Previous Sermon Series

Genesis: Made for God - Fall 2023

Gospel in Full Color - Spring 2023

Unstoppable Kingdom - Spring 2023

10 Commandments - Fall 2022

Daniel - Spring 2022

The Church: Acts - 2021

Resurrection Hope - Spring 2020

Ephesians - Fall/Winter 2019/2020

GENESIS - MADE FOR GOD

It's hard to get away from the questions about identity in our cultural moment. From political identification, to gender and sexual identity, even our work and hobbies are expressions of our identity. It sometimes feels like we are constantly having to choose an identity. But, what if the most important things about you weren't things you've chosen, but things given to you? 

When God rescued the people of Israel from Egypt, he brought them immediately to meet him at Mt. Sinai to tell them their true story. For 400 years they had been slaves, useful only for what they produced, that they didn't have worth, dignity, or purpose. So, God told them a different story. Genesis is that story. 

Genesis is a story we need to hear. It tells us about how we were made and why. It answers the questions of identity that confuse us. And it helps us understand our world and how God might make it right again. It's a story of all that God has given us.

What if, like the people of Israel, we need to be freed from the slavery to a way of thinking? What if our modern world was just as abusive to our souls as Egypt was for Israel? What if God wanted to show you a different way of seeing yourself? What if the things we have received from God actually have the power to shape our lives more than the things we need to achieve? That's what the story of Genesis is all about.

August 27, 2023

Alan Noble’s Book, You Are Not Your Own is a fabulous deep dive into the ways that our Modern Western culture is simply pushing you to believe and pursue things that are opposed to how God has made you. I’ll use his book throughout the fall, but can’t more highly recommend you reading for yourself.

Elizabeth Grace Matthew’s article, The Case Against Dead Poets Society, really helped me see how long the implications of our story of self-discovery can really go. It’s worth the read.

And it you haven’t seen it in a while…The Lion King intro. You can thank me later.

September 3, 2023

There’s an old saying about the Bible that holds true for Genesis 1, it is like a pool that is shallow enough for child to wade, and deep enough for an elephant to swim. The depth and glory is Genesis 1 is far too much for a couple of sermons. There’s always more to learn. It is one of the most carefully and beautifully crafted chapters in the Bible. Hopefully, you found something that peaked your interest. Here are a few resources I either mentioned or would encourage you to explore.

I began the sermon by quoting Dr. Curt Thompson from his book, The Soul of Shame, “We all are born into the world looking for someone looking for us, and that we remain in this mode of searching for the rest of our lives. When we acknowledge our shame, it resonates with the shame carried by all of us. With confession, it is given the opportunity for resonance, exposure and healing in the life of the listener as well as the speaker.” (p. 138)

The guys at The Bible Project do some of the best work in digging into the text and making some of the best scholarship accessible (the videos are especially great for kids!). Just search their site, there’s a number of materials on Genesis 1. And if you want to dig into more Biblical Theology that I highlighted in Genesis 1, check out Nancy Guthrie. This video is an introduction to her life project of highlighting the threads of truth that run the length of the Bible.

If you want to explore Christians who are thinking about how we can better relate to the physical world to help humans flourish, I would encourage these authors:

If you want to see how the denial of the goodness of creation works itself out making us products to be consumed, there is nothing better than The Social Dilemma. It’s a fabulous documentary looking at the way social media companies are using us…and we’re letting them.

If you are interested in how the PCA answers the questions around the days of creation, you can read the Creation Study Report that was published in 2000. It is the most definitive answer for how ministers and churches should handle the questions Genesis 1 raises.

September 10, 2023

You will enjoy Wendell Berry’s poem, The Peace of Wild Things.

Here is the Westminster Confession of Faith 4.2, but if you want to read some commentary for more detail, check out this page from Monergism.com - “After God had made all other creatures, He created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls, endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after His own image; having the law of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfill it; and yet under a possibility of transgressing, being left to the liberty of their own will, which was subject unto change. Beside this law written in their hearts, they received a command, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; which while they kept, they were happy in their communion with God, and had dominion over the creatures.”

Anthony Hoekema’s Made In God’s Image is the best, most accessible treatment of the topic.

CS Lewis from his essay, The Weight of Glory. “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

I also mentioned the Good Faith Podcast with Curt Thompson discussing suffering. Its worth a listen.

