It may be that you have been wondering throughout this sermon series why we have not focused much on the census that occurs in the beginning of the Book of Numbers. Isn’t that where the name “Numbers” comes from?  For one thing, we didn’t want to lose your interest to begin with; but second, and more importantly, we want to take you deeper at this point in the series, to show you how God works through names, through people.  The LORD God promised Abraham back in Genesis 12 that He would bless all the families of the earth through Abraham’s family.  In Matthew 1, we see a genealogy that looks like a list of names that seem to have little implication for us today. However, when we begin to flesh out the stories of those names, we begin to see how God executes His promises through ordinary human lives.  We see that the LORD continues to bless us in personal ways, through our families; dysfunctional as they may be at times (notice the dysfunction in many of the families listed in Mt 1).  God promises to restore all of His creation and He does it personally, one individual, one family, one community at a time.  Look deeper into the lives of those named in Numbers and in Matthew and see the underlying story of how God keeps His promises to His people by sending Jesus the Christ to save us from our sin.