BSF Genesis Week 14 – The Notes are Good

BSF Genesis: Week 14, Day 5

Questions:

11.
v13:for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. (Gen 47:11 settled in Egypt, Ex 1:11 enslaved, Ex 12:4 430 yrs), v14:I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. (Ex 6-11 Plagues, Ex 12:36 Great plunder) v.15:You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age (gen 25:7-10 died at 175) v.16:In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here (Gal 3:17 430 yrs later new covenant of law)

12.
a.
Fire:
Ex 3:2, Moses, Firey Bush
Ex 13:21 Pillar of Fire
Ex 19:18 Descended on Mt Sinai in fire
Lev 9:24, 10;2 fire came out from Lord
1 Peter 1:7 Refiners fire
Rev 20:14-15 Lake of Fire

Light:
Isa 51:4 my justice will become a light to the nations
Isa 60-19 The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory
John 1:5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
John 3:19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 9:5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
John 12:46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
Acts 22:6-9 Jesus revealed to Paul on road to Damascus as a bright light from heaven
Rev 21:23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

b.
Rev 21:23. While God is fire and his glory shines like flame, the Lamb is a lamp, something personal something that directly interacts with me in a personal way

13.
People have choice. Sin is allowed as a means of leading to repentance – we know it is wrong, we are wrong and need to reunite with God. When we repent, God is faithful and restores us, but if we do not turn to His righteousness, it becomes a rut which turns to a canyon.

14.
a.
Wadi of Egypt to Euphrates – No

b.
Solomon, 1 Kings 4:21, 1 Kings 8:65

My Daily Journal:

Home. There is something in our DNA that longs for something we call home. While we often symbolize it by a physical place, that is more of a symbol. Same with ownership or possession, both are elements of home, but not what makes something home. It is deeper than that, it is a need for stability, belonging, connecting, peace. Even if experience of home have been difficult or we have lived nomadically, the longing is still there.

God has given us this longing and uses it to call us back to Him. Our true home is not on this earth or in this physical plane, our true and ultimate home is in communion with our creator. But He gives us home on this earth to help teach and prepare us for that ultimate state.

Our earthly home is an allegory. In the same way, the promised land is an allegory to Abram’s children. Not that it isn’t real or that it isn’t a real promise, but it is not the ultimate home, only a representation.

God uses our earthly home to teach us. He gives us homes. He also calls us out of our homes both to teach us and to put us in situations to teach others. This has been the history of Israel and the promised land. God has moved His chosen people in and out of the land, both as lessons to them about His provision and promises and also as lessons to them about rebellion and repentance.

In our lesson we learned that under Solomon the entire region of the promised land was delivered to Israel. We saw that in 1 Kings 4 and 8. But by 2 Kings 24:7 “the king of Babylon had taken all his territory, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River.”

The lesson isn’t that God gives and takes away (although that is truth), but that land is land, home is with Him. Our promised land is not to be found in the promise of God to Abram, but in the promise of Christ to believers, the home that is eternal.

BSF Genesis: Week 14, Day 4

Today’s Scriptures

Questions

8.
Not a contridiction. Price is paid in full by Christ’s work on the cross. We cannot add anything to paid in full. But, accepting the gift means being transformed, and a transformed life is lived out in the light, not darkness, in acts of faith.

9.
a.
We were all dead to sin. We all will die, but God’s gift has changed that back into eternal life

b.
Yes. In my situation I was technically dead, my heart was offline as they performed surgery, but I was given a new spirit.

10.
a.
Choice to waver or be strengthened based on focus. Abram focused on God’s glory and was strengthened not on impossible situation and wavered.

b.
Do I waver in unbelief when I believe a situation is impossible or am I strengthened in faith and give glory to God because he can do the impossible?

My Daily Journal:

The discussion of the Romans 4:17-21 in light of Abram’s response stuck with me, today. When I am struggling, when I am facing difficulty, when there are troubles and challenges, all too often my thoughts and the focus of my mind, my actions and my emotions is on the problem.

Focusing on the difficult situation leads to wavering and unbelief. It makes the problem the big thing. It creates a dialogue of difficulty in my mind. I accept a solution as being impossible and therefore begin looking for a way around, an alternative, or, sometimes, just despair.

But, our lesson teaches us that Abram’s great super power was belief. Instead of focusing on the problem, he focused on God’s power. Instead of accepting that it was impossible for him to have a child, he accepted that God could do anything. He saw God as a God who had the power over the impossible to convert death to life. Since God can do that, why do I give any power to my problem at all?

BSF Genesis: Week 14, Day 3

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

5.
a.
He saw any reward, especially at his age, as of limited value because the one reward he desired was to have descendents so that there would we someone to inherit any rewards and to continue his lineage

b.
A son. Your own flesh and blood. Offspring as numerous as the stars

6.
That he saw not only furtherance of his name, but that through Abram’s offspring God would send the messiah, the savior of the world as promised in Genesis 3.

7.
a.
God is righteous and His promise/word is righteousness

b.
Righteousness is a benchmark, a fixed constant that can be used to judge/determine right from wrong, just, correct, moral, pure. God is righteousness, He is the benchmark and His actions set to bring everything back into that state through salvation. Faith trust that truth.

c.
Believed, credited it to him as righteousness, obeyed (offering)

My Daily Journal:

I loved the discussion and thinking about righteousness. For any objective measure there must be a constant. In our world so many try to deny that constant, while at the same time we yearn for it to exist. Yes, it is easy to say there is no absolute right or wrong, yet, the same voices that argue that point indict others for not following a moral standard that they consider to be fair and right.

Abram hit the nail on the head. There is only one benchmark of righteousness. There is only one absolute standard of what is ultimately and always right. God is that constant. God is unchanging. God is eternal. Everything about God and Everything done by God is demonstration of what is right, what is true, what is pure: righteousness.

That is why weighing anything against the word of the bible leads to correct thinking. The Bible is the word of God and the way in which God reveals Himself to us. That revelation is revealed righteousness.

Shouldn’t I, each day, follow Abram’s example and measure all I do, request, decide, and conduct as simply a withdrawal against God’s credit of Righteousness? It is an account with unlimited funds.

BSF Genesis: Week 14, Day 2

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

3.
a. “Shield” Defensive armor against swords, lances, arrows, usually carried on left arm; A person or thing that protects
b. Stress and confusion. Self-reliance. Impatience. The attacks of the evil one.
c. 91:4: He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
4.
a. Children, descendents
b. While money and possessions are limited resources, the most limited resource we are given to manage is time. I choose to spend my time in prayer and service.
c. Peace. Provision for family especially children. Guidance on direction to serve Him and best help others.My Daily Journal:I think sometimes non-christians think the life of a dedicated christian is one of boredom and self-denial. Stay away from anything risky. Sit in church and sing boring hymns and go to sewing circles and spend lots of time being pious and uppity.In reality, a walk of faith is a walk through a battleground. God does not promises long walks on the beach and floating on clouds. You don’t need a shield on a beach. You don’t need angels telling you to “do not be afraid” on a cloud. While God does not promise a life without difficulty, He does tell us that He will protect us. I love the Psalm 91:4 verse, to enclose me in feathers, under his wings, to find refuge there. That by His faithfulness and His righteousness (not mine, but His) I will be protected. If life was a walk in the park, how would we learn to rely on God. It is only by allowing us to experience adversity does God teach us to rely on Him and only by learning to rely on Him do we find salvation.