Bible

Genesis 28 – Standing at the Intersection

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There are moments when heaven seems to intersect earth. A person who can’t afford their next meal suddenly opens the door to find a stranger with a bag of groceries and a story of how God directed them there. A person who sees no reason to live, suddenly encounters what they believe is a sign from God and a new reason to live. A person near death tells of encountering God and being assured that it was not yet their time. These are times when heaven and earth seem to intersect.
Genesis chapter 28 is about such an intersection between heaven and earth. Jacob is on the run because he’s lied to his father and cheated his brother out of his birthright. One night, in the middle of a fitful sleep, Jacob sees a ladder, resting on the earth and reaching into heaven. He also sees angels moving back and forth between heaven and earth. Jacob finds himself at the intersection of the temporal and eternal. The realization changes Jacob, causing him to pledge himself and what he has to God.
As Christ followers, were are people of the intersection. We are the blurring of the lines between the temporal and the eternal. We are the ones with our feet planted on the earth and our hearts and hands reaching for Heaven. We are the portal through which God chooses to move between the two. We are the Bethel…the house of God. (1 Cor. 6:19)
At any given moment, you stand at the intersection between heaven and earth. Whether you’re at home, on the ball field, at work or school, you’re on holy ground. God wants to bridge the gap between Earth and Heaven with you. Let this realization change you and make you more open and sensitive to what God wants to do through you today.
Bret Legg is the Teaching and Counseling Pastor at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.

Genesis 27 – Fear and Striving

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Some people are afraid of not achieving what they desire. They picture success as getting the right job, having the right house, raising the right kids, and taking the right vacations. They are driven by the fear of missing out on what they want.
Others are afraid of losing what they’ve already achieved. They pour their time and energy into improving and protecting their house. They hover over their kids, desperately trying to keep their grades up, their company right and their mistakes low. They give up family time for work, out of fear of looming cutbacks. These people are hyper-vigilant and hyper fatigued because they are driven by the fear of loss.
Both types of people operate out of fear, and that’s what they’re left with…fear.
In Genesis chapter 27, Isaac fearfully scrambles for something God has already revealed was his, and Esau fearfully scrambles for something God has already revealed was not his. (Gen. 25:23)
We are so fearful we’re going to miss something, and we work so hard to ensure we don’t miss anything. Scripture tells us this is wasted effort apart from God. (Prov. 16:33) (Prov. 20:24) (James 4:1-3) (James 4:13-15)
In his song “Prince of Peace,” the late Rich Mullins eloquently described our fear and striving with these words: “I’d rather fight you for something I don’t really want than take what you give that I need.”
How would your life change if, instead of scrambling to get what you think you want, you instead sought the peace and presence of the God you already have? How would your life change if, instead of trying to protect yourself from loss, you counted it all loss for the sake of something greater? (Philippians 3:7-8.)
Bret Legg is the Teaching and Counseling Pastor at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.

Genesis 26 – Feast or Famine

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Life often feels like feast or famine. Either you’ve got all the time in the world, or you’re running out of time and racing the clock. Either you’re a little ahead on your bills, or you’re digging for change in the sofa to cover a bill. Either things are good between you and your spouse, or you get frostbite from the icy chill between the two of you. Either your attitude is rising to glorious heights, or it’s dropping in sickening free fall. Like a roller coaster, we are tossed high and low, to and fro, by the feast and famine times of life.
Isaac goes through many ups and downs In Genesis chapter 26. He goes from literal famine (v.1) to a time of great abundance (v.12-14.) He moves from exercising deceit (v.7) to exercising integrity (v.16-33.) On top of all that, Isaac’s son, Esau, is making his life difficult and bitter. (v.35.)
But despite all of Isaac’s ups and downs, God never abandons him. God continues to be a Participator in Isaac’s life. Good or bad, God is there, faithfully revealing Himself to Issac and guiding him through all the twists and turns of his uncertain life.
The same can be said for us. Whether in feast of famine, God continues to be present and participate in our lives. The problem is, we’re often too busy basking in the feast or scrambling in the famine to notice His presence or participation.
How much more assured and peaceful we would be if we just looked for God’s presence and participation in both our feast and famine times?
Bret Legg is the Teaching and Counseling Pastor at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.

Genesis 25 – What Would You Trade for a Pot of Soup?

