“[S]eeing [Christ] to be called man, we are bold to call him sister and brother. Now the soul which may say of herself, that she is the sister of God, ought to have her heart assured.”
—Marguerite de Navarre
Our People, Our Father (Genesis 27)
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
—Deuteronomy 6:4–9
Provision and Promise (Gen. 26:12-35)
“‘Wilderness’ is a place, in biblical rhetoric, where there are no viable life support systems. ‘Grace’ is the occupying generosity of God that redefines the place.”
—Walter Brueggemann, Journey to the Common Good
God's Faithfulness Through Generations (Gen. 26:1-11)
“The terrible, tragic fallacy of the last hundred years has been to think that all man’s troubles are due to his environment, and that to change the man you have nothing to do but change his environment. That is a tragic fallacy. It overlooks the fact that it was in Paradise that man fell.”
—Martin Lloyd Jones
God's Divine Purposes Will Succeed (Gen. 25:19-34)
Please note: due to a microphone issue, the last several minutes of the sermon were not recorded.
“There are no natural guarantees for the future and no way to secure the inheritance of the family. It must trust only to the power of God. Period. Period promise requires an end to grasping and servitude and an embrace of precariousness. It is only God who gives life. Any pretense that the future is secured by rights or claims of the family is a deception.”
—Walter Brueggemann, Commentary on Genesis
God's Providential Care (Genesis 24)
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. …
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
—Psalm 46:1-3, 10-11
Fulfillment of the Promise (Revelation 7:9-17)
“Now as man could not live in society without truth, so likewise, not without joy.”
— Thomas Aquinas
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. “
— The Apostle Paul to the Galatians
What is the Blessing? (Ephesians 2:11-22)
“A people, we may say, is a gathered multitude of rational beings united by agreeing to share the things they love. There can be as many different kinds of people as there are different things for them to love. … The better the things, the better the people; the worse the things, the worse their agreement to share them.”
— Augustine, The City of God XIX.24
God's Blessing Breaks Barriers (Acts 8:26-40)
“The only bond of unity [among the apostles] is Jesus’ choice and call.”
—Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
Sent by Jesus for the Blessing of the Nations (Matthew 28:16-20)
“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”
—Matthew 1:1 (ESV)