Darash Chai - Seek Life!

Isaac the patriarch is the one that we know the very least about. Abraham was around for 13 chapters. Jacob will be around for the rest of Genesis. Isaac gets this one chapter to shine, and this chapter is vitally essential to the overall message of Genesis. Why THIS, confusing and unrelatable chapter? What do wells and covenants have to do with me, and with the church today?

When we began this experiment, we developed a few tools that we could use to discern the topics of Scripture as we approach them. When we come to a passage that features not just one, but two lists of names, and then a few seemingly disconnected stories, what do we do with them? Should we simply skip past it as if there is no meaning? or do we slow down, take our time, and tease the text? If we take our time, we can discover that the Bible is full of profound and meaningful discussions, even in the most boring of places.

A candidate has been found. A proposal has been made. Now comes the responsibility of sharing the message. But wait, the message that the servant gives is not 100% accurate to what we read before. Is the servant being faithless, or is there something else going on?

Sarah has died, Isaac is unmarried, and Abraham is getting old...er. The time has come for Abraham to send his servant out into the world to find a person to join the covenant that God has made with his family. But who? How to choose? What is it that the servant should look for? Who is this servant anyway, and what can we learn from him?

As we read through the story of Abraham, there is an essential person that is always in the background. The woman behind the man. When we speak of Sarah, we usually point out her lack of faith with Hagar, or when she laughed. Rarely do we ever try to understand her as a person. So let's do that. Let's get to know Sarah. You may find that you identify with her more than you know.

What do you do when God asks the impossible? What do you do when God asks everything of you? Of all of the stories of Abraham in the Bible, the story of the Binding of Isaac is perhaps the most iconic. It reveals the standard and shows a man, who has to trust fully and reveals the truth that absolute faith requires obedience.

Ishmael and Isaac. The sons of Abraham. One the son of the flesh. The other the son of the promise. This chapter gives us the opportunity to examine one of the most confusion passages in Paul's writings, as well as to examine ourselves. Are you a son of the flesh, or a son of faith. Both were seed of Abraham. Only one got the promise.

In Genesis 20 we usually get caught up in what Abraham did and the unfairness and immorality of it all. Under the surface though there is a portrait of God and the way that He interacts with people. This lesson on God's character is one that we should not miss.

All too often we approach Genesis 19 in isolation and when we do so, we end up missing a large part of the story. We end up making rush judgments without all of the necessary information. What can we learn about Sodom and Gomorrah if we incorporate the rest of Scripture into our assessment of this story?

This episode is our first podcast exclusive holiday special. This is a rerecording of a teaching that I gave at a local Shavu'ot / Pentecost gathering in Greenville, SC. What is this holiday all about and how can we practice the principles of Shavu'ot in our lives?

We usually think of prophecy as foretelling the future, but that is not completely accurate. Prophecy is so much more than telling what is going to happen. This chapter contains a sequence that reveals, not only the truth of what prophecy is, but what our response to prophecy should be as well.

Circumcision is one of those topics that everyone has an opinion on. Is it necessary? What are the implications? The complications? What's the point? Does it matter? Let's explore the circumcision and see what the Bible has to say about circumcision from the very beginning.

It has been 10 years since Abram arrived in Canaan. 10 years since God made a promise to him. 10 years of waiting and disappointment. Have they missed something? Is there another option? The temptation to take charge is overwhelming. They aren't completely out of options....They've waited long enough. Time to do something.

What exactly is faith? We all think that we know what faith is, but do we really? Faith is something that is both intangible but at the same time produces a very real and tangible result. Abram models this for us, as do so many others. What is faith, and how do we live lives of faith?

As the scope of the narrative of the Bible goes from world shaping events to the life of a single man, so too does the topics and themes of Scripture change from vast to intimate. In Genesis 14 we see a contrast of two kings. One a king or righteousness in relationship to the world. The other a king of righteousness in relationship to God. This dichotomy should cause us to wonder. Do we really understand righteousness in the first place?

Here begins the story of Abram. A man of faith. A man of righteousness. A man of dedication. Abram is traditionally held up as a model for all who come after. He obeyed God when asked to do the inconceivable. He obeyed even when it hurt. In order to obey, he paid a cost.

The Tower of Babel episode closes off for us the end of the Noah cycle. As it does, it returns to the topic that it began with, but this time around, we get a new take on an old topic. What is it that CS Lewis called "The Great Sin," and what can Babel teach us about it?

Something happened in Noah's tent to cause Noah to curse his grandson. This story has confused and confounded generations of scholars and laymen alike. Likely what caused the curse is not what occurred in the tent, but what occurred outside of the tent. To discover the truth, we must first learn about Honor and Shame.

Once new creation has been started, relationship begins. Not simply any relationship, but a covenant relationship. What elements are needed to enter into a covenant relationship with another?

The world has been unmade. The time has come for it to be created anew. Peter says that we should always be ready to explain the hope that is in us, but what is that great hope?