This Sunday, February 23 (9am, 10:45am), we will have a special Sunday with Walt Heyer and Dr. Jennifer Bauwens on the topic of Embracing God's Design.
This week we will explore Genesis 17:1-27, Names According to God.
What is your name? How did you get it? What does it mean?
We all have names...and stories behind our names. Sometimes we like them, sometimes we don't.
In Genesis 17, God changes Abram and Sarai's names. Linguistically it is not a big change. Abram and Abraham are pretty close in meaning, so are Sarai and Sarah. But there is a world of difference in the significance.
Abram and Sarai are names given to them by their earthly fathers.
Abraham and Sarah are names given to them by their heavenly Father.
God declares to them their identity and their destiny.
The Abrahamic Covenant assures Abraham and Sarah that despite their failures and mistakes, God's faithfulness and love remain the same. God will bless them. He will multiply their descendants. He will give them the land. He will be their God for all generations.
As a sign of the covenant, God calls Abraham and all males in his household to be circumcised.
That seems like a strange sign of the covenant?! The rainbow seems a lot better
But God has meaning in this act. It is the dedication of the most intimate part of myself to Him. It is a picture of the cutting away of the flesh and the need for a new heart.
There's a lot to cover in Genesis 17! But, praise God, we also learn in this chapter that He is El Shaddai. He is all-sufficient and all-powerful. He is more than enough!
And we will celebrate communion together as a reminder that we are part of His New Covenant with us!
May we come to a deeper understanding of who we are in Christ and may we know our true name in Him!

This week we will explore Genesis 16:1-16, Failure According to God.
Have you ever failed?
Or perhaps a more important question...
Have you ever felt like a failure?
Deep down we all want life to work. We want to succeed in our plans. We want to feel secure, to be significant, to fulfill God's purpose for us.
But life often doesn't happen that way. Disappointments, discouragement, doubts, mistakes, fears, sorrows, confusion, conflict, loss of control...all have a way of confronting us with our own weakness and sense of failure.
Genesis 16 records the low point in the faith of Abram and Sarai.
They are tired. They are broken. They are confused.
Life is not shaping up the way that they expected. And God's promises seem like a carrot on a stick... always just out of their reach.
In their pain, Sarai decides to take matters into her own hands...while Abram grows increasingly passive and takes a backseat.
A young Egyptian servant by the name of Hagar is stuck in the middle.
In trying to fix a problem, Abram and Sarai create a mess.
Yet, even in their failures, God's faithfulness remains the same.
He is the God who sees.
He sees our deepest sorrows and failures and loves us still the same.
May God minister to the depths of our hearts like only He can do. And may we come to a deeper and deeper understanding of His incomprehensible compassion and grace!

🌍 This Sunday’s featured speaker for The Great Commission 101 is Abram Ebersohn! He will be teaching “How to become a World Christian.” 🌍

Abram is married to his wife, Helen, and is a proud father of three. He currently serves as the Sending Director at The Chapel. He is currently pursuing his Master’s degree at Dallas Theological Seminary and is a graduate of Radius International, a program focused on cross-cultural missions training. Before his role at the Chapel, he and his wife served as missionaries in China for two years with Global Serve International.