AVBC - Sunday - 08/16/26 - Sermon Title: “Joseph – From Pit to Purpose” – “Ordinary People, Extraordinary God” - Sermon Series - (Part 3 of 5) – Genesis 37:1-28

Sunday 08/16/26 – Adams Village Baptist Church

Sermon Title: “Joseph – From Pit to Purpose” – “Ordinary People, Extraordinary God” - Sermon Series - (Part 3 of 5) – Genesis 37:1-28  

(Cover Picture – The Story of Joseph - Picture)

          For the last two weeks we have been discussing characters or people in the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible. The people we are discussing were “Ordinary People” that God chose to call and to use to do “Extraordinary” things. For we have an “Extraordinary God,” that has called us all in many ways do extraordinary things through Him. Whether it is welcoming someone, loving someone, sending a card, or caring for your neighbor, to God, these are all “Extraordinary” things.

          Thus far in this sermon series, “Ordinary People, Extraordinary God,” we have talked about Noah, the Ark, and the Flood. Noah was a righteous and holy man, and God asked this holy and righteous man to serve him in an extraordinary way. Last week we talked about Abraham, who God called to be the Father of many nations. For over half the world’s population traces their literal and spiritual ancestry back to Abraham. Noah was an ordinary person, and so was Abram, who became Abraham, yet God used them. God can and is using us!

(Ordinary People – Extraordinary God – Picture)

How then has God used you, and further, how will you let God use you, as the world needs hope, love, healing, and restoration? Further who is someone that you can think that is an ordinary person, that God used to do extraordinary things? Lastly, who is a hero of yours that is an ordinary person that God used to do extraordinary things?

          With all of this said, this morning we are going to talk about our third biblical person or character, which is Joseph. In the Book of Genesis chapters 37-50, much of this is about Joseph, his life, and what God called him to do. Now Joseph was one of twelve brothers, as his father Jacob wrestled all night God, and God renamed Jacob Israel. There are twelve tribes in Israel, and Jacob or Israel’s sons were the patriarchs of these twelve tribes. In the story of Joseph, we pick up with him at seventeen years old, as he was the eleventh Son. Bejamin, which is where we get the Jewish tribe of Benjamin was youngest of the twelve sons of Jacob or Israel.

          What we also know is that of all of Jacob or Israel’s sons, Joseph was his favorite son. This was also not a hunch, as it was obvious and all the other eleven brothers, and all the other family members knew it. If we are honest, how many of us are in a family, where there is or was a favorite? Is there a child in your family that was or is the favorite? Maybe you were the “favorite” if your family had or has such a thing? If so, what does it do to family when there is a “favorite”?

All told, with divorces and re-marriages, I have four brothers and two sisters. I have been accused of being the “Joseph,” or the favorite in my family. My older brother used to call me the “Golden Child,” and to boot, I was youngest of what I call the “original batch” of us three kids.

          One of the big reasons that Jacob or Israel favored and loved Joseph so much, was because Joseph was born to him in his old age and was the firstborn son of Rachel, Jacob's deeply beloved wife. So, Jacob or Israel just loved Joseph, or in my family, Joseph was the “Golden Child”. How do we know? Well Jacob gives his son Joseph a multi-color coat, or as the famous 1968 production “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”, composed by Andrew Lloyb Webber.

          Jacob gives his eleventh of twelve-sons Joseph, an amazing fancy coat of many colors. As you can imagine, Joseph’s brother was angry, jealous, and envious of Joseph. I mean this is a culture where generally the eldest son inherits everything and is the most favored. How can Joseph, the eleventh youngest of twelve sons have so much favor with his father Jacob? Well once again, this is because Joseph was born to Jacob in his old age and was the firstborn son of Rachel, Jacob's deeply beloved wife.

(Joseph’s Dream of Hay – Picture)

          Now if this is not enough, Joseph, who might have been strutting around his brothers with his fancy multi-colored, letting them know how much their father favored him, then has a dream. In this dream, Joseph and his brothers are binding sheeves or hay in the field, as there were no bailing machines back then. In this dream that Joseph had, his brothers and himself then became sheeves of hay. Further, all the brothers that were now sheeves or lumped or bound hay surrounded Joseph and were all bowing to him in the dream. All the brothers encircle Joseph and are bowing to him, as if he is the king and ruler over them. So, was Joseph a little full of himself and a little arrogant (I think) with favor from their father Jacob, with his new multicolor coat, and his dream telling his brothers he is above them? Yeah, maybe just a little bit!

