Abraham has this moment with God where God cuts a covenant. In the next few chapters we see Abram and Sarai still trying to bring about this promise in their own way. Hagar just so happens to be part of their solution. At this low point of her life God finds Hagar and speaks life into her. In return Hagar gives God the name the God that sees.

This week we look at the covenant making ritual that happens between God and Abraham in Genesis 15. Abraham brought nothing to this covenant, he had nothing he could give. God walked the path, twice, once for himself and once for Abraham because he knew if it was up to Abraham it wouldn’t happen.

Abram and Lot choose to separate and Abram gives Lot the choice of land. Lot chooses a land that looks so good. But not all the sparkles is gold.

Within the text of Genesis 12 we see God make a promise to Abram. The chapter before helps us to understand the setting this promise was spoken into. The Tower of Babel happened and all were scattered and Sarai, Abram’s wife is barren. We see how the situation of the world seemed kind of hopeless. But God tells Abram you will have offspring and through you I will bless all people.

Suffering is a part of life. We can’t get away from it, it is something we just have to go through. But we don’t go through it alone God is there. We as Christians should come along side as well in the way that Jesus did.

The last part of Ephesians 5 and the first part of chapter 6 Paul brings up this idea of mutual submission. Paul have directions not only to wives, children and slaves but he also gave directions to husbands, fathers and masters. He reminds everyone on the list they have been called to a life of mutual submission, a life where we are willing to lay down our lives for others.

Paul tells the gentiles in Ephesians 4 to put off, or strip off their former identities and put on their new identities. What they used to do allowed the devil to have a foothold and grieved the Holy Spirit. If we have fully embraced our new life then we should show the fruit of a Christlike life which is holiness and love.

In Ephesians 4:11-16 Paul talks about a unity of faith, a maturity and coming to the full measure of Christ. These are all individual tasks, yes, but he speaks corporately. The Church should represent Christ fully to the world. The question is, are we doing that?

In Ephesians chapter 3 Paul gives this prayer that he prays we understand the length and depth and height and width of God’s love for us. He prays that we be so full of Christ love for us that it overflows from us. May we live our lives that way.

Within Ephesians chapter 2 Paul states that it is grace through faith that you are saved not by works. Then Paul once again brings up that Jesus came to bring unity. Jesus came to break down the dividing walls and bring all into one new humanity building all together to become a dwelling place for God’s Spirit. We together become a temple wherein God communes with humanity.

In Ephesians one of Paul’s biggest messages is unity. In Chapter 1 Paul states that one of the things Christ did was to bring a unity to all things. Unity is bringing together, uniting around one common purpose. What purpose is that? Bringing people to know Christ. How do we do that? Paul talks about that later in Ephesians, we do that through love.

Taking the new path that God has given to us might be hard. It might be easier to go back and do what we have always done. This was the challenge facing the first churches, this pull to keep doing what they had done before. But the cross called them to go in a different direction. We as a church need to pray for God’s direction and then not grow weary in going that direction.

In Genesis chapter 6 we reach a point in the story that usually doesn’t make much sense. But if we look at it in light of the 5 chapters before and the many chapters after we see that evil has come in the shape of selfishness. There is an inward turn. Mankind is wanting to make a name for themselves. That isn’t the original design. That is why Paul insist that we have a renewing of our mind. We can’t worship self and worship God.

As we look at the story of Cain and Able we see that the attitude of the heart matters. If we aren’t careful then the attitude can turn into sin. And just as the rest of the creation story has stated relationships are important. We might think “well I’ve never killed my brother” but Jesus said if we say “raca” to our brother we face the same judgment. How is our heart attitude in our relationships with God and with others?

The Tree of Life is significant within the Biblical text. The Garden of Eden is also significant within the Biblical text. There are references all through the Bible. Even Jesus said He is the living water and the vines from the tree tended by His Father. When we are faced with the decision to give God control of our lives we still chose between the two trees. What choice are we really making with our actions? Is there fruit?

After Adam and Eve ate of the fruit and admit to it God announces what will now be because of the choices they made. There was now going to be a break in relationship. To continue to live into this break in relationship is part of original sin itself. Sometimes though we tend to naturally lean towards this even though it wasn’t what we were created for. Thankfully in a relationship with Jesus we can repair relationships not only with God but with creation and humanity.

When we come to the third chapter of Genesis we hear the story of the fall. The fall is what brings Original Sin into the world which brings personal sin into the world. But what is Original sin? What is it that we do naturally? We make ourselves the god of our own life, notice the little g on that. We place ourselves on the throne that was never meant to be ours. But we can make the choice to allow God to have the throne in our lives and have completely control over our lives.

God created all of creation to sing praises to Him. Mankind was to tend to the earth to help it sing praises. God created all of creation to live in unity and harmony and after 6 days of creating out of nothing what God created was good, meaning it was fulfilling the purpose of creation. So how do we get back there? By purposely working on unity and harmony with our relationship with God and all of God’s creation. Simply put we are asked to love.

We tend to think change is an enemy. We don’t embrace change and sometimes for good reason. But change is not the enemy. Change happens and sometimes God directs us to those changes. Jesus told us to be adaptable to the way the Spirit moves. You can’t put new wine into old wine skins that don’t move, the new wine skin should be flexible.

We look at the story of the prodigal son as a story about us. As much as we may be like the prodigal son sometimes our actions are more like the older brother. We feel that someone has sinned against the Father and therefore us so someone needs to pay. Or sometimes in others being celebrated we feel unloved, but that isn’t the case. Grace is freely given and we are loved by the Father.