There is a “law” of unexpected consequences. You’ve probably experienced it. You face a problem and endure it for a while. Eventually it comes to a point where you have to make a plan to get out of the problem. You rely on your experience and wisdom. Maybe get some advice. Maybe you even prayed. You execute your plan. But along the way, there are unexpected consequences to your plan. Abraham also experienced the law of unexpected consequences when he found himself “off track” in Egypt. Today we’ll learn some important lessons to help us get back on track.

Abraham’s nephew Lot was a lot of trouble! But that didn’t keep Abraham from loving him. Abraham was learning that God was calling him into a covenant relationship to imitate God’s character of love to the world around him.

In the test over Abraham’s son Isaac, God is asking, “Which is more important to you – Me or the blessings I have promised?” In the end, Abraham was commended as God’s friend because “his faith and his actions were working together.” (James 2:22) True faith will always show itself by your obedient actions.

For the next several weeks we’re going to concentrate on where our church is going and some things that are vitally important if we are going to get there. We need to keep the faith, live obediently, and maintain unity if we are going to stay true to our calling and enjoy God’s blessings.

Society has many views , speculations, and doubts on what the after-life will be like. God’s word gives us some images of things in heaven that we can be sure of. The most frequent illustration of heaven is that of a large, festive banquet. At the beginning of eternity, there is a large feast called the “wedding supper of the Lamb.” (Re 19:9) The invitations have been mailed, the guests are making their RSVPs, and the table is being set.

Culture has many views and speculations on what the after-life will be like. What does the Bible teach about heaven and hell? In the first part of this series, we will look at what the Bible teaches about hell.

Imagine that once upon a time, there were men –and only men – living on the planet Mars. Two planets over, on Venus, there were only women. One day, the men looked through their telescopes and spotted the women on Venus and it awakened feelings they had never known. As time went on, the Martians and Venusians decided to settle on Earth and everything worked great – for a while. Then trouble crept in - tension in their relationships, mainly because of selective amnesia. The men and women forgot that they came from two different planets and were wired differently. Today, we learn how to survive the invasion from Mars!

In the perfect world of Eden, God made and wired men to be protectors, providers, and cultivators. Sometimes that wiring gets messed up. It may be a short-circuit brought on by bad nurturing or by circumstances, but ultimately it comes from a man’s decision to live his life differently than how God made him. Today, we’re going to look at the sad situation of “men gone wild.” We’ll look at how men usually deface the image of God in them, the consequences of this defacement, and how we can restore the image.

There’s something that stirs in a man when he watches William Wallace, Aragorn, Maximus, “Dirty Harry” Callahan, Luke Skywalker, or Rocky Balboa do their stuff. It’s what John Eldredge describes as a man’s deep-down desire for “a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue.” What stirs within us is the memory of battles and adventures and rescues that we have lived out. Or what stirs within us is a thirst for what we wish we were like.

Differences between men and women are often explained by saying, “It’s a guy thing.” As we look into God’s word, we’ll see that there really is a “guy thing.” Men and women are both bearers of the image of God – equal and unique. But while culture tries to dull the differences between men and women out of fear, the solution is to understand Biblical masculinity and learn to use it in the right way.