Genesis Church: Sermon Audio

Micah ends His prophetic book by raising the question embedded in his name: Who is like Yahweh? The answer is the only source of hope for people who have fallen, broken lives in a fallen, broken world. The True and Living God is full of grace and forgiveness – He will not stay angry forever, rather He loves us and will be faithful. And, He keeps His promises. How do we know? Because the hope promised in Micah and throughout the Old Testament finds its fulfillment on a Spring day when Jesus died on the cross bringing the justice and love of God together in one defining moment.

During the final years of Micah’s ministry, Assyria is ripping through the northern portions of the land leaving Israel devastated and in bondage. Micah helps God’s people realize that there was a connection between their sinful disobedience and the judgment of God in their lives. The consequences of their rebellion is costly, yet for those in a relationship with God, there is always an invitation to repentance which leads to restoration and forgiveness. In the first of Martin Luther’s 95 Thesis that sparked the Reformation, he said that for the believer in Jesus, all of life is repentance. Repentance is one of the great gifts God has given to His people, as our humble sorrow for and turning from sin and idolatry opens the door for reconciliation and all of the blessings promised in the Scriptures. Our prayer today is that Micah’s example will push us toward true repentance so that we, as God’s people, can drink deeply from the well of His grace.

It is a simple yet complex question: “What does the Lord require of you?” This is a question many people want answered. People are spiritual and religious and, for the most part, they want their leaders and gurus to give them the rituals and activities necessary for acceptance by God. The Jews in Israel at the time of Micah were no different. So far, Micah’s prophecy has given an indictment for God’s people and then pointed to the birth of a King in Bethlehem as the ultimate source of hope. Chapter six comes to them with a simple proposal to answer this question. Religious activity is worthless unless it changes the structure of our hearts and the way we love and care for people in the world. The people who have been rescued by God should reflect His values, character, and attitudes in the culture around them. We live in a world full of deceit, oppression, and injustice. Will the people of God be nothing more than a reflection of the world around them or will they stand in stark contr

It was really just a small, redneck town. Not a whole lot there— just a small shepherding village about six miles from Jerusalem. But the small village of Bethlehem was the birthplace of King David. In one of the clearest prophecies about the coming of Jesus, Micah predicts that the little shepherding village of Bethlehem will be the birth place of another promised Shepherd-King who would bring hope and restoration to the people of God. Like the nation, this King will come to rule, but will also be attacked like a young lion attacks a flock of sheep. Yet, this King’s hand will be lifted up over his adversaries and cut off all His enemies. As a result, the ministry of this King will cleanse and purify His people in a glorious way. Of course, about 700 years later a man and his pregnant virgin fiancée will make the trek to the same little town and give birth to the True and Better King, Jesus.

Where do we find hope in our world? It’s not hard to look around and find things fairly bleak in the world. It can seem that the world is random, chaotic, and cruel. The tone of Micah’s message changes quickly in Chapter 4. While judgment on Israel is coming, this is not the end of their story. Micah shifts from the indictment on their rebellion to the hope for restoration. And that hope did not rest on the goodness and obedience of the nation, rather this hope is in the dawning of a new Kingdom and the restoration of Jerusalem as the hope for the nations. In this, Micah offers Israel and us the source of true hope when the world is hard, and that hope is found in the sovereignty and goodness of God.

The whole world has just gone through a time of trials and suffering. God never promised the church to keep us from suffering. The tough reality is that God guarantees that we will face various trials. The good news is that God has a profound plan for the trials He permits in our life and part of that plan is to fulfill a powerful promise to each of us. As we walk through 1 Peter’s teaching this morning, we can be encouraged by what God has done in the past four years in Ecuador and carry that testimony into the next trial that will strengthen and perfect our faith.

The phrase goes, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” In Micah’s day, the illusion of peace and prosperity hid the fact that the leaders were the primary perpetrators of the injustices taking place in the land. Rulers used their position to protect their own power and wealth and the prophets of the day were more than happy to proclaim a message that benefitted the powerful—who were also more than happy to use them. The truth is that evil and unjust leaders are a sign of God’s judgment upon a culture. Being prophetic in voice means that we are willing to proclaim the truth of the Gospel against the injustice no matter who is involved. For God’s people, we find that representing Jesus means that the cries of injustice should receive our hearts, our voice, and our hands.

