Reach Church

Thus far, God has made unconditional promises to Abram through covenant. Now, he invites him and all future offspring to trust in the Lord. Trusting, we will find, may not be as easy as one assumes.

Waiting on the Lord is challenging. Sometimes when we are waiting on Him, we choose to take things into our own hands. This is certainly the case in the account of Abram, Sarai and Hagar. There is a cost to doing it our way. Even still, the Lord is faithful and near.

God's covenant promise to Abram is now repeated and ratified in a dramatic ceremony that reveals a powerful glory in God's character. What God reveals to Abram has a direct line to your faith, today. How Abram responds to God is a centerpiece for the Apostle Paul's explanation of the gospel of grace.

Slowing down dramatically, we take a beat to examine Abram's encounter with the magnificent and mysterious Melchizedek, priest and king. A major psalm and a good portion of the book of Hebrews helps us connect this brief encounter to the person of Jesus. Even more, it equips us with powerful tools for relationship and ministry.

As both grow in wealth, Abram and Lot separate from one another, revealing what they both love most. Lot proves the fickle nature of putting money over God; Abram shows the freedom and blessing that come from loving God first.

As the nations begin to spread out after the Flood, we arrive at a minor hiccup in the story of humanity. But the story of Babel will reveal the ghastly potential for idolatry, which warrants God’s gracious intervention. As we conclude the first part of Genesis, we are left with a dire need for covenant — God revealing himself to humans who do not know him.

After the Ark, Noah encounters a Covenant-making and Covenant-keeping God. In this Creation-rich interaction we see a wealth of relevant, faith-building truth that lives as well today as it did millennia ago.

In the account of Noah and the flood, we must see that our God takes sin and rebellion seriously. And, we see His grace to preserve a remnant; ones who will recreate a community of worshippers from the wreckage.

A destructive cycle of rebellion and chaos follows Adam’s descendents. God continues to invite humanity to walk with Him and bring blessing into the world, but they continue to choose their own way, bringing us to the prelude to the flood. Yet God promises, even in rebellion, that a wounded victor will come to defeat Satan, sin, and death once and for all.

In Cain and Abel, we see two different heart postures in a setting of worship. As the disease of sin spreads — even in the midst of the most calloused and heartbreaking disobedience — God shows up as a shepherding father.