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We’ve all heard stories of someone who seemed to throw away everything in a moment of lust or indiscretion. How easy it is, in a moment of intensity, to give away something precious. Some give away their sexuality. Others, their sobriety. Some give away their family, while others give away their integrity. In a moment when want and desire seem to outweigh everything else, it’s easy to trade our treasure for trash. (James 1:14) (1 John 2:16)
This is what happens to Esau in Genesis chapter 25. Esau comes in from a day of hunting, and he is very hungry. He asks his brother for some of the soup he’s preparing. Jacob offers to trade Esau the soup for his birthright. Esau’s birthright was his favored position in the family as the firstborn. His birthright included a larger part of the inheritance and a special status in the family.
Driven by his hunger and his impatience, Esau flippantly trades his favored position for some bean soup. He was unable to say “no” to the temptation because he was more concerned about the short-term gratification than the long-term glorification.
We have a birthright in Christ. We have His wonderful promise of power, provision, and possibilities. But in this culture of instant gratification, it’s easy to give into our screaming flesh and not consider all our Heavenly Father wants to give us.
How often do you trade the sumptuous fare of the Father for the simple bean soup of the world? How often do you settle for short-term gratification in this world, rather than long-term glorification in Christ? What’s one decision you could make to turn that around?
Bret Legg is the Teaching and Counseling Pastor at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.

Genesis 24 – Big Principles for Big Decisions

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I could boil my life down to a few big decisions. The decision to get married, the decision to follow Christ, the decision to have children, the decision to enter the ministry and the decision to quit my job and move my family to seminary.
Big decisions vary from person to person, but because there’s so much riding on these big decisions, they can fill us with angst and uncertainty.
Genesis chapter 24 is a story about a big decision. In this chapter, Abraham sends his servant to find just the right wife for Isaac. Isaac was the miraculous son that God gave Abraham; the son through which a great nation was to be formed. So this was a big decision for Abraham’s servant!
In this story, you’ll find 3 important principles on which every big decision should rest.
The Providence of God. It’s so easy to forget that God can and does engineer and/or oversee every circumstance to fulfill His good and perfect will for us. (Romans 8:28.)
The Purpose of Prayer. Abraham’s servant prayed…not to manipulate God’s will, but to reveal it. Too often we see prayer as a means to get God to do the things we want Him to do, rather than a means of revealing what God wants to do and aligning with that.
 
The Place of Worship. When it was clear that Rebekah was God’s pick for Isaac, Abraham’s servant immediately stopped and worshiped. Worship is a response to God for what He’s done for us…the spontaneous proclaiming of God’s obvious intervention in our lives.
The stress and anxiety of our life could be greatly reduced if we would face every decision (big and small) anchored in the providence of God, the purpose of prayer and the place of worship.
Bret Legg is the Teaching and Counseling Pastor at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.

Genesis 23 – Promised Land and Burial Plots

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Since Genesis chapter 12, God has promised Abraham ownership of the land through which he’s wondered. In Genesis chapter 23, God begins to fulfill that promise…but not in the way you would think.
This chapter opens with the death of Abraham’s wife, Sarah. As a vagabond, Abraham owns no land on which to bury his wife. So he negotiates with one of the locals to buy a plot of land, and there he buries his beloved Sarah.
It’s interesting that of all the land God promised to Abraham, the first piece of ground Abraham officially owns is a burial plot.
As believers, we too are told of a promise land that will one day be ours. Our claim to this land began with a burial plot…the burial plot of Jesus. And our ownership of that land is complete with another burial plot…our own.
Perhaps ownership of any promised land involves a death and burial. There are things in our life that need to die and be buried if we are to lay claim to the promise land God has for us. You can see this in the Galatians 2:20 and Colossians 3:5. The problem is, we often try to avoid the death and burial of certain things in our life. We try to avoid the loss only to discover we then miss the gain. (Mark 8:36.) (Hebrews 12:2.)
God wants so much for us, but sometimes achieving His promised land will involve some burial plots. Are you trying to find a promised land without experiencing loss or burial? Could it be that the loss and grief you hope to avoid are actually part of gaining the promised land God has for you?
Bret Legg is the Teaching and Counseling Pastor at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.

Genesis 22 – How Much Do You Love Me?

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When my children were young, they would randomly come up to me and ask, “How much do you love me?” I would tell them something like, “I love you more than ice cream.” Then we would go back and forth answering that question; each trying to top the other.
In Genesis chapter 22, God wants to find out how much Abraham loves Him. God asks Abraham if he loves Him enough to sacrifice his son Isaac.
This is a radical request in and of itself, but it’s especially strange when you look at Abraham’s track record. Abraham left his home and relatives at God’s command. He wandered as a vagabond in a strange land, just because God told him to. He regularly built altars, worshipping and praying to God. With very few exceptions, Abraham was obedient to God at every turn.
Hadn’t Abraham proven himself? Didn’t all this show how much he loved God? Why would God put Abraham’s love to the test by asking Him to sacrifice his son?
The real test of how much we love God is not found in our worship, words or work. The real test of how much we love God comes down to this…what are we holding onto and what is it we don’t want to give up? This is the true and undeniable gauge of how much we love God.
What about you? Is there something in your life you hope God doesn’t request of you? What would be hard for you to give up, and could you do it if God asked you to?
Bret Legg is the Teaching and Counseling Pastor at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.