(Joseph thrown in the Pit– Picture)

          As one can understand, Joseph’s brothers were upset with him, and to the extent that they wanted to get rid of him. I mean how arrogant and full of himself was Joseph? We don’t know for sure, but I would guess at least some. So, they throw Joseph in a pit, or cistern. This pit is too big for Joseph to get out of without help. Should they kill Joseph? It is then decided that instead of killing Joseph, they can profit off their brother by selling him into slavery.

(Joseph Sold into Slavery - Picture)

As a result, this is exactly what they do. What was the cost of selling their young seventeen-year-old brother Joseph? Well twenty-pieces of silver of course, as Judas Iscariot sold Jesus out for thirty-pieces of silver. In the Book of Exodus, which occurs way after the story of Joseph, it says in Exodus 21:32 the standard price of a slave is thirty-pieces of silver. Maybe like we have had in recent years, it went from twenty pieces of silver to thirty because of inflation!

(Joseph Sold for Twenty-Pieces of Silver – Picture)

          So, they throw Joseph in a pit, and after consideration, decide killing him is not the best idea, so they sell him into slavery to the Ishmaelites for twenty-pieces of silver. In doing this though, there Father Jacob is certainly going to want to know what happened to his favorite son Joseph. How will the other eleven brothers get around this then? Here is how, Joseph’s brother took his multi-colored coat, dip it in goat’s blood, and tell Jacob that Joseph was killed by a wild animal.  

(Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife – Picture)

          Once young Joseph gets to Egypt, who once again, was sold into slavery for twenty-pieces of silver, he is sold to one of the Egyptian Pharoah’s or king’s officers, named Potiphar. With Joseph’s natural gifting and call from God, within no time Potiphar put Joseph in charge of his whole household. Unfortunately, Potiphar’s wife became infatuated with young Joseph, and since Joseph was interested in her infatuation, she falsely accused Joseph.

(Joseph in Prison – Picture)

As a result of this false accusation, Joseph was put in an Egyptian prison, where he quickly became the head of all the prisoners. The head warden of the prisoners put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners. You see, while it might have been possible that Joseph could have been a little arrogant and full of himself with his brothers, God called ordinary Joseph to do extraordinary things. As a result, whether in slavery or in prison Joseph quickly rose to a top leadership position. Further, while Joseph was in prison, he accurately interpreted dreams for the Egyptian Pharoah or king’s baker and cup bearer. The Egyptian Pharoah then had distressing dreams about Egypt have having seven years of plenty with great harvests, that would be followed by seven years of famine. The Egyptian Pharoah told his cup bearer of these distressing dreams, and the cup bearer told Pharoah that a man in prison named Joseph helped him and the Pharoah’s baker interpret the meaning of their own dreams.

(Joseph Second in Charge in Egypt – Picture)

          As a result, the Egyptian Pharoah lets Joseph out of prison, Joseph correctly interprets the Pharoah’s dream, and Joseph encourages the Pharoah to store up a lot of grain for when the seven famine after seven years of plenty would come. So impressed by this, and Joseph’s clear gifts, the Egyptian Pharoah put Joseph in charge of all of Egypt. Or to put it another way, the young kid who was thrown in a pit by his brothers, sold into slavery, and who’s death was faked, is now the second in command of the great kingdom of Egypt.

(Joseph’s Brothers Bow to Him – Picture)

          As Joseph correctly interpreted the Egyptian Pharoah’s dreams, the seven years of famine came, and there was mass hunger. This also meant that Joseph’s brothers that sold him into slavery, and Joseph’s whole extended family were hungry. Joseph’s brothers who sold him into slavery and who faked his death to Jacob or Isreal, came to Egypt hungry and begging to buy grain. There stood their brother Joseph, but it had been so long since they saw Joseph last, they did not even recognize him.

(Joseph Reveals Himself to His Brothers – Picture)

Even so, Joseph sold them grain, and took good care of them, in effect keeping his family fed and alive. Joseph put his brothers to the test and eventually revealed who he really was to them. Joseph forgave his brothers, and he told them that what they meant to do to him for evil, God who takes ordinary people and does extraordinary things, used what happened to him for good. For if God has called you, and He has called us all, in the end, God will use us to do good over evil. Even more, Joseph moves his whole family, including his father Joseph or Israel to Egypt, and because of this Joseph and his family survived and thrived. When the lineage then goes down the generations to Moses, Moses is then the person that God will use to lead the Israelites or Jews from slavery in Egypt to the land of Canaan, or “The Land of Milk and Honey,” or “The Promised Land,” which today includes in part the country of Israel.