God’s love and grace should produce people who are generous, gracious, and deeply care for others. Instead, God’s people were involved in the worst types of injustices, showing no concern for human life, and mistreating the poor, immigrants, women, and children. Those in power will do anything to anyone to gain wealth, get more land, and become more powerful. Cries for justice matter, and God’s people should care for the marginalized and hurting. And, we must never forget that ultimately, God will judge and will bring justice—even to His own people.

Micah’s message begins with a major warning for His people Israel, predicting coming destruction at the hands of the Assyrian Empire. This was ultimately God’s sovereign judgment on His people who were drenched in idolatry. Micah builds Jehovah’s case to show the people’s guilt and deserved justice. The first indictment is that Israel had traded their relationship with True God for cheap imitations and fake man-made gods who cannot deliver. Most of the time, the drift toward idolatry is subtle. Generally, we don’t begin with outright rejection of Jesus. Most of the time, the path to idolatry happens as we mix the spirituality and beliefs around us with the faith delivered in the Gospel. We want all of God’s promises and blessings, yet reject any type of God who keeps us from doing what we want and getting all the things we desire. Yet, idolatry always fails us, our idols cannot save. And worse, idolatry robs us of our witness to the world. As we will find today, idol

Micah stands in a long line of prophets, those sent with the Word of the Lord in their mouths and on their pens. They functioned as God’s prosecutors, indicting the nation for their failure to remain faithful to the covenant, while reminding them that God is holy and will be faithful to His promises. While their messages are difficult, any time we have a Word from the Lord it comes with an invitation and a promise. The invitation is to repent and believe the Gospel. And the promise is that God saves and restores. This sermon will introduce Micah and the moment into which he spoke, but will also remind us that God’s Word may have come in time but is always timeless.

As a church, we are setting aside today to emphasize the importance of foster care and adoption. Jesus’ brother, James, wrote a letter to early Christians and his words are striking. The clearest evidence of true religion shaped by the Gospel is the way the faith community cares for the marginalized—specifically widows and orphans. This sentiment is echoed throughout Scripture. Furthermore, one of the most beautiful metaphors of the Gospel is that we have been adopted into God’s family, with God as our True Father. As we bring attention to this issue, we hope that it might lead some to consider foster care and adoption, while calling the entire church to a posture of love and support for those who do so. We will also share a bit about some ministries involved in this sort of care and cast vision for a ministry that could lead our church to create a culture of care for marginalized children and for families who get involved in adoption and foster care.

We like to say that the Gospel comes with an engine. The Gospel saves individuals, but then places them in a community of people and then sends them on a mission. And, not just any mission—we are invited into the Missio Dei, the mission of God. Our Community Groups are so much more than a place to hang out, read a few verses together, and then eat cookies. We see ourselves as a people who have been rescued by the Gospel so that we make the Gospel visible to our city and the world. Peter wrote a letter to the early church and stated that God’s mercy was given to them so that those who once were not a people would become God’s people receiving mercy. But God did this so they could both proclaim His excellencies and demonstrate His mercy, which would cause outsiders to glorify God on the day of visitation. Joining God in His mission is one of the core pillars for us as a church. It is our passion to live together as people sent to our city and world, and to develop each follower of Jesus to

I am dating myself a bit, but I was a big fan of the TV show Cheers. The show was about a group of people who had developed a web of meaningful relationships at a Boston bar, and over the years, characters were developed in a way that revealed they deeply cared for and about each other. The show’s opening song was catchy, and revealed something all of us need: a place where everybody knows your name and are glad you came. We live in such a fragmented culture, it is difficult to find a place where you can both be a mess and loved anyway. But, this should be the exact nature of the sort of community you find in the church. When God saves a person, He makes them a part of His people. The church is not a building, hierarchy or institution—it has always been a redeemed people. The Gospel forms a people, so the local church is made up of people who are diverse, yet Christ arranges them into His body and dwells within them. This community is marked by humility, love, and unity and becoming more like Jesus. And it i

