Genesis 5:24, 29- 24 Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away… 29 He named him Noah and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.” Enoch and Noah, their descriptors are different.

Enoch even has mystery, he walked with God and then was no more, God took him. Took him where? Your guess is as good as mine. But again, what should get our attention? Not if
he went to heaven or paradise or some in between. Our focus should be on the fact that he walked in such a way that God desired to be with him.

Also, Enoch wasn’t a king who gets God’s attention, like the Sumerian Kings, what got God’s attention was one who walks faithfully with him.

Then we see Noah, his namesake means rest. The biblical authors define him one who will comfort us in the midst of hardship. Genesis 6:8-9 also says that Noah walked faithfully with God.

Earlier we read how the people began to call on the name of the Lord, which means there was trusting faithfulness in pursuing God and walking with God. Which is illustrated here by two people, Enoch and Noah.

Which means, it’s not about how long they lived or how long you live, the focus of the list of names and dates is about HOW you LIVE.

C.S. Lewis says in his book, God in the Dock, “I care far more how humanity lives than how long. Progress, for me, means increasing goodness and happiness of individual lives. For the species, as for each man, mere longevity seems to me a contemptible ideal.”

How you live is more important than how long you live? How do you live?

Again, a choice… back to the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve had a choice; trust in God’s provision or take for themselves. Lamech in Cain’s line took, took two wives, took a life, multiplied evil.

Then we see Enoch and Noah, they were noted for walking faithfully with God to the point, Enoch was brought to a destiny unknown and Noah’s purpose was renowned. A man who brought comfort and rest, a new covenant with God, the new Adam, eventually pointing to the last Adam, in Jesus.

Make it personal- are you more focused or energized on how long you live or how you live? What gets your time, energy, resources, and attention?

I’m not saying we shouldn’t be healthy or take care of ourselves or even spend resources in such a way that we enjoy life. I’m not saying that at all.

I’m saying, can you wrestle with what it means to faithfully walk with God? Because that has greater value than the dates on your headstone. The dash means more than your birth date or death date.

What does it mean for your faith walk to be consistent not erratic? Persistent not perfection? Side by side with God, not from a distance? Not religion but relationship. And that relationship, walking faithfully with God should influence every other area of your life; the way you love, the way you work, the way you interact with others, what you put your time, energy, and resources towards.

A life well lived tells a story, something of value tells a story of impact.

Which means I want to leave you with this reflection from a man who championed a life well lived, but faced the curse in so many ways, Martin Luther King Jr. I want to share a portion of his speech on April 10, 1960, called Keep Moving from This Mountain.

“I do not give you this element of faith and superficial optimism. I do not stand here as a detached spectator. As I say to you this afternoon, have faith in the future, I speak as one who lives every day amidst the threat of death. I speak as one who has had to stand often amidst the surging murmur of life’s restless sea, I speak as one who has been battered often by the jostling winds of adversity, but I have faith in the future. I have faith in the future because I have faith in God and I believe that there is a power, a creative force in this universe seeking at all times to bring down prodigious hilltops of evil and pull low gigantic mountains of injustice. If we will believe this and struggle along, we will be able to achieve it.

Keep moving, for it may well be that the greatest song has not yet been sung, the greatest book has not been written, the highest mountain has not been climbed. This is your challenge! Reach out and grab it and make it a part of your life. Reach up beyond cloud-filled skies of oppression and bring out blazing stars of inspiration. The basic thing is to keep moving. Move out of these mountains that impede our progress to this new and noble and marvelous land. Langston Hughes said something very beautiful in his poem, “Mother to Son.”

‘Well son, I’ll tell you Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, splinters, Boards torn up, places with no carpets on the floors, bare! But all the time, I’se been a-climbing on and reaching landings And turning corners and sometimes going in the dark where there ain’t been no light. So boy, don’t you stop now. Don’t you sit down on the steps cause you find it’s kinda hard. For I’se still goin boy, I’se still climbing, And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.’

Life for none of us has been a crystal stair, but there is something we can learn from the broken grammar of that mother, that we must keep moving. If you can’t fly, run; if you can’t run, walk; if you can’t walk, crawl; but by all means keep moving.”

Thursday, September 17

Yesterday we engaged with what appears to be something simple in life, life and death, blessing and curses. But my push wasn’t that they exist, my push was, how do we respond to both blessing and curses?