          Joseph, out of Jacob’s twelve sons, was Jacob’s favorite son, and Joseph could have very well be full of himself and big headed. His brothers out of jealousy and envy fake Joseph’s death and sell him into slavery. Yet, God had a such a call of Joseph’s life that no matter where Joseph ended up, he was going to rise to prominence. For God takes ordinary people and does extraordinary things!

(Joseph Dies – Picture)

Joseph, the young boy with the “Technicolored Dream Coat” then dies in the Book of Genesis chapter 50, having saved his father Jacob and his whole extended family. For what enemy meant for evil, God used for His good. God uses and calls ordinary people to do extraordinary things. God has called you, me, and all of us to serve and love like Him. When we follow Christ, and accept this call, God will use in a variety of ways.

          The big take away here then, is all of us are loved by God, and all of us are called according to God’s purposes. Or to say it, another where you are presently in your life, is not necessarily your future, and your past is just that, your past. God uses ordinary people, to do extraordinary things. Are we willing to believe that God can and will use us? I am willing, because I will tell you this my brothers and sisters, where are you are today, or where you were a year ago, can change drastically for the better through Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. For what enemy means evil, either in this life or the next, God will use for His good. Keep pursuing Christ and keep asking God to use you and guide you. For a boy named Joseph who was sold into slavery by his jealous and envious brothers, ended up saving his entire family.

(Example of an “Ordinary Hero” – Picture)

          Someone sent me an example of an ordinary person who did extraordinary things through God. With the twenty-fifth anniversary of September 11, 2001, attacks rapidly approaching, here is a story of hero. Who is this hero? This hero is an ordinary person that God used to do some extraordinary. Who here has of Todd Beamer? Todd Beamer, an ordinary person, did something extraordinary. Let me tell you the story:

“Todd Beamer was 32 years old on September 11, 2001. Software sales account manager. Husband. Father of two. Third child on the way. Just another businessman boarding United 93 at Newark bound for San Francisco.  At 9:32 AM, four hijackers stormed the cockpit. They forced pilots Captain Jason Dahl and First Officer LeRoy Homer Jr. to the back. They locked the door. They claimed to have a bomb. Passengers started calling home. Todd Beamer called GTE Airphone operator Lisa Jefferson at 9:42 AM. She told him about the World Trade Center. The Pentagon. The planes. Todd understood immediately: his plane was a weapon aimed at a target on the ground. "I know I'm not going to get out of this," he told Lisa calmly. He asked her to pray with him. Then he asked her to tell his wife Lyz that he loved her. Then he said: "I'm going to have to go out on a limb here." He set down the phone. He gathered Tom Burnett, Mark Bingham, Jeremy Glick, and other passengers. Flight attendants CeeCee Lyles and Deborah Welsh organized them. They grabbed a beverage cart. They understood most of them would die. But thousands on the ground would die if they did nothing. Todd Beamer walked toward the cockpit and said words that would echo forever: "Are you guys ready? Okay. Let's roll." For six minutes, they fought. They pounded on the cockpit door. They heard screaming. They felt the aircraft pitch violently. They kept fighting. They weren't trained. They weren't soldiers. But they understood something essential: if they fought, they might save thousands. If they did nothing, they guaranteed mass death. At 10:03 AM, Flight 93 slammed into an open field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at over 500 mph. All 40 passengers and crew died instantly. Todd Beamer never saw his newborn daughter. He never grew old with his wife. But thousands of people woke up on September 12, 2001, because he chose to fight. He wasn't military. He wasn't trained. He was a software salesman who understood that heroism is a choice. That courage is what you do when fear screams at you to surrender. That sometimes you have to die so others can live. "Let's roll." Those words. That choice. That man. Ordinary person. Extraordinary courage.  Rest in peace, Todd Beamer. Your sacrifice changed America. Your courage showed the world what it means to be human”.

 

          Marian Higgins sent me this timely story, about an ordinary many who did something extraordinary. Brothers and sisters, God is still calling us all today to continue to be us, but to serve and love him in extraordinary ways!

          To make this a sermon one that walks out the door with us this morning, let me review and give some application points of Joseph who is mostly in the Book of Genesis chapters 37-50.

The biblical story of Joseph, found in Genesis 37–50, details how Jacob's favorite son was sold into slavery by jealous brothers, rose to become the second-in-command of Egypt after interpreting dreams, and ultimately saved his family from a severe famine through forgiveness. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

The Favorite Son and Dreams

 

·         The Coat: Jacob gave Joseph a special, ornate robe.

·         The Jealousy: His 11 older brothers hated him because of this favoritism.

·         The Dreams: Joseph had dreams showing his family bowing down to him, which made his brothers even more angry. [1, 2, 3, 4]

 

Sold into Slavery

 

·         The Pit: The brothers plotted to kill Joseph, but instead threw him into an empty cistern.

