Genesis Project Portland

The miracle of the prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel is threefold: God showing up and consuming his altar with fire, God sending back the rain as he promised, and God giving Elijah the power to run ahead of the King's chariot. All of these miracles reveal how God often answers in ways we least expect, and over-time through his process.

When Jesus intervenes in a miraculous way he teaches us what to do, but more importantly whose we are. The two miraculous catches of fish at the beginning of Luke and the end of John invite us into the reality that Jesus is the true Lord of our work. When we give that back to him he takes us along the journey of moving our work to vocation where we are infused with his purpose and meaning.

Jesus walks with us and invites us into a deeper relationship with him. Through accepting who he is, and developing trust through relationship our faith grows deeper.

When Jesus comes to bring heaven down to earth, he does so in miraculous ways. One way was to open up God's presence to all people who previously would have been counted out. God's holiness is something that we can never comprehend on earth, but through Jesus we see glimpses of what that looks like when he intervenes in inexplicable ways.

God takes Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground into freedom and liberation from enslavement to Egypt. 40 years later, God does the same miracle, yet in a different way to bring Israel from the desert into the promised land across the River Jordan. Two similar events where God miraculously intervened yet in a new way. We often want to skip over the middle part - the desert - because that is the place of discomfort and unknowing. Yet that is where God wants us to focus on, because that is where we are drawn to trust and dependence on his presence.

Mark 5 begins with an outlandish story of Jesus casting out thousands of demons from one man into a herd of pigs. The man has been tormented day and night, and when Jesus delivers him we see that he is now in a restful state with his dignity and mind restored. The man then wants to go back with Jesus in the boat, however Jesus instructs him to go back to where he is from and tell all that the Lord has done for you. Many times when we become healed and restored, we want to run away from our past, yet Jesus wants to redeem that and use it for his glory.

We are starting a new series about God doing miraculous things in and through people, and what that means for us now and for the future. Miracles aren't just something that prove Jesus' deity, but are moments where God intervenes and brings a taste of heaven on earth. Our first miracle is in John 2 when Jesus turns water into wine at the wedding banquet. He doesn't just do it alone but engages the servants to fill the pots, draw from them, and then share with others.

The twelfth and last prophet, Malachi, brings a word of hope and repentance after Israel has returned from exile. The temple has been rebuilt and yet things are not going the way they should. Israel is still rebelling against God's covenant of love and peace - choosing instead idolatry and injustice. So God brings them back to his covenant love and reminds them of who he is, in order to point forward to the hope of the coming messiah, where God himself will enter into the injustice and idolatry and set things back right.

Zechariah takes a much needed turn to the hope of Israel and Judah's future restoration after exile to Babylon. He speaks to them in the midst of pain, sorrow, and unknowing–pointing forward to a future promise as a reason for covenant faithfulness with God. This is similar to the tension we also feel after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Where the present kingdom is not yet fully fulfilled until his return. We, too, can have the hope of our future resurrection with Jesus.

This week we have a special guest with us! Travis Mitchell is the Pastor of Montavilla Church, a multi-cultural and multi-generational church in southeast Portland! Travis walks us through the book of Haggai, looking at its history, as well as the challenge present in the book that we can apply today, the challenge to not misplace our priorities in the things that, even if they come from the right place, seem to easily distract us from what God has for us as his followers.