Remember, blessing is goodness, life, increase; curse is challenge, hardship, pain, chaos, and yes death. Both are the reality of life, no one can escape blessing and curse, how you respond though, can make all the difference.

The old adage, “when life throws you lemons, make lemonade” or “don’t get bitter, get better.” Sure, we need to have a healthy mindset or attitude, but I think it’s bigger than that. It’s knowing that life is filled with both and that God is faithful and worthy of trust, regardless of what we face.

John 16:33- Jesus says, in this world you will have trouble (not if, not maybe, not if you don’t do the right things), you will have trouble, but take heart for I have overcome the world. Besides if Jesus faced the curse of death, and lived a perfect life, don’t you think we will see some troubles as well?

Psalm 23-Blessing and curses, life giving and death. We see walking in green pastures, beside still waters and then “even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” Why? Because God is with me, his rod and staff comfort. God was in the green pastures, still waters and the valley of the shadow of death.

Read Habakkuk 3:16-19- 16 I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. 17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.

We don’t’ rejoice in our circumstances, we “rejoice in the Lord who is with us in our circumstances.

James 1:2-4- 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

It’s not, “wooo-whooo, I get to go through hard things.” There can be a lamenting, there can be a crying out, but not why me. The crying out is, “God this is hard, I need you to walk with me.”

That’s why it is critical if you believe God did this to you, you won’t trust, you will be bitter and hardened. But if you keep moving towards God, walking faithfully with him and other like-minded believers, that is of value and that tells a story.

At creation God desired humanity to create sacred space of blessing amongst his presence, evil came and we have a choice. Do we continue to look to bring sacred space to our mind, heart, and those around us? Or do we look to bring chaos? The choice is yours, how do you respond in life to blessing and curse, bring life or bring more chaos?

Wednesday, September 16th
 
Read Genesis 5 (yes, I know, it may be a struggle- but what do you notice? What stands out? BTW- don’t worry about pronouncing the names, it doesn’t matter)
 
This is the written account of Adam’s family line. When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind”  when they were created.
3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. 4 After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 5 Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.
6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father[b] of Enosh. 7 After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8 Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.
9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. 10 After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11 Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.
12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. 13 After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 Altogether, Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.
15 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared. 16 After he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. 17 Altogether, Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died.
18 When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. 19 After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 Altogether, Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died.
21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. 22 After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. 24 Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. 26 After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27 Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.
28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. 29 He named him Noah[c] and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.” 30 After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. 31 Altogether, Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died.
32 After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.
 
What did you notice? What stood out to you?
 
First quick observation, what do we do with the names and the numbers? There are ten generations from Adam to Noah, on both lines (Cain and Seth). Simply put, there’s no point in doing mathematic gymnastics to figure out dates and times. In part, remember this is a Jewish rendering of the creation story. There were scores of other stories, but one in particular was the Sumerian Kings list, which is the Babylon genealogy of the kings of Babylon and their reign. I won’t get into it all, but if you want to Geek out do a comparison between the biblical genealogies and the Sumerian King list.
 
Truth is, there is a balance between interpreting this passage symbolically and /or actually. People way smarter than you and I are split on understanding how this works. Besides genealogies during that time, in comparison to how we understand genealogies, are different.
 
Which means, we need to go back to the question we’ve been asking along the way, what should get our attention? Two things I want to draw your attention to, first what was consistent with every name? Regardless of their name or how long they lived.
 
They were born and they died. I know, I know some of you are like “duh, captain obvious.”
Pay attention to what we’ve been studying all along.
 
Remember God gave us life and breathed into us, then assigned us to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:27-28, 2:7). Simply put, birth = life = blessing. (Hold that thought)
If we keep reading, Genesis 2:17, God’s command was to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, if we did, we would surely die. Genesis 3 the evil serpent deceives Adam and Eve, they eat and the “curse” takes place. They don’t necessarily die a physical death, even though there are limitations put on our life, they die also a spiritual death. Simply put, death = curse.
 
The first thing I want you to pay attention to is that within the course of life, we have life and death, blessing and curse, but you already know that. But that’s my push, what do we do with that?
 
How do we respond to both blessing and curses? How do we respond to life and death? How do we respond to ease and challenge?
 
So many times we believe goodness based upon circumstances, versus seeing goodness based in the character of the creator.  How many times do we need to see struggle, not based upon God punishing, or devaluing, or not loving, that hard things (curses in life) are a part of life and it is holding onto God’s character in the midst of those hard things?
 