·         The Sale: They sold him to traveling Ishmaelite merchants for 20 pieces of silver.

·         The Deception: They dipped his robe in goat blood and tricked their father Jacob into believing a wild animal killed Joseph. [1, 2, 3]

 

Rise, Prison, and Power in Egypt

 

·         Potiphar's House: Joseph was sold in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh. God blessed Joseph, and he managed all of Potiphar's house. [1, 2, 3]

·         False Accusation: Potiphar's wife falsely accused Joseph of a crime when he refused her advances, landing him in prison. [1, 2, 3]

·         Dream Interpreter: In prison, Joseph accurately interpreted dreams for Pharaoh's baker and cupbearer. [1, 2]

·         Ruler of Egypt: When Pharaoh had disturbing dreams about seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine, the cupbearer remembered Joseph. Pharaoh brought Joseph out of prison, listened to his advice to store grain, and made him ruler over all Egypt. [1, 2, 3]

 

Reunion and Forgiveness

 

·         The Famine: When hunger struck Canaan, Joseph's brothers traveled to Egypt to buy food, not recognizing him.

·         The Test: Joseph tested their character and eventually revealed his true identity to them.

·         Reconciliation: Joseph forgave his brothers, telling them that while they meant it for evil, God used it for good to save many lives. He moved his entire family, including his father Jacob, to live safely in Egypt. 

Brothers and sisters, most of us, including myself, can say we are ordinary or regular people. Yet through us, God can and is still doing extraordinary things. For what enemy meant for evil, God in the end will use it for God. Keep serving, keep loving, keep seeking Christ, and keep doing the extraordinary for God! Amen.

AVBC - Sunday - 08/09/26 - Sermon Title: “Abraham - The Reluctant Patriarch” – “Ordinary People, Extraordinary God” - Sermon Series - (Part 2 of 5) – Genesis 12:1-3

 Sunday 08/09/26 – Adams Village Baptist Church

Sermon Title: “Abraham - The Reluctant Patriarch” – “Ordinary People, Extraordinary God” - Sermon Series - (Part 2 of 5) – Genesis 12:1-3

(Cover Picture – Abraham, Father of Faith - Picture)

          Last Sunday, we started a five-week sermon series called “Ordinary People, Extraordinary God.” In this sermon series, we will continue to take five people or figures from the Old Testament, or Hebrew or Jewish Bible, that God used in extraordinary ways. These people were “regular” or “ordinary people” like many of us are, but God used them, as God can and does use us in extraordinary ways!

          Last Sunday, we talked about the story of Noah, and the Ark. That God made a “Covenant” or an agreement with Noah. If Noah built the Ark, stayed righteous and faithful, after the earth flooded for forty-days, God promised to never again fully flood the earth. This “Covenant” is called the “Noahtic Covenant,” because God made this “Covenant,” or promise with Noah. The big take way from the story of Noah and Ark is faith, righteousness, holiness, and obeying God.

          Does anyone remember what God put it the sky when the flood ended to show Noah as a sign of the promise that there would never again be a world-wide flood? The answer is of course a rainbow. A dove also flew to the Ark with an olive leaf in its beak as a sign of peace, and renewal. This is loosely in part where we get the term, “extending an olive branch.” The power of faith, righteousness, and devotion to God.

          This morning though, our “ordinary” person that God used to do extraordinary things is Abraham. In fact, his name was originally Abram, and his wife Sarah’s name was originally Sarai, before God told Abram that he would now be called Abraham, and that Sarai would now be called Sarah. Like Noah, God made a “Covenant” or a promise to Abraham. We call this promise the “Abrahamic Covenant”. As I also said last Sunday, at the Last Supper Jesus made a “Covenant” or a promise with us, when he took the cup and said, “this is the blood of the New Covenant”. The promise of Christ is that we have forgiveness and salvation in Him. These “agreements,” or “promises,” or “covenants” from God are all throughout the Bible.

          While I do not want to rank the five ordinary people that we are learning about from the Old Testament that do extraordinary things in this sermon series, Abraham is a name that many of us might have heard a lot lately. In fact, who here has heard of the “Abraham Accords?” The Abraham Accords of 2020 were designed to created better trade and relationships with the country of Israel, that is in the majority of the Jewish faith, and the country of the Middle East, which in the majority is of the Muslim faith. Further, our country, the United States has been very involved in the “Abraham Accords,” and we are a country that is majority Christian. About two-thirds of the people of the United States identify as Christian. We certainly have a variety of beliefs or lack of beliefs in this country, but by far the majority religion in this country in Christianity.

