Monday the 15th of Feb: Genesis 45:1-46:34
Tuesday the 16th of Feb: Genesis 47:1-48:22
Wednesday the 17th of Feb: Genesis 49:1-50:26
Thursday the 18th of Feb: Exodus 1:1-22
Friday the 19th of Feb: Exodus 2:1-25
Saturday the 20th of Feb: Exocus 3:1-4:41
We are finally getting out of Genesis!
Pastor Fred
Monday, February 15, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Bible Study Blog for week 4
Sorry forgot to post yesterday.
Monday the 8th of Feb: Genesis 36:1-37:36
Tuesday the 9th of Feb: Genesis 38:1-39:23
Wednesday the 10 of Feb: Genesis 40:1-23
Thursday the 11th of Feb: Genesis 41:1-40
Friday the 12th of Feb: Genesis 41:41-57
Saturday the 13th of Feb: Genesis 42:1-44:34
Pastor Fred
Monday the 8th of Feb: Genesis 36:1-37:36
Tuesday the 9th of Feb: Genesis 38:1-39:23
Wednesday the 10 of Feb: Genesis 40:1-23
Thursday the 11th of Feb: Genesis 41:1-40
Friday the 12th of Feb: Genesis 41:41-57
Saturday the 13th of Feb: Genesis 42:1-44:34
Pastor Fred
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Some comments on Genesis 23-28
Did you notice the note about Sarah being the only women whose age at death is recorded in the Bible? There is a triva question the next time you want to impress someone in a small group.
Another interesting thing that is brought out is that Sarah was buried in the promised land, in the same place that Abraham and the patriarchs that came after him would be buried.
In Chapter 25 we see how God is the one who determines who will serve him and that the rights of the firstborn do not always go to the first born. Here Esau is the first born but it is Jacob who ends up with the birthright and that is something that God predetermined. In the same way to be a child of Abraham doesn't mean you have to be one physically. It is by faith that Abraham believed God and was credited with righteousness and it is by faith that we become children of Abraham and Children of God.
We see in Chapter 26 that Isaac followed in the sinful footsteps of his father in saying that his wife was his sister so as to save his own skin. There is no perfect holy man in this life, even the best ones are also great sinners.
In chapter 28 after Jacob has been blessed with the blessing of the first born that physically was Esau's we see the character of sin come out. Esau instead of being repentant for selling his birthright deliberately went off and sinned by marrying a woman that his parents forbid him to marry. Sin leads to more sin and so on. Meanwhile Jacob gets visited by God and worships God in that place. It is the start for what will be many hard years for him, but God here promises to be his God no matter what.
Pastor Fred
Another interesting thing that is brought out is that Sarah was buried in the promised land, in the same place that Abraham and the patriarchs that came after him would be buried.
In Chapter 25 we see how God is the one who determines who will serve him and that the rights of the firstborn do not always go to the first born. Here Esau is the first born but it is Jacob who ends up with the birthright and that is something that God predetermined. In the same way to be a child of Abraham doesn't mean you have to be one physically. It is by faith that Abraham believed God and was credited with righteousness and it is by faith that we become children of Abraham and Children of God.
We see in Chapter 26 that Isaac followed in the sinful footsteps of his father in saying that his wife was his sister so as to save his own skin. There is no perfect holy man in this life, even the best ones are also great sinners.
In chapter 28 after Jacob has been blessed with the blessing of the first born that physically was Esau's we see the character of sin come out. Esau instead of being repentant for selling his birthright deliberately went off and sinned by marrying a woman that his parents forbid him to marry. Sin leads to more sin and so on. Meanwhile Jacob gets visited by God and worships God in that place. It is the start for what will be many hard years for him, but God here promises to be his God no matter what.
Pastor Fred
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Answers to some comments
Yes Glen you are right Adam was a chump. He was standing right there as Eve took and ate and then when she offered him some he ate too. We often blame woman for bringing sin into the world but it was Man that God had directly warned not woman, therefore the responsibility was with man to stop her. That is why the New Testament talks so much about Adam's sin.
Dave that is a good question about the languages being confused and the people dispersed. From what we read God did that because man was becoming powerful and full of themselves. They were trying to take the place of God, and even though that would never happen, God was concerned about their spiritual welfare and the consequences of sin that it would bring. So he confused their languages so they couldn't communicate and then dispersed them around the world. There is in interesting parallel here, because of man's sin he could no longer really communicate with God either, at least in the way that Adam and Eve did in the garden. Therefore it was fitting that he couldn't communicate with other men as well. It is the effect of sin. That is why the Day of Pentecost is so important. God, through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit was bringing man back together in a relationship with him and with his fellow man. The tower of Babel event is a perfect example of the consequences of sin and the Day of Pentecost is a perfect example of the consequences of forgiveness.
Pastor Fred
Dave that is a good question about the languages being confused and the people dispersed. From what we read God did that because man was becoming powerful and full of themselves. They were trying to take the place of God, and even though that would never happen, God was concerned about their spiritual welfare and the consequences of sin that it would bring. So he confused their languages so they couldn't communicate and then dispersed them around the world. There is in interesting parallel here, because of man's sin he could no longer really communicate with God either, at least in the way that Adam and Eve did in the garden. Therefore it was fitting that he couldn't communicate with other men as well. It is the effect of sin. That is why the Day of Pentecost is so important. God, through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit was bringing man back together in a relationship with him and with his fellow man. The tower of Babel event is a perfect example of the consequences of sin and the Day of Pentecost is a perfect example of the consequences of forgiveness.
