Matt Roberts - March 1, 2026
Our faith and failures
Genesis 20 It’s a repeat of the incident in Egypt! Abraham tragically repeated his sins. Abraham’s attitude towards his wife is still manipulative. He still fears other men more than he trusts God. We also see his sinful prejudice towards foreigners again. He assumes that foreign men are prone to sexual violence towards women but did not expect foreign men like Abimelech to share a relationship with his same God. This year in the news we have seen that some people today are quick to assume foreigners are a threat, yet the reality is many foreigners have a vibrant faith in Jesus. In this story, Sarah is like the untouchable tree in the garden of Eden. Abimelech is warned not to touch her. He is like a faithful Adam who obeys God. That makes Abraham like a lying and deceiving snake. For more about Christ Central Church Portsmouth visit: https://christcentral.church Or via socials: www.facebook.com/christcentral.ch www.instagram.com/christcentralchurchportsmouth To connect with us email: hello@christcentral.church or give us your details at https://www.christcentral.church
From Series: "Genesis - God's people in God's plan"
The Bible has clear instructions in parts, but most of it is story. Stories of people messing up. Stories of people discovering God’s grace. Stories we can learn wisdom from. The middle bit of Genesis tells the story of three generations who discover what it means to be God’s people in God’s plan for his world. And they don’t always get it right. Their stories include: marriage problems, death and grief, parenting struggles, choosing a spouse, sexual immorality, deception, reproductive ethics, unjust employers, relationships that distort God’s design, the strength of friendship, birth, infertility, abuse, betrayal, forgiveness, aging, value of life from womb to tomb, loneliness, racism, politics, war, buying land, wealth management, and learning wisdom from all the ambiguity of ordinary life trying to trust God in a fallen world. We face many issues in life where we have to ask: What does it mean to be God’s people in this? What’s God’s plan for it?