Christians, Jews, and Muslims though, all claim spiritual descendancy from Abraham. The “Abrahamic Religions” of the world then, are Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. In total this makes up about 55% of the population of planet earth. Christianity is the world’s largest faith, followed by Islam, and there are only about 16-million people of the Jewish faith in the whole world. With a current world population about 8.3 billion, Christians, Muslims, and Jews then make up about 4.3 billion people.

(Ordinary People – Extraordinary God – Picture)

          So, this morning, once again, we are going to look at Abraham, an ordinary person, that God used to do extraordinary things.

(Genesis 12:1 – Picture)

In looking at our scripture reading for this morning, once again, from Genesis 12:1-3, we hear this, once again:

The Call of Abram

12 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves” (Gen. 12:1-3, RSV).

(Genesis 12:1-3 – Picture)

          Further, God tells Abram, who will be called Abraham, this of the land of “Canaan” in Genesis 13:15-17:

¹⁵ for all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants for ever. ¹⁶ I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your descendants also can be counted. ¹⁷ Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you”               (Gen. 13:15-17, RSV).

This, once again, is land of “Canaan,” or as it is called in the Book of Exodus 3:8, “The Land of Milk and Honey,” or “The Promised Land” as it is listed in scripture too. This of course in Exodus 3:8 is when Moses is preparing the Jews to leave slavery under the Egyptian Pharoah, to go through the Red Sea, to wander the wilderness for 40-years, and eventually get to “The Promised Land.”

          God calls Abram, soon to be renamed by God Abraham, and God tells Abraham that he will be the father of countless people, of more people that there are starts in the sky. Now Abram, soon to be Abraham was very wealthy and affluent, but if God never talked to him and made a covenant with him, I doubt any of us would know anything about him today. In the time of life, he was not ordinary, but today, we would not even know who he is without the covenant that God made with him. So significant is Abraham, that one of our most beloved Unites States Presidents, Abraham Lincoln, was named after the great “Father Abraham.”

(Abraham and Family - Picture)

          The other interesting part of the story of Abraham was that Abraham, and his wife Sarah had only one biological son, who they named “Isaac,” which means “he will laugh,” or “laughter”. The “Covenant” or promise of God through Abraham then passed on to his son Isaac. This same “Covenant” or “Birth Right” then continued down the line, to Moses, to then the great “King David,” who God promised a decedent that would be eternal or forever ruler. This promise of a savior is Jesus Christ, who once again at the Last Supper took his cup, and said, “this is the blood of the new covenant”. When you eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord’s Supper or Communion, we are remembering this “Covenant,” this promise through Christ that started with God, to Adam, to Abraham, the great “King David,” and lastly to Jesus Christ.

(Abraham and Sarah – Picture)

          Now getting back to Abraham, according to the Bible Sarah gave birth to Isaac when she was about ninety-years old, and Abraham was about one-hundred years old. Part this promise from God to Abram, soon to be Abraham having a line of decedents that today, once again, make up over half of the world’s 8.3 billion people. Part of the promise of God, or the “covenant” of God, that we call the “Abrahamic Covenant,” was that Sarah and Abraham would produce a male heir. At one hundred years old and ninety years old, by the way!

(Abraham and Isaac – Picture)

As you can see from this portrait, Abraham and Sarah don’t look a day over twenty-years old do they?!

          Without getting too deep into this story this morning, we as Christians claim our decent though Abram, who soon will be called Abraham. Muslims claim the same decent, but not through Abraham and Sarah’s son Isaac, but instead through Ishmael. Who is Ishmael? Ishmael is the son of Abraham and his wife Sarah’s servant Hagar. So, Jews and Muslims both claim decent from the great Father Abraham, but Jews and Christians claim decent from Isaac after Abraham. The Old Testament, the Jewish Torah, the first five book of the Old Testament, which is the Jewish or Hebrew Bible says that Jews decent is from Abraham to Isaac and so on, as Christians do. Muslims, once again, claim there decent from Abraham to Ishmael, and claim that Mohammed, the founder of Islam is a direct decedent from Ishmael.

          All this matters, because this figure in the Old Testament, or Jewish Torah, which is the first five books of the Old Testament, or the Books of Moses, as they are sometimes called, explain that Abraham, through God is the “Father of many nations.”

