If you have been in church at all in your life then you have heard someone say to know God and his will for your life you need to read your bible regularly. I’ve heard it, said it and even suggested memorizing parts of scripture. However, the truth is many people rarely open “THE BOOK” to discover the treasures within. The excuses elude to time, schedules, lack of clarity, desire and even the admission people hate to read. All of which are understandable if this were your High School English class or a technical manual for your smartphone. But the Bible is God’s Word curated over centuries detailing His nature, His will, the meaning of life and humanity’s historical interactions with Him. Seriously, the Bible details the hidden keys to the Kingdom. Many have read it. It’s an undeniable fact that it remains the world's number one bestseller, since gutenberg invented the printing press. No book even comes close and yet, many people, including self proclaimed born again Christians, have never read or studied the book that offers the keys to peace, joy, love and hope in this life and the next. Hence, the reason we will be offering an overview each week this year to help all of us become Bible literate.
This week we begin with Genesis.
Moses probably wrote the book around 1400 before Christ entered the world. Obviously, Moses was not an eyewitness to the earliest events but due to his relationship with God as a prophet, we can believe God revealed the truth either directly or indirectly through previous oral or written records. The era being described is before the Hebrews arrived in Egypt and grew into a nation (1800bc).
As we read, we see the writer sharing that when God created everything it was good and then something happened. Genesis details the entering of sin into the world and its tainting of everything. Genesis not only tells of the beginning of God’s plan for salvation but also the framework by which the rest of the bible builds our understanding of life, death and the need for a savior.
Genesis tells us a host of beginning stories:
The first plants
The first animals
The first man
The first woman
The first interactions
The first sin
The first news of God’s salvation
And finally, God’s desire to have and restore a relationship with the first people He chose to represent Him on earth. A legacy now passed on to you.
This last point is critical because Genesis helps us see God’s willingness to provide unmerited favor and forgiveness when most humans would not offer grace or mercy. A point best described in Genesis 12 or the hinge between the creation stories and man’s rebellion.
Let’s take a look at Genesis 12:1-9.
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
2 “I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.[a]
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”[b]
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring[c] I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.
Last week, I shared a message online and used some traditional words from John Wesley’s watchnight service and prayed for each of you here and at home. I also asked each of us to recommit to your part in our mission together. If you look at today’s scripture, I’d like for you to underline the words following:
In verse one “go”, verse four and five “went” and “set out”; verse six “traveled”; verse eight “went”, Verse nine “set out”
When the Lord came to Abram, did God ever say to “sit”? NO!
I highlight this for several reasons:
God has been sending his people to be a blessing for as long as humanity has existed. You and I are the sent people of God. We are not the “sit and spin” people of God. If we were there would be no reason for a sabbath. We, like Abram, are sent to be a blessing. Verse two gives you our marching orders that would be solidified in God’s redeeming of us.
From Abram’s descendants God would send Jesus. When humanity’s nature got in the way, God sent His Son to redeem. An idea prophesied about in Isaiah 53:10-11
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes[c] his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
And confirmed by Paul in Romans 3:22-25
22 This righteousness is given through faith in[h] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.
From which, Jesus would send the Holy Spirit. Another idea prophesied about in the Old Testament by the prophet Joel in Joel 2:28-32. Take a listen:
“And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30 I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
32 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved;
And reference by Jesus as detailed by John 14:16
6 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
And fulfilled in Acts 2:32-33 as shared by Peter at Pentecost when the Spirit descended
God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. 33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.
A Spirit who then sends us. Jesus is clear on our mission in John’s gospel. John 15:26:27 says,
“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
And Jesus continues by saying in John 16:13-15
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
Like Abram, we are the sent people of God to be a blessing to humanity by testifying about God, His Son and the power of the Holy Spirit.
So are you ready to be sent in 2023 and beyond?
You may feel you don’t have enough bible knowledge, or understanding of Christian doctrines, or time and experience as a Christian, or your story doesn’t seem as “interesting” as those you’ve heard. If that’s you, let me assure you that none of that matters. All that matters is your belief in Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit to clearly answer the following question in two minutes of less: Why do you believe in Jesus? A Christ follower?
In an effort to get us all comfortable, let’s share with someone else in the room today before communion your answer.
https://communitycenter.life
Creative: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/genesis-1-11/
References: Quest Bible Overviews
