Focal Passage: Genesis 22:1-14 

Substitute: someone standing in the place of someone else, such as a substitute teacher or perhaps a teammate coming in off the bench in a game. 

Or, maybe changing the recipe with different ingredients when you don’t have a needed item in your kitchen.  Or, perhaps getting a generic prescription filled. Substitute appears to mean second best, a fill in, or not as good. If we would have life and death issue, we want the very best and not the substitute. But not always.  

Drew Bledsoe was a first round draft pick of the New England Patriots. He would lead his team to a Super Bowl, was named to the Pro Bowl several times and would sign a $100 million dollar contract. 

Bledsoe, by every standard, was a very good quarterback in the NFL. In the 2001 NFL season, Bledsoe got hurt and a “substitute” had to come in. His name? Tom Brady who would become the most decorated QB in the history of the NFL. So, maybe, substitutes are not secondary. [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Genesis 19:12-26 

Jesus said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). I have often found these words of Jesus compelling. It represents a forward-looking Jesus. Get to work and look ahead! 

The instrument of work, the plow, is the constant element in His declaration. When studying Jesus, many have found leadership traits focused not on what was, but on what can or will be. Leadership also must trust what has been. The plow, the instrument of work or what has been given, has not changed. Armed with the constant — the Word of God — a leader is challenged to face the future with the conviction of bringing the “kingdom of God” to earth. It challenges deacons, pastors, staff and even the church.

The judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah was horrifying at best. Despite the destruction of God’s creation through the Flood because “every imagination of his thought was only evil” (Genesis 6:5), Sodom and Gomorrah, once again, exemplified the declaration that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Once again, evidence is found that sin dwells in Sodom and Gomorrah.  [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Genesis 17:1-10;15-19 

When I was born, the firstborn to my parents, my father and mother named me after the most important man in my father’s life — his father. Upon the birth of our firstborn, my wife and I named him after the man who held the utmost significance in my life — my father. 

When our daughter was born, she was given the name of my deceased sister. The name of my wife’s father was given to our youngest when he was born. When my firstborn son had his firstborn daughter, he and his wife gave her his late mother’s name. When his second daughter was born, he and his wife gave her the name of his wife’s late father. 

In other words, the naming of names is very important. Naming is passing on gifts that are so important and a reflection of things that matter. Many parents use the naming of their children to pass on to their child the character or love felt from a parent, friend, loved one, or perhaps to honor a dear loved one.  [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Genesis 15:1-6; 16:1-6 

I am impatient, and, as a result, I am a work in progress. I do not like to watch commercials on TV. I do not like to wait in line at restaurants. I do not like to sit in traffic. 

Waiting is an interruption into what I think my schedule ought to be. So, “waiting on the Lord” humbles me. I grow so impatient, just “waiting.” I think I am not alone. 

Part of my love of Scripture, especially the Old Testament, is the portrayal of our spiritual heroes with no coverup. Abram, soon to be Abraham, was portrayed as a man of great faith, first, answering God’s call to go to a new land with an unknown future, and second, demonstrating his humility with Lot in allowing Lot to choose the prime choice of land.  [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Genesis 12:1-5a; 13:11-18 

As a minister, one of my most enjoyable moments is standing before a couple who make promises to each other as they become husband and wife. When these couples come to see me before they get married, I talk about promises each will make to the other on their marriage day. 

I ask them to thoughtfully write what they promise to do for the other as each takes on the new role of husband or wife. “I promise to …” forces the one speaking to take responsibility for their future actions. The one hearing these promises then must decide whether to trust the one giving them enough to believe that these promises will be fulfilled. 

The unifying theme of “promise and fulfillment” found throughout all of Scripture began with the covenant made with Abram, soon to be Abraham. God provided a list of promises that He claimed He would deliver. Land, nation, blessings, greatness and being a blessing were all promises thoughtfully made to Abram by God.  [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Genesis 11:1-9 

After retirement, my dad served for a year as an interim pastor in Kowloon, Hong Kong, at an English-speaking church. My family went for a visit. Dad wanted to take us out to experience the Hong Kong culture and took us downtown in a taxi to a small “hole in the wall” restaurant for an authentic Chinese meal. 

Dad had help writing down directions and ordering in the proper language. At the end of our night, we were successful. However, we spent most of the night pointing instead of speaking, looking confused and trying to understand a different language and culture. When you don’t speak the same language, it is easy for confusion to reign. 

The story of the tower of Babel showed how God authored confusion to stop His people from their continued ways of being disobedient. The people could no longer communicate with each other, and it stopped their plans. The tower of Babel was a continuation of the Biblical truth: “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 6:23).  [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Genesis 9:1-15 

Rebranding is a common theme in the business world. Once a product has hit the market and an initial run has met with success, a company will pull the product off the market, tweak it, repackage it, do a new sales campaign, and then re-release the rebranded product to be sold again, often at a higher price. Rebranding takes a worn-out or broken product, reshapes it, and then sends it back to be sold again.  

The flood story allowed a “rebranding” of sorts to take the broken (Genesis 6:5-7) and restore it. Following the flood, Scripture moved from the Covenant between God and Adam to the Covenant between God and Noah.  

The Noah covenant had three components. First, the blessings; second, the responsibility that humanity assumed; and third, the great promise God made when placing the “bow” in the sky.   It is essential to understand that God made these Covenants, and God is the One at work, not humanity dictating the plans.   [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Genesis 8:10-22 

While stories in Scripture detail the actions of various characters, such as Noah during the time of the Flood, these stories always reflect the nature and character of God. 

Two traits of God are revealed during the time of the Flood and the faithfulness of Noah. First, the power of God to unleash the torrents of water to undo the vast Creation that He had made, and second, the personal closeness that God demonstrates to both Creation and humanity as He establishes the covenant first made with Adam, and now, with Noah “to be fruitful and multiply.”

The power of God demonstrated through both Creation, and then the destruction of His Creation, overwhelms the senses.  [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Genesis 6:13-22; 7:20-24 

While working in my office one morning, the FBI came to my door. That got my heart racing. He told me the FBI had received a “credible threat” made by the KKK against an event that I and others were planning at our courthouse for MLK Day. He came to warn us. We made plans because of that warning. The result was lots of police, media and little action. I learned a valuable lesson through that experience. When warnings come, respond to them. 

Noah received a credible warning from God. “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.” 

Did Noah know that “every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5)? Did Noah believe God could, or even would, bring judgment upon the sins of the human heart?  [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Genesis 4:1-15 

It was like any Sunday. As I made my way through the sanctuary, greeting people who had arrived early for worship, I reluctantly stopped to check in with the deacons milling around in the back. I knew what was coming. I asked who was taking the offering that day and who would be leading the offertory prayer. They shuffled their feet and looked down until one mumbled, “I will.” The crisis was averted. 

The offering was taken as it was every week, and a weekly box was checked. With the monotony of repetition, family financial challenges and lack of clarity in our teachings on stewardship, it is often with a less than “joyful heart” that Christians bring their offerings to the Lord. The story of Cain and Abel helps us delineate very early in the Scripture God’s desire for our hearts to give our best as we present our offerings! [Read more…]