          Since God promised that Abraham would be the father of many, have more descendants than the stars in the sky, and since we as Christians trace our lineage back to him, God’s promises then matter. If the land of Canaan, the promised land, Jerusalem were promised to Abraham and his decedents, and since Jews and Christians trace our ancestry from Abraham, then Isaac, and so on, then Israel is clearly Jewish land. Yet, Muslims who claim their ancestry through Abraham and Ishmael have a different understanding of this. An unavoidable reality though is the centuries of persecution, slaughter, and prejudice towards Jews. After the Holocaust nearly killed all Jews in World War II, many survivors than said they wanted to return to the land that God promised to them through the great “Father Abraham”. Muslims, however, do not see “Canaan” or the “Land of Milk and Honey” as promised land to the Jews. As a result, Jerusalem and surrounding lands are “hot” real estate.

          Efforts to create a Jewish country of Israel and majority Muslim country of Palestine have been ongoing since the Jewish State or country of Israel was formed in 1948. President Jimmy Carter, a good American Baptist tried fervently to create a two-state solution, or a country for the Jews, and one for the Palestinians. To this day, this problem has not been solved.

          This goes back to “Father Abraham” and the “promise,” or the “Covenant” that God made with him that he would be the father of many nations. Further that his people would inherit “Canaan” or the “Land of Milk and Honey”.

(Abraham – Picture)

 Brother and sisters, this is Abram, who God renamed Abraham, “The Father of Many Nations,” to whom God promised his decedents Canaan or “The Land of Milk and Honey”.

          So does Abraham, one of five “Ordinary People, Extraordinary God,” do something extraordinary? Well, if over half of the world’s population claim decadency from the great “Father Abraham”, then I would say, yes indeed God took an ordinary person, Abram, soon to be Abraham and did something extraordinary!

          To make this a sermon that can walk out the door with us this morning, let us look at some application points of why Abraham was an ordinary person with and extraordinary God:

Genesis 12:1-3 records God's call to Abram, containing a divine command to leave his home, a promise to make him a great nation, and the ultimate vow that all peoples on earth will be blessed through him.

 

The Call and the Promise

·         The Command: God tells Abram to leave his country, his people, and his father's house to go to a land that God will show him.

·         The Blessing: God promises to make Abram a great nation, bless him, make his name famous, and make him a source of blessing to others.

·         The Protection: God states He will bless those who bless Abram and curse anyone who treats him with contempt.

·         The Global Scope: The covenant concludes with the promise that all families and peoples on earth will be blessed through Abram

 

Abraham is important in the Bible because he is the first Hebrew patriarch, the receiver of God's covenant, and the ultimate model of faith. Most users on Quora agree that his obedience shaped the entire history of salvation. [1, 2, 3, 4]

The Covenant and Promises

·         Great Nation: God promised to make Abraham's descendants into a great nation.

·         The Land: God promised the land of Canaan to his family.

·         Universal Blessing: God promised that all families on earth would be blessed through him, pointing forward to Jesus. [1, 2, 3]

 

An Example of Faith

·         Total Obedience: Abraham left his home and idols to follow a call from God without knowing where he was going.

·         Justification: His trust in God was counted to him as righteousness.

·         The Test of Isaac: He showed supreme trust in God by being willing to offer his son Isaac on the altar. [1, 2, 3]

 

Father of Many

 

·         Ancestry: He is the physical ancestor of the Jewish people through Isaac and Arab peoples through Ishmael.

·         Spiritual Father: The New Testament calls all who believe in God the "children of Abraham". [1, 2]

 

Brothers and sisters, God made a “covenant” or “promise” to Abraham that we believe passed from Isaac, eventually to Moses, eventually to the great King David, and eventually was eternally fulfilled through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We all might feel “ordinary,” but through God, He can use us to do extraordinary things! Be blessed this day and always children of Abraham! Amen.

AVBC - Communion Sunday - 08/02/26 - Sermon Title: “Noah - Faithful in a Corrupt World” – “Ordinary People, Extraordinary God” - Sermon Series - (Part 1 of 5) – Genesis 6:9-22

Sunday 08/02/26 – Adams Village Baptist Church

Sermon Title: “Noah - Faithful in a Corrupt World” – “Ordinary People, Extraordinary God” - Sermon Series - (Part 1 and 5) – Genesis 6:9-22     

(Cover Picture – Noah’s Ark)

          This morning we are beginning a new five-week sermon series called “Ordinary People, Extraordinary God”. Specifically, over the next five-weeks we will be discussing five figures in the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible that were “ordinary people,” but encountered our “extraordinary God”. These five figures of Noah, Abraham, Joseph, David, and Esther, are by no means all the significant figures in the Old Testament, but this sermon series will focus just on these five. Apart from God, Noah, Abrahan, Joseph, David and Esther were just “ordinary People,” but through God, He made them “extraordinary”.

