Princeton Baptist Church

If you’ve ever been described as having a “salty” personality, they probably didn’t mean it how Jesus means it. Today we’re looking at the biblical theme of “salt” (surprising OT uses!) and what Jesus means when he tells his disciples they are to be salt and light to the world. This sermon is a part of our series on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5.

Picking up in Genesis 13 with Abraham being sent away from Egypt and into the wilderness. God calls us out of this scarcity living (there won’t be enough for me) and into abundant life (God provides you with everything you need) “Faith makes choices looking at God’s abundance rather than our own scarcity.” “God created us in His image so that through our very lives we would glorify him by reflecting him accurately to others. This broken image is the reason he sent his son into the world. Jesus redefined this image for us. When God became man and dwelt among us, he perfectly reflected the Father as a human being. In his time on earth, he called us out of the scarcity, and through faith, into the abundant love of the Father.” “We have to remember here that Abram really has no idea what Lot is going to choose. He’s giving Lot first dibs on water and grazing rights. They’re not just competing for the best view, this is their mutual livelihood on the line. Which is why, when God earlier promises to give Abram a LAND, he’s basically telling him, I’m going to take care of this stuff for you. You can trust me to provide you with everything you need. It’s this promise that Abram now leans blindly into. When LAND seems scarce, and his needs are at their greatest, Abram leans all the harder into the abundance of God’s promise.” “This is the gift of an abundant life, lived out when we act on what Christ says is true about us. Step by step, we can explore this promise.”   Genesis 13 (NIV) Abram and Lot Separate 13 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. 2 Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. 3 From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier 4 and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord. 5 Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 6 But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. 7 And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time. 8 So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.” 10 Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. 13 Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord. 14 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring[a] forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.” 18 So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord. Footnotes: Genesis 13:15 Or seed; also in verse 16

What does it mean to be #blessed? Abraham receives God’s blessings not because of who he is and what he is done, but because of who God is. God calls Abraham out of his life, to follow God and receive this blessing. He calls Abraham into the unknown, away from his home, he asks him to rely on God. When God calls us OUT of something, he is calling us INTO something better. Genesis 11:10-26 Genesis 12:1-9 The Hound of Heaven (poem by Francis Thompson)  

What happens when God’s promises don’t play out how we expect them to? Intern Jude is preaching on Genesis 10:1-32, the lineage of Noah’s sons. This is in follow up to Genesis 9 (see last week’s sermon), where Ham disgraces his father and God promises Shem that he will have dominion over his brother Ham.

In last Sunday’s sermon, we ended with Noah waiting and waiting for the flood waters to recede. Now the water has gone down and Noah and his family can leave the ark. God blesses Noah and his whole family and all of creation, knowing that they’re sinful and broken. God is lovingly attaching himself to a broken and fallen humanity. He earnestly desires to bless us.  

Pastor Kyle speaks on the vision and goals of our church and how it impacts every single one of us to embrace our call to reach, love and disciple. If we want to see REAL church, we must see beyond the building and the programs to the people who are the church. Church is who we are, it is not the place we meet. Being church is an everyday occurrence for us

This past week Pastor Kyle shared a message on Genesis 4:16-5:32. Which compared the genealogies of Cain and Seth and what it means to walk faithfully with God, trusting him with the big life choices, but just as importantly – taking the small steps of faith that he calls you to. This sermon will inspire you to listen to God’s promptings in your life and follow through on them, even if they feel random or strange.

Pastor Kyle Nichols is preaching about the cost of our sins, the consequences of the choices we make.     Genesis 3:13-24 New International Version (NIV) 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring[a] and hers; he will crush[b] your head, and you will strike his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” 17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” 20 Adam[c] named his wife Eve,[d] because she would become the mother of all the living. 21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. Footnotes: Genesis 3:15 Or seed Genesis 3:15 Or strike Genesis 3:20 Or The man Genesis 3:20 Eve probably means living. Genesis 3:24 Or placed in front New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.