Genesis 21 – Who Do You Trust?

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When it comes to trust, we all tend to favor one of three choices: We trust in ourselves, we trust in others or we trust in God.
In Genesis chapter 16, Sarah didn’t trust God to provide a child. Instead, she trusted her own efforts and gave her servant girl (Hagar) to Abraham as a surrogate with which to conceive a child.
In Genesis chapter 21, Sarah gives birth to the son that God had promised…Isaac. This creates contention and rivalry between the two women and their children. Hagar, who had always trusted Abraham and Sarah to take care of her, is now sent away into the wilderness, at Sarah insistence. Out of supplies and waiting to die, Hagar encounters God and is told she would not only survive, but her son would become a great nation of people.
Both Sarah and Hagar had trouble with trust. Sarah trusted in her own efforts for a son. Her efforts came up short, but God was faithful. Hagar trusted in others to take care of her. Those people came up short, but God was faithful. Only Abraham chose to trust God first and foremost.
Is it wrong to work hard or to turn to friends and family for help? Not at all. The problem comes when we turn to these options first and trust them more than God.
When times are difficult, are you Like Sarah? Is your first inclination to roll up your sleeves and try to make something happen yourself? Are you like Hagar? Do you depend on other people to make things happen for you? Or are you like Abraham? Do you look to God first and trust Him no matter how things appear?
Who do you trust?
Bret Legg is the Teaching and Counseling Pastor at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.

Genesis 20 – Are You Afraid to Speak Up?

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Have you ever felt you needed to speak up about something, but you didn’t for fear that others wouldn’t receive it well? Maybe you were afraid your spouse would be angry. Maybe you were afraid your boss would turn on you. Maybe you were afraid you would lose friends. Whatever the reason, you were afraid to speak up.
This was Abraham’s problem in Genesis chapter 20. He and his wife Sarah had journeyed to the land of Gerar. While they were there, the king of that country became attracted to Sarah and wanted to take her for his wife…not realizing that she was Abraham’s wife.
Abraham and Sarah were afraid to tell the king the truth for fear the king would have Abraham killed and take Sarah anyway. So they told the king that Sarah was Abraham’s sister.
Before the king consummated his relationship with Sarah, God revealed to him that Sarah was Abraham’s wife and that the king had committed a grave error for which there would be severe consequences. The king professed his ignorance of God and then quickly went to Abraham to confront him about his deception and make things right.
Abraham’s fear kept him from speaking up, but his failure to speak up put the king and others at risk. Ephesians 4:15 calls us to speak the truth in love because avoiding the truth can cause us and others harm.
Where does fear keep you from speaking up when you should? How might your hesitancy be hurtful to you and to others? What do you need to do?
Bret Legg is the Teaching and Counseling Pastor at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.

Genesis 19 – Stop Procrastinating and Start Packing

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What parent hasn’t had the experience of telling their child it was time to go, only to find them dragging their feet and trying to negotiate the departure.
In Genesis chapter 19, Abraham’s nephew (Lot) is living in the wicked city of Sodom, where he’s become a leader. One evening, Lot encounters two angels sent from God to destroy the city, and he convinces them to take shelter in his home.
The wickedness of the people of Sodom becomes undeniable when the men of the city storm Lot’s house and demand he turn over the two visitors for the purpose of sexual gratification.
At this point, the angels urge Lot and his family to evacuate the city and escape the coming destruction. But despite the gravity of the situation, Lot and his family members drag their feet. Finally, just before sunrise, the angels take Lot, his wife and his daughters by the hand and forcibly lead them out of the city to save them from the destruction.
Why were Lot and his family so hesitant to pack up and go? Maybe it was because Lot found it hard to leave his sons-in-law, who thought he was kidding and refused to leave. Maybe Lot and his family found it hard to leave behind all they had built and accumulated. Whatever the reason, they were procrastinating when they should have been packing.
Has God called you to make some kind of change and you’re procrastinating? God can be merciful and patient with our hesitancies, just as He was with Lot and his family, but eventually, the time comes where we must stop procrastinating and start packing…before things get worse.
Bret Legg is the Teaching and Counseling Pastor at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.