September 17, 2023

I highly recommend Abigail Favale’s, The Genesis of Gender. She is scholar of gender studies who is writing from a Christian perspective. She is a Roman Catholic, so there are a few aspects with which this Presbyterians might take issue, but they are relatively few and unimportant. Favale does the best job I’ve read of giving the philosophy, history, biology, and Biblical perspective on issues related to gender and sexuality in Genesis.

I also mentioned the term “Heroic Masculinity”. That comes from a recent piece from Caitlin Flanigan in the Atlantic that I think was good. You can find it HERE.

And…HERE is the hilarious and poignient Substack account of the Southern writer from which I discovered the stories of small town Georgia.

September 24, 2023

Genesis 3 is fascinating on so many levels. (And in case you needed a reminder that talking to snakes was a key part of the Harry Potter universe, HERE’s a few clips)

And since I mentioned Disney movies a few times…HERE is Ariel and HERE is Elsa.

I mentioned the best book I’ve read about that speaks to the current challenges around how we deal with masculinity and femininity is Nancy Pearcey’s new book, The Toxic War on Masculinity. It’s well worth a read. It dives into the history, the Bible, and the cultural conversations.

October 1, 2023

If you haven’t seen the Barbie movie, then you might be a little lost…but maybe not. It’s a pretty easy thing to grasp. I’d recommend it if you are interested, there are lots of things worthy of discussion. A few specifics I brought up in my sermon:

As I said last week, the best book I’ve read about that speaks to the current challenges around how we deal with masculinity and femininity is Nancy Pearcey’s new book, The Toxic War on Masculinity. It’s well worth a read. It dives into the history, the Bible, and the cultural conversations.

I mentioned the painting “Mary Consoles Eve” by Sister Grace Pennington, a Cistercian nun in Iowa. If you’re interested in reading more, you can find a an interview with Sister Grace HERE.

I referred to a few articles that might be worth reading: Caitlin Flanigan “In Praise of Heroic Masculinity” in The Atlantic, Ross Douthat “Why Barbie and Ken Need Each Other” in the NY Times, and Amy Peeler “Neither Barbie Nor Ken” in The Holy Post.

October 15, 2023

I’l take this opportunity to remind you that Alan Noble’s book You Are Not Your Own is such a helpful exploration our current moment. It’s worth the read!

If you want to think more about the doctrine of common grace, a short article HERE is a good starting point.

Here’s the full quote from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–1956) in The Gulag Archipelago, “The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained”

Here’s the full quote form CS Lewis in The Screwtape Letters, “Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that he is “finding his place in it,” while really it is finding its place in him. His increasing reputation, his widening circle of acquaintances, his sense of importance, the growing pressure of absorbing and agreeable work, build up in him a sense of being really at home on earth.”

And HERE is the link to the funny little pice from Julie Lim

October 22, 2023

I just love the videos dedicated to Horace Burgess' and “The Minister’s Treehouse” in Crossville. HERE is a news story, but it’s worth trying to find other documentaries to discover more.

If you want to dive deeper into the Noah story I’d suggest the Bible Project (especially their chiasm diagram) and this Overview Video.

Finally, I mentioned the 2014 movie Noah with Russell Crowe. I really like this movie, but again a disclaimer…it is really dark and it takes TONS of creative license with the Biblical story (like weird rock monsters…). It isn’t a kid’s bible story movie. But, I think it highlights many of the tensions of faith. Here’s a trailer if you’re interested. If you do watch, I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts.

October 29, 2023

Here’s the article by Sarah Churchwell about the American Dream that I mentioned.

You can find a Rolling Stone article about Green Day’s new song, The American Dream is Killing Me, as well as the music video HERE.

Finally, it was sad to hear the news of Matthew Perrys death. I shared the quote from Perry, ““I realized the American dream is not making me happy, not filling the holes in my life. I couldn’t get enough attention. … Fame does not do what you think it’s going to do. It was all a trick.” You can read more HERE.

November 13, 2023

I referenced a wonderful book by Ashley Hales, Finding Holy in the Suburbs. I can’t recommend this highly enough as an exploration of how our deepest desires are particular revealed and shaped by life in the suburbs.

Here’s a link to the article in Southern Living about a family moving to Chattanooga.

And if you want more Mumford and Sons, here you go!