Pastor Fred
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Bible Study Blog reading for Feb 1
Feb 1 Monday - Genesis 23:1-24:67
Feb 2 Tuesday - Genesis 25:1-26:35
Feb 3 Wednesay - Genesis 27:1-28:22
Feb 4 Thursday - Genesis 29:1-30:43
Feb 5 Friday - Genesis 31:1-33:20
Feb 6 Saturday Genesis 34:1-35:29
Sorry about no comments last week, it was very busy. Therefore there will be two comment days this week.
Pastor Fred
Feb 2 Tuesday - Genesis 25:1-26:35
Feb 3 Wednesay - Genesis 27:1-28:22
Feb 4 Thursday - Genesis 29:1-30:43
Feb 5 Friday - Genesis 31:1-33:20
Feb 6 Saturday Genesis 34:1-35:29
Sorry about no comments last week, it was very busy. Therefore there will be two comment days this week.
Pastor Fred
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Blog Bible Study Readings
Here are the readings for this week. Look for my comments this coming Wednesday.
Monday - Genesis 12:10-13:18
Tuesday - Genesis 14:1-15:21
Wednesday - Genesis 16:1-17:27
Thursday - Genesis 18:1-19:38
Friday - Genesis 20:1-21:34
Saturday - Genesis 22:1-24
Happy reading
Pastor Fred
Monday - Genesis 12:10-13:18
Tuesday - Genesis 14:1-15:21
Wednesday - Genesis 16:1-17:27
Thursday - Genesis 18:1-19:38
Friday - Genesis 20:1-21:34
Saturday - Genesis 22:1-24
Happy reading
Pastor Fred
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Genesis 1-11
The first 11 chapters of Genesis are extremely important. They are the foundation for the entire Bible. Everything is started here. Man's creation, Man's fall into sin. The promise of the Savior. The line of descendants. The flood symbolizing baptism. The Tower of Babel and the breaking up of the nations.
The rest of Scripture constantly refers back to it. If in any way these chapters are not true, if they are just myths or good stories then the rest of the Bible is just a myth as well.
We teach that God made the earth in six literal days. The theory of evolution, which has never and never will be proven goes against that. They say that dinosaurs and other creatures lived on the earth before man and were even extinct before man was created. There is only one problem with that. There was no death in the world before man's sin, so how did the dinosaurs die? It would have been impossible for them to die, sin is what causes death. Therefore you either believe in the theory of evolution or you believe in the Bible, but you cannot believe in both and be honest.
Another question that comes up is how did Moses, who lived about 1500 b.c. know all of this stuff? First of all we say that Scripture is divinely inspired by God. In other words even though Moses wrote down the words they were given to him by God, therefore it is God's Word. Secondly Moses very well could have drawn on other historical documents that were around at the time and there was also oral tradition. There were stories that had been passed down through the years that were known by all the people. They could have also been a source of information. At this point people point out that by the time the stories were told to Moses they were so changed and different from the original stories that he was just writing myths. People point out the telephone game where one person tells another person something and he passes it down the line and the story the last person tells is very different from the story the first person told. So they say see we can't trust these words of Moses.
Oral tradition in ancient times was very different from the telephone game though. Stories were told within a community and everyone in the community knew the story and accuracy was considered very important. Therefore if someone started to change a story he was corrected very fast. Historians who study in this field say that stories could be passed down this way for thousands of years without significant changes being made. So there is no reason to believe that Moses was not dealing with accurate stories.
A key verse to remember in this section is Genesis 11:9 where it says the languages were confused and people were dispersed all over the earth. In the New Testament we see that on the Day of Pentecost the opposite happens. The people were all brought back together and all the languages were understood by everyone. A good point to keep in mind is that much Old Testament stuff has a corresponding point in the New Testament. I will point these out as we go along.
Happy reading
Pastor Fred
The rest of Scripture constantly refers back to it. If in any way these chapters are not true, if they are just myths or good stories then the rest of the Bible is just a myth as well.
We teach that God made the earth in six literal days. The theory of evolution, which has never and never will be proven goes against that. They say that dinosaurs and other creatures lived on the earth before man and were even extinct before man was created. There is only one problem with that. There was no death in the world before man's sin, so how did the dinosaurs die? It would have been impossible for them to die, sin is what causes death. Therefore you either believe in the theory of evolution or you believe in the Bible, but you cannot believe in both and be honest.
Another question that comes up is how did Moses, who lived about 1500 b.c. know all of this stuff? First of all we say that Scripture is divinely inspired by God. In other words even though Moses wrote down the words they were given to him by God, therefore it is God's Word. Secondly Moses very well could have drawn on other historical documents that were around at the time and there was also oral tradition. There were stories that had been passed down through the years that were known by all the people. They could have also been a source of information. At this point people point out that by the time the stories were told to Moses they were so changed and different from the original stories that he was just writing myths. People point out the telephone game where one person tells another person something and he passes it down the line and the story the last person tells is very different from the story the first person told. So they say see we can't trust these words of Moses.
Oral tradition in ancient times was very different from the telephone game though. Stories were told within a community and everyone in the community knew the story and accuracy was considered very important. Therefore if someone started to change a story he was corrected very fast. Historians who study in this field say that stories could be passed down this way for thousands of years without significant changes being made. So there is no reason to believe that Moses was not dealing with accurate stories.
A key verse to remember in this section is Genesis 11:9 where it says the languages were confused and people were dispersed all over the earth. In the New Testament we see that on the Day of Pentecost the opposite happens. The people were all brought back together and all the languages were understood by everyone. A good point to keep in mind is that much Old Testament stuff has a corresponding point in the New Testament. I will point these out as we go along.
Happy reading
Pastor Fred
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