We will spend a bit more time on this tomorrow, but sit with that struggle of blessing and curse, life and death and how you respond within life.  As you do that, take a listen to this song as well.  Goodness of God

Tuesday, September 15

Read Genesis 4:25-26- 25 Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord.

What do you notice? This has a different feeling, doesn’t it? Reference to God’s provision for a son, Seth. Where, especially Lamech, didn’t reference God’s provision, he took wives and they had kids.

But the author made a point with the last line, “people began to call on the name of the Lord.” Yes, violence, taking, chaos, was in the world, but there were some who called on the name of the Lord.

That phrase is a declaration of dependence, in other places of scripture it equates to “taking hold of God” (Isaiah 64:6), aligning with his purposes (Isaiah 44:5-6) and declaring him as the one and only God (Zechariah 13:9).

Like last week, do you see the two paths? Not necessarily Cain’s path and Seth’s path, even though some do define it that way. I don’t define it that way, because each of us has our struggles of pain, chaos, and sin. I think the author is getting our attention, with the choice of how we live.

Take a moment and open up your bibles to those three passages on what it means to call on the name of the Lord. How can you live that out today? (Taking hold of God, aligning with His purposes, declaring He is your one and only)?

Monday, September 14th

I understand that everyone’s algo rhythm is different, and I don’t pretend to understand, nor do I care. But I do find it interesting that my algo rhythm has a lot to do with “not” getting older or shall I say, staying younger. Try this cream, this pill, this workout. This will help with losing weight, growing hair, and other … and if that doesn't work, try this shirt or undergarment, with the purpose of staying younger or living longer.

Don’t get me wrong, I want to live a full life, I don’t want it cut short. If I can live to see triple digits, I think that would be pretty awesome. Granted, if I had a semblance of my mind and body.

But the lengths people go to keep living is mind-blowing. I just did a brief search, 30 seconds, on cryogenically freezing your body.

Check out these questions- Is anyone still cryogenically still frozen? Yes, hundreds of people are still frozen, the first was Psychology professor Dr. James Bedford, stored in 1967 in Alcor facility in Arizona.

Has anyone ever been woken up from cryogenic freezing? No human has ever been successfully woken up or revived from cryogenic freezing.

What is the future hope? Proponents rely on future breakthroughs in nanotechnology and regenerative medicine to repair cells and reverse death, though mainstream science currently views the practice with extreme skepticism.

The lengths people go to reverse death or to keep living. But is that the point? I know that the start of this message can come with a variety of questions; the fear of death, the purpose of life, what’s on the other side? But the question I want us to wrestle with is the title of the message, “Is it more about the how, or the how long?”

Read Genesis 4:17-24-(don’t’ worry about getting the pronunciation right) 17 Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech. 19 Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. 22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah. 23 Lamech said to his wives,
“Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. 24 If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.”

What stood out to you? What did you notice?

First of all, Cain was supposed to be a wanderer, instead, what does he do?

He creates a city, he gathers others, we see progress. We see that some of the family live in tents and raise livestock, some musicians, some are blacksmiths. Which is interesting because the next thing we read is the first poem written by humanity. Actually, I should probably say, it’s not a poem, with eloquence and beauty. It’s more like an anthem of death, where Lamech takes pride in unjustly killing someone. Did you notice that he was wounded, some translations say bruised and because of that he killed a man. Not eye for an eye, or tooth for tooth, Lamech escalated the demise, you wounded me, I’m going to kill you.

Which brings me to this observation. We saw sin and evil in Cain, as it impacted one man, who was to wander, but now as people gather, what happens when sinners congregate together? An increase of pain, chaos, murder, and outcry.

Theologian John Walton says it very pointedly. “Violence is glorified, and the mark of Cain no longer stands as a stigma of exile but a badge of honor that brings protection equivalent to invulnerability. The human situation is degenerating.”

By the way, this is also our first instance of polygamy, where Lamech “takes” two wives. He takes, just like his great-great-great grandparents. He took, instead of trusting.

I believe the author is getting our attention and saying, this is A way of life, one that is very familiar throughout scripture, the increase of taking, control, violence, chaos, actually, one that is familiar to even us today.

I know this may be a startling reflection today, but I think it is worth pausing here. We can’t simply put our head in the sand and ignore the path of chaos that is all around us, and as I’ve shared last week, we are all just one step, one choice, one response from walking out the same path.

It is an opportunity to pause and reflect on the “how” we live and what are we multiplying within life?