—

“Making a Name for Yourself” – Genesis 11:9

Genesis 11:9

“Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.”

Many people seek to be famous in their own world, but when we start out on our own or “grow up” we barely have a name. We can’t borrow money because we have little credit in our name. Our resume might consist of a few summer jobs, a diploma, and three references. So, how can we ever make a name for ourselves to build a better future, and what do we want that name to say to others? What I am getting at is that our name is our reputation. It is what we are known for, so we must seek a good name right from the start.

This text reveals people who wanted to make a name for themselves. They wanted a name that was popular and powerful, but God did not want them to have that name. He did not want that name because they would build that name without Him. Building a name without God doesn’t seem bad until you look back at Adam, Cain, and the Flood. These men and events proved that the earth could not sustain life without God.

So, this time, instead of sending another flood, God confused their languages. He essentially made it impossible for the entire earth to be united around one human agenda. As a matter of fact, the only complete unity that will ever happen is when Christ unites us in heaven.

While using the HEAR method (see below) consider the following questions:  
  • What are some ways that people try to make a name for themselves? 
  • Where do you think the balance is between “making a name” and making sure His is the name above all names in your life? 

Highlight – what words or phrases jump out at you? 

Explain – what does the passage mean? 
Apply – how does the passage intersect with your life today? 
Respond – how is God leading you to respond?
Pastor Stephen Williams
Photo by Austin Kirk on Unsplash

“Making a Name for Yourself” – Genesis 11:9 Read More »

“Babel” – Genesis 11:1-9

Genesis 11:1-9
“Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.”
Highlight – what words or phrases jump out at you? 
Explain – what does the passage mean? 
Apply – how does the passage intersect with your life today? 
Respond – how is God leading you to respond? 

“Babel” – Genesis 11:1-9 Read More »

“Our Judge and Father” – Genesis 3:14-24

In the final portion of chapter 3, we see the resulting consequences from the actions of Adam and Eve. Although God hands out judgment through curses and consequences, He also exhibits love and mercy throughout. Read the passage in light of the questions at the end and explore this initial example of God as a righteous Judge and loving Father.

Genesis 3:14-24

The Lord God said to the serpent,
 
“Because you have done this,
    cursed are you above all livestock
    and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
    and dust you shall eat
    all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
    and you shall bruise his heel.”
 
To the woman he said,
 
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
    in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
    but he shall rule over you.”
 
And to Adam he said,
 
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
    and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
    ‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
    in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
    and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
    you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
    for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
    and to dust you shall return.”
 
The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
 
Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
 
While using the HEAR method (see below) consider the following questions:
  • Who did God address in this passage?
  • Who or what did He curse? What other consequences were there?
  • How did God provide for Adam and Eve even after their sin?
  • What in this passage do we see the results of even today? (good and bad)

Highlight – what words or phrases jump out at you?

Explain – what does the passage mean?
Apply – how does the passage intersect with your life today?
Respond – how is God leading you to respond?
Jon Price, Associate Pastor
 
Photo by Mohan Moolepetlu on Unsplash
 
 

“Our Judge and Father” – Genesis 3:14-24 Read More »

“The Seed” – James 1:15

James 1:15
 
“Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”
 
Life is hard for everyone, whether they’re a believer or not. People will always struggle with different desires in different moments and seasons of their lives. The only element that is different for a believer and an unbeliever is where their desires come from. A believer that allows Jesus to help guide their desires will move towards righteousness. But an unbeliever allows their fleshly desires to lead them into wickedness.
 
James points out that a simple sinful desire that seems small in the moment can lead to death before a person sees it coming. Imagine a small redwood seed dropped into a crack in the foundation of a beautiful billion dollar mansion. In the moment, the seed doesn’t seem to have any effect at all, so it’s ignored. But as time passes, the seed turns into an enormous redwood tree. Now we have a beautiful mansion that is destroyed by an enormous beautiful giant redwood tree. The house and tree are both beautiful, but the tree was planted in the wrong place, which brought destruction. This is exactly what James is talking about. Sin might seem small in the moment, but when it grows it will destroy a person and all that they’ve built up. It may take their very life.
 
