Some of you have endured some dark things in your lives that continue to haunt you with questions. You find yourself wondering, “Where was God when all this was happening?” “Did he see?” “Does he care?” “If I told anyone, would they believe me?” “Is it possible for God to use someone as broken as I feel right now?”
And some of you haven’t just endured some dark things in your life, some of you have been so impacted by the pain that you have gone on to hurt others as well. Now a whole new set of questions arise. “Can I be forgiven?” “Will this terrible cycle ever be broken?” “Is it possible for someone to know everything about me, all my darkest secrets, and still love me?”
In Genesis 38 we will get a glimpse into the darkest closet of both a victim of abuse and a perpetrator of abuse and we will get to see how God responded to the different questions that haunted each of them.
Shame, Sexual Abuse, and the Gospel
Genesis 38
March 12, 2022 • Tim Cain • Genesis 38
Forgiveness
July 2, 2022 • Tim Cain • Genesis 50:15–26
Forgiveness can be hard. In Genesis 50 Joseph explains how he was able to forgive his brothers even after all they had done to him. In Joseph’s forgiveness of his brothers we catch a glimpse of God’s amazing forgiveness of us and we also find some practical help for how we too might learn to forgive those who have sinned against us.
A Good Death
June 25, 2022 • Tim Cain • Genesis 49:28—50:14
We don’t talk very much about death do we? In tonight’s message we will consider why thinking and talking about death is so important. We will also consider some questions like: what does a good death look like? How does someone make sure that they are ready to die? And how should Christians respond to the death of our loved ones? These and other questions will be addressed as we look at the death of Jacob and see what we can learn from it.
Redeeming the Consequences of Sin
June 11, 2022 • Tim Cain • Genesis 49:1–10
Are there still consequences for forgiven sin or are grace and consequences meant to be mutually exclusive? In Genesis 49 we see that even for God’s people there are consequences for sin and those consequences don’t just impact the people who commit the sin. However, as we follow the story of Levi we will see that the consequences of sin, both the sins we commit and the sins that are done against us, are able to be redeemed!