Welcome to Genesis Church and Baptism Sunday! Today we start a 3-week series, Pillars, where we will see that God’s purpose for us has always been tied to three key pillars: the Gospel, Community, and Mission. Many of us grew up believing that the Gospel, the message about Jesus’ death and resurrection, was the ABC’s of Christianity, the first message we need to know in order to be saved—that after believing the Gospel we move on to the deeper things, right? Actually, the Gospel is the A-Z of our faith, the central message of the Bible, and the answer to every question. For the follower of Jesus, the Gospel has saved us, is saving us, and will save us. And the good news of the death, burial, and resurrection is good news that reaches every fiber of our being, every relationship, every part of our lives. The world around us cannot see the beauty of the Gospel of the glory of God. But when the Gospel transforms people, the church becomes the lens that makes the Gospel visible a

We close our Confronting Christianity series with a doozy. How could a loving God send people to hell? Philosopher and Theologian Peter Kreft has said, “Of all the doctrines of Christianity, hell is the most difficult to defend, the most burdensome to bear, and the first to be abandoned.” Hell has to be an outdated idea flowing from religious zealots seeking to control the lives of people, right? The truth is that no single person said more about the existence and nature of hell than Jesus Himself. If we look at Jesus’ words closely, we will find that hell is actually an extension of God’s character and expression of His righteousness, justice, and yes, even His love. But most important, Christ Himself took on the full weight of hell for us on the cross so that we, as sinful people deserving justice, do not have to end there.

Today Elder John Parke will lead us in a study of Psalm 19 and how that scripture can help us answer the question “How can we take the bible literally”? We will look at the composition of the Christian bible, the various human authors and literary styles. Our text today will testify to the power and authority of the true author of scripture, God Himself.

Hasn’t science disproved Christianity? The vast majority of our current academic community and culture would answer that question with a resounding YES! So, we need to understand the difference between “science” and “scientism”. When we do, we will see that through the ages, sinful man has found a way to twist the beauty of God’s gift of science into a belief system that denies God. Far from disproving Christianity, science fully supports our faith. Science is a God-given tool used to reveal God’s glory, majesty and power. The more we see His glory, the more we see our own sin and insignificance and our need for a savior.

Christians are painted many ways in our culture, as we’ve learned over the course of this sermon series, and one of the loudest accusations is that “Christianity is Homophobic.” Certainly, mass attention goes toward the loudest of groups such as Westboro Baptist Church, a cult who yells obscene and sinful things at people who identify as LGBT, but the question is, do they represent the ideas of the majority of Christians? In this sermon, we will learn what God’s Word says about sexuality, God’s design in relationships, and how Jesus emphasizes the beauty of marriage between man and woman. By doing this, Jesus excludes homosexuality as holy and good for His people. In the end, we must conclude that we as Christians are to love those who struggle with the sin and temptation of homosexuality and that Christ calls us all to something greater: Glorifying and loving God in self-sacrifice and self-control for building of His kingdom.

There are many questions that people use to discredit The Bible and God Himself, often looking to the horrors historically present in our world. One such question is how The Bible, and ultimately God, responds to the notion of slavery. Does God forbid slavery in the Bible, or does He condone it? Why should we believe in a God whose people were complicit in using the Bible to support slavery and oppress so many people? While people tend to look for black or white responses to these questions, there is perhaps a deeper premise at work in the gospel. In the deceptively short book of Philemon, we see a practical application of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the context of slavery that effectively blows apart these questions and brings about change through the Kingdom of Heaven, showing how in the gospel, believers are freed from enslavement to sin, welcomed into a new family where all are equal in Christ, and made fruitful for God’s purposes of reconciliation and the dissemination of gospel freedom far and

For many skeptics of the Christian faith, the question of suffering and evil is seen as a trump card disproving the existence of God. If God is good, and God is all powerful, how can this God allow so much purposeless suffering and evil in the world? Of course, those raising this question come at it from two different perspectives. Some ask the question philosophically, seeking to discredit the idea of God. Others though, ask the question experientially, as sufferers who have gone through horrific and painful life events. While the skeptic may believe they have the ultimate defeating argument, the truth is that this question poses more challenges to the secular worldview than it does for those who believe in the God revealed in Scripture. Yet, the “why” question lingers. The book of Job examines this question philosophically, yet also from the perspective of a person whose suffering is catastrophic. While his journey is painful, Job helps us realize that God is both purposeful and redemptive in