Believers can be encouraged that God gives His people abundant wisdom every time they seek His will. God desires to help His children pursue righteousness no matter what their desires might be in the moment. At moments, we might need forgiveness, which He is faithful to give. At moments, we might need wisdom, which He is faithful to give. Ask God and He will speak.
 

While using the HEAR method (see below) consider the following questions:

  • Have you ever experienced a seemingly inconsequential sin grow into something destructive in your life?
  • What are some ways that you can guard against complacency towards sin and it’s effects in your life?
Highlight – what words or phrases jump out at you?
Explain – what does the passage mean?
Apply – how does the passage intersect with your life today?
Respond – how is God leading you to respond?
Macon Jones, Student and Young Adult Pastor

“The Seed” – James 1:15 Read More »

“It’s not my fault!”

Romans 3:10, 23 

“None is righteous, no, not one; 
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
 
When I was a wee lad growing up in south Florida, by far my most hated chore was to weed under the orange trees in the backyard. My brother and I would make a day of sitting in the shade pulling weeds, avoiding the muck of rotten oranges, and cursing Adam and Eve for sinning. The way we understood it, weeds were a direct consequence of the fall, and that little event fell squarely on their naked shoulders. Thousands of years later, we were forced to waste a perfectly good Saturday (back then, the only time to watch cartoons), paying for their poor choices.
 
But the truth of the matter is, that although Adam and Eve were the first to sin, we aren’t off the hook. A few centuries after the early church began, a doctrine called “original sin” came into favor. It was based on the idea that Adam and Eve’s sin caused a reaction down the genetic line of mankind that caused everyone to be born “into sin.” In other words, we can’t help it. We come out of the womb stained by the sin of the first couple and therefore deserve God’s wrath. And although there are far-reaching consequences of the fall and all the following sin that preceded us, it is only our own sin that condemns us.
 
Like a college kid with a semester of psychology under our belt, we can think of any number of reasons why it’s our parent’s fault, the government’s fault, our culture’s fault, or even the first man and woman’s fault. But as it turns out, original sin isn’t so original. We’ve all sinned and bear the blame of turning against the One who created us.
 
While using the HEAR method (see below) consider the following questions:
  • When you consider your own sin, and your tendency towards it, do you see it as directly from you, or is it someone else’s fault?
  • If we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, where does that leave us?

Highlight – what words or phrases jump out at you?
Explain – what does the passage mean?
Apply – how does the passage intersect with your life today?
Respond – how is God leading you to respond?

Jon Price, Associate Pastor
 
Photo by Irene Dávila on Unsplash
 

“It’s not my fault!” Read More »

“Released from your shame”

Genesis 3:8-13

“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
 
When Adam and Eve took the first bite, the fruit did not possess some kind of potion that opened their eyes to good and evil.  No, Adam and Eve chose to eat what God said not to eat, and immediately they experienced a conscious awareness of the other side of good.
 
The actions that followed were just the continuation of those feelings and the consequence of guilt from those actions. That trend has continued throughout history to where we are today.
 
Adam and Eve were now self-conscious and ashamed at what they saw in themselves.  They began to see what happens when we deviate from God’s design.  The only two things they knew to do was to cover up and give excuses.  They were hiding from God and trying to convince themselves and God that everything was fine, but it is no fun playing hide and seek with God.
 
Possibly, if they could cover themselves, their flaws would not be exposed. Maybe the awareness of their faults could be excused.  However, excuses and hiding do not take away the shame.  They only magnify the fact that something is wrong.
 
If you want to be secure with yourself and right with our Holy God, you must be honest.  God already knows what you did and no excuses will release you.  So, take a daily inventory with the Spirit of God and expose yourself to Him.  Without excuses, let God wash away your sin and remove your shame.
 
While using the HEAR method (see below) consider the following questions:
  • What are times in your life when you hid or made excuses for things you were guilty of?
  • Do you have sin in your life that makes you ashamed and need God’s cleansing?
  • Will you be honest with God?

Highlight – what words or phrases jump out at you?
Explain – what does the passage mean?
Apply – how does the passage intersect with your life today?
Respond – how is God leading you to respond?

 
Photo by Alex Iby on Unsplash
 

“Released from your shame” Read More »