(Ordinary People - Extraordinary God – Picture)

          I don’t think that being “normal” is a bad thing. For most of us we live lives like most other people, but are we famous to millions or even billions of people? Are buildings named after us? Do people we have never met who know our name and know all about us? We tend to live in a culture where only the elite on the top of the social and economic hierarchy are seen by some as “important.” I disagree wholeheartedly with this, as I believe all people are people. In fact, “ordinary people,” who can do so much through our “extraordinary God”.

          You might have heard me say it before, but my goal as a person, as a Christian, and as a pastor, is “to be nameless to history, and faithful for eternity”. For example, how many people have lived in Adams, Adams Center, Jefferson County, New York State, the United States, and the world, that most of the present human population have never heard of? Further, even if our names are etched into buildings, history books, on tomb stones, etc., do most people know much about them years later? Do we know more than what books might say, or perhaps what has been passed down to us? It is good to remember all those heroes in whom we stand on the shoulders of, but only God is eternal.

With all of this said then, how many of us this morning would say that we are regular “ordinary” people? I think I am a regular “ordinary” person, but not in the sense that I or anyone else is insignificant. We are all just people, all the same before God, but God can use us all to be “extraordinary”. It does need mean that we must be mentioned in the Bible or in other prominent places, but all of us can do “extraordinary” things, through our “extraordinary” God. As it turns out in the Bible God often chose people that were regular or “ordinary” people. The disciples that Jesus called, some of whom were fisherman, were likely just like the average like the average person in Adams or Adams Center. God takes the “ordinary,” and through the “ordinary” can and does do “extraordinary” things!

(Noah’s Calling – Genesis 6:9-22 – Picture)

          This morning though, once again, we are discussing “Noah” in the Book of Genesis, or the Hebrew Torah, for those who are Jewish. Noah potentially could just be name in a lineage or a forgotten footnote in history, but God used him to be “extraordinary”. In truth all are forgotten in many ways, even if a name and some of what person lived is still learned. For we are no longer living in those times, and everything is now what is written, and our world has changed so much. Yet, God called an “ordinary” man named Noah to do something “extraordinary.” It was not about Noah becoming famous, well known, or having us even to this day name children after him, but instead God often choses people for their humility, there faith, and their desire to seek Him.

          In looking at our scripture from the Book of Genesis 6:9-22 once again, we hear:

Noah Pleases God

⁹ These are the descendants of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. ¹⁰ And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. ¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹² And God saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth. ¹³ And God said to Noah, ‘I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth       (Gen. 6:9-13, NRSV).

          I have to be honest, the story of Noah and the Ark is great, but it is really challenging story in the Bible. The idea that God flooded the whole earth and all people, all flesh, would be destroyed. Some people get focused on this part of the story, but I would invite us this morning to look at this story in a bigger and a larger way. For example, if we were to look at all humanity on earth today, what would be our report card grade? Would we give humanity an A+? Would we give humanity a B, or a C+? Would we give humanity a D or an F, and why? I ask this, because I think this is a bigger theme is this story. I certainly struggle abundantly with some of the violence in the Old Testament and the idea that is the story of Noah that all of humanity is wiped out other than his family, but how would we grade humanity today? Have we all done a good job with the earth? Have we all done a good job loving and serving to best we could?

(Genesis 6:9,14 – Picture)

          To me, the story of Noah and the Ark is a call for us to look at ourselves, and to look at all humanity? It’s a call to ask ourselves if we are truly living the way that God wants us to live. I think if we are all honest, we can probably say that we can do even better than we are doing now. Noah himself according to Genesis 6:9 was righteous, blameless, as he walked with God. Therefore, if someone tells you that are like Noah in the Bible this is not necessarily a bad thing. I mean after all, some people still name their kids after Noah, who was a righteous, blameless, and Godly man. Noah followed God, and did whatever God commanded. Specifically, God asks Noah to build this massive ship called an Ark. How many of would want to do this?

(Noah Building the Ark – Picture)

          Picking up in Genesis 6:14 we hear, once again:

¹⁴ Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. ¹⁵ This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. ¹⁶ Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; and put the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks. ¹⁷ For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die (Gen. 9:14-17, NRSV).

Again, the story of Noah and the Ark is a powerful and deep story. Imagine building an Ark? This is not just a little project, it is unbelievable!

(Genesis 6:18 – Ark Picture)

Further, as we hear once again in Genesis 6:18. God established a “covenant” or an agreement with Noah.

¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you (Gen. 6:18, NRSV).

