God of The Generations
The God of Abraham - Part 7
Sunday, October 15, 2023
Genesis 24:34-67
[Her family] called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will go.” So they sent off their sister Rebekah, her nurse, Abraham’s servant, and his men. And they blessed Rebekah, saying to her, “May you, our sister, become thousands of ten thousand; may your children possess their enemies’ cities.” Rebekah and her young women got up, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.
The servant told Isaac everything that had happened. Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent. He received Rebekah as his wife and loved her. So Isaac found comfort after his mother’s death.
Genesis 24:58-61, 66-67
Listen to this Week’s Sermon here:
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Most of us are uncomfortable with our own mortality. As one doctor said to a newly diagnosed cancer patient, “We all have a terminal illness. It’s called life.”
While I don’t know that I would call life an “illness”, there is definitely truth to the fact that it is a terminal condition. One of the worst parts of that truth is that no matter how long we live, we will always leave something seemingly unfinished. We long to know what will happen beyond us. We want to leave a lasting legacy.
The good news is that God is a God of the generations.
Abraham barely saw a glimpse of God’s promise. He never even lived to see his grandchildren, yet God remained faithful to Isaac, Jacob & all the rest.
Let us live with this eternal perspective, in faith and hope because God is faithful in every generation.
Amen.
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Hymn: God, We Spend a Lifetime Growing
Tune: 8787D, ODE TO JOY, BABILONE (Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee)
God, we spend a lifetime growing,
learning of your love and care,
planting seeds you give for sowing,
working for the fruit they’ll bear.
Now we honor faithful servants
who, with joy, look back and see
years of growing in your presence,
lives of fruitful ministry.
Thank you, Lord, for ones who teach us
what has brought them to this place!
May their faith-filled witness reach us;
may we glimpse in them your grace.
Strong in you, their strength uplifts us
from our birth until life’s end;
Spirit-filled, they give us gifts, as
prophet, mentor, guide, and friend.
Christ our Lord, you walk beside us,
giving daily work to do;
years go by and still you guide us
as we seek to follow you.
If our sight fails, weak hands tremble,
minds forget the things we’ve known,
Lord, we trust that you remember,
hold us close, and see us home.
— by Carolyn Winfrey GilletteText: Copyright © 2001.
All rights reserved.