 

To make a covenant with God, means that God making a specific promise. God did this with Abraham, with Moses, David, and others like Adam in the Garden of Eden. Just don’t eat off the “Tree of the knowledge of God and evil” God told Adam. This covenant that God made with Noah, however, is the:

Noahic Covenant (Genesis 9): God promised never to destroy the earth again by a flood, giving the rainbow as an unconditional sign for all creation.                           [1, 2, 3, 4]

God’s covenant with Noah, is that He will never again flood the whole earth. The story continues with the rest of our scripture for this morning from Genesis 6:9-22, concluding in Genesis 6:19-22 saying, once again:

(Genesis 6:22 – Ark Picture)

¹⁹ And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. ²⁰ Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind shall come in to you, to keep them alive. ²¹ Also take with you every kind of food that is eaten, and store it up; and it shall serve as food for you and for them.’ ²² Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

 

          This story is so timeless in fact, that some church nurseries have a Noah’s Ark for kids to play with, and you can even go to the “Ark Encounter” in the state of Kentucky. I have never been there, but it is a complete replica of the Ark based upon the Noah story in the book of Genesis. While we do not know what Noah really looked like, I did find a picture of what some might think that he looked like:

(Noah – Picture)

Another joke that I have always had around Noah’s Ark story in the Book of Genesis is that Noah’s wife wanted her mother to come along on this 40-day Ark ride. Of course, there is nothing at all in the Bible at all about Noah’s mother-in-law, but here is a funny picture of how Noah responded to his wife when she asked Noah if he had seen here mother.

(Noah’s “Mother-In-Law – Ark Picture)

          So, Noah, like most of us was a regular “ordinary” person, but God used him to be “extraordinary”.  God can use any of us and does all the time to do little and maybe even massively “extraordinary” things. Again, the story of Noah’s Ark is a very challenging story in some ways. God makes a covenant with Noah to never again flood the earth, and all the covenants of the Old Testament culminate with Jesus. For at the Last Supper, that we will celebrate this morning, Jesus took the cup as said, “this is the blood of the New Covenant,” for our eternal promise and our eternal covenant with God, is through Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

          So how significant is the Old Testament Book of Genesis story of Noah’s Ark? Well, the realtor that helped Melissa and I with the house we live in now was named Noah. What did I get Noah as a thank you gift for his help? Well, a Legos build your own Noah’s Ark kit of course!

          In this first sermon in this sermon series called “Ordinary People, Extraordinary God” I want to explain, once again, why Noah and the story of the Ark matter to us today. How can we take this story out of the doors with us, and how can we apply to our lives and relationships with Jesus today? Here is how:

Genesis 6:9–22 describes Noah's righteous character, God's decision to judge a corrupt and violent world with a flood, and instructions to build an ark to save Noah's family and the animals. It highlights the themes of sin's seriousness, divine grace, and total obedience. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Character and Corruption

·         Noah's walk: Noah is described as righteous, blameless in his time, and walking closely with God.

·         World's state: The earth is filled with corruption and violence because people turned away from God's ways. [1, 2, 3]

 

Judgment and Grace

·         Divine warning: God announces His plan to destroy all life on earth with a flood because of human evil.

·         The covenant: God chooses to show grace by making a promise (covenant) to save Noah and his family. [1, 2]

 

The Ark and Obedience

·         Exact plans: God gives Noah precise measurements and design instructions for the massive wooden ark.

·         Preservation: Noah is told to bring food and pairs of every kind of animal to keep them alive.

·         Complete compliance: Noah shows active faith by obeying every single command that God gives him. [1, 2, 3, 4]

 

Even further:

 

The significance of Noah in Abrahamic traditions centers on salvation, obedience, and a fresh start for humanity, represented by three key themes: deliverance from judgment, the renewal of creation, and a divine covenant.   [1, 2, 3]

Core Religious Meanings

·         Righteousness: Noah stood out as a faithful and blameless man in a corrupt world, proving that obedience to God matters even when no one else follows. [1, 2, 3]

·         Salvation and Grace: Building the ark provided a literal and spiritual refuge, showing God's mercy saving the innocent and preserving all land life from total destruction. [1, 2, 3, 4]

·         New Beginning: Acting as a second patriarch or "new Adam", Noah stepped onto a cleansed earth to restart the human race. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

The Covenant and Symbolism

·         The Rainbow: God made a promise never to destroy the earth by a flood again, using the rainbow as a sign of peace and lasting loyalty.

·         The Name: Meaning "rest" or "consolation" in Hebrew, his birth symbolized relief from the heavy toil and curse placed upon the ground.             [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

This morning, once again, we have discussed the story of Noah and the Ark. Noah, others like him, and us, are “Ordinary People” who have an “Extraordinary God” Amen.