BSF Genesis Study 2012-2013 – Page 10

BSF Genesis: Week 9, Day 2

Questions:

3.
in the fertile crescent between the Tigres and Euphretes.
More map links:

4.
a.
11:1 one language 4 make a name for ourselves 4 otherwise we will be scattered

b.
To fill the earth – they didn’t want to spread out

c.
break the 10 commandments, and do not Love the lord your God with… They love themselves, love money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient, ungrateful, unholy…Having a form of godliness but denying its power.

My Daily Journal:

Settle.

Where in your life are you trying to settle? I hear it all the time. When things calm down then I will… I’ve just been so busy, but someday… When I retire, I am going to…

The people at this time decided to settle. They found a nice place, a lush valley, and they settled. It was time to enjoy their kingdom. It was time to build the things they wanted to build to make a name for themselves. It was time to work on their legacy, as the saying goes.

But God didn’t call them (or us for that matter) to settle. He called us to take His word to the ends of the earth. He called us to do His will. While we have breath left in our body, there is work to be done.

It is not that God is against rest – He created it. But rest is not a destination. Rest is part of the rhythm of life. God has so much more for us – why would we every want to settle for less?

Settle.

Top 10 reasons why Noah was a redneck

He named one of his kids after a pork product
He worked construction
He spent every weekend on a boat
He lived in a mobile home for a year
When his vehicle broke down, he left it in the front yard up on blocks
The first thing he did when he got home was light the grill
If it moves, it is food
He made his own moonshine
When he got drunk, he got naked
When he woke up with a hang-over he started cursing the kids

BSF Genesis: Week 8, Day 5

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

12.
a.
In love, they covered their father rather than ridicule or shame him

b.
Ham was engaged in stirring up conflict, Shem and Japheth in love that covers over an offense

c.
There is no place in a daily walk for gossip. I need to do more to help, in love, to cover the sins of my brother (and help him not repeat them) and less in discussing them with others. It doesn’t require a discussion or plan, just love and action.

13.
Shem be aligned with the blessing and praise of the Lord, God. David is a descendant of Shem and thus Jesus. God extends Japheth’s territory live in tents of Shem, Canaan slaves to Japheth. Canaanites were the inhabitants of the promised land.

My Daily Journal:

My first thought on this passage was, “aren’t we going a bit overboard here (no pun intended), Noah?” I mean, I get it that he was hung over from the beaujolais nouveau, but aren’t we over-reacting a bit? I know others have thought the same thing because there is this whole under-current of rationalization that there must have been more that went on in the tent to prompt such a curse. Of course, none of that is supported in the scriptures.

But the more I thought about it the more clear it became. It is our every day, seemingly insignificant activities that reveal the true nature of our heart. When I have heard accounts of people who have performed heroic acts, time and again the reaction is not one of surprise because this is the way they conducted themselves every day. In that light, Noah’s predictions/oracle about the future of his descendents isn’t based simply on this one night or one action. This is just an example of the behavior that reveals their heart. The patterns of their actions.

Almost all of us bow our head when someone says, “let’s pray.” But how often are we focusing on spending our day in conversation with God? How do we bring in the model of the good samaritan of conducting our daily life in a matter that shows love to our neighbor. There are implications that go far farther than to the impact today. They cascade down to our children and their children.

But we also have the opportunity to change. While the sins of the father cascade, each generation has the opportunity and choice (free will) to walk with God every day and change the pattern for themselves and their descendents.

BSF Genesis: Week 8, Day 4

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

8.
a.
We must be transformed, born again, born of the spirit. We must accept the gift of salvation and accept Christ into our heart, to bring the spirit into us and make a mark of adoption. We must reflect Christ’s glory and not our own.

b.
The image is of knowledge and attitude. Of faith. Putting on a new self – righteous and holy (like the creator) – i.e., image is not necessarily or limited to physical appearance.

9.
We are brothers (both of the same Father and sharing the same blood). We have the same desires to be transformed in righteousness and made holy. We both serve the same master. If our focus is on seeing this then we would see our sameness and unity, the other things would then fall out of focus and not be seen.

10.
To form a personal, close, relationship with Christ, held in His bosom. We reflect his glory and are transformed to His image in our thoughts, words, deeds, daily walk

11.
God’s promise are not paper promises, but are written into the very fabric of nature. God does not forget, but we need to be reminded.

My Daily Journal:

Two quick thoughts moved me in today’s study. The first was in #10. The image that came to my mind was of a parent or grandparent cradling and infant in their arms. Although he passed away many years ago when my son was only 6 months old, I can still clearly see my father-in-law holding his grandson in his hands and making faces with him. My son stared in fascination and attempted to model the face of his loving ancestor, to mirror his smile and the love in his eyes. That is the same thought that comes to mind with this passage. When we are veiled from the face of God, it is like a parent needing to wear a hospital mask. That is not the parent’s desire or choice, but it is for the safety of the infant. But when the veil is removed, then we can truly see and interact with the face of our ancestor.

Second was the rainbow. Now, many people look at science and our understanding of how rainbows work and see this passage of the bible as a naive and superstitious interpretation of making something natural be divine. But looking at that same point from the other side of that perspective makes perfect sense. We put a lot of value into a signature written on paper. Checks and contracts must be signed and that makes them binding. When we discuss something as being absolute, we say it is written in stone. But even things carved in stone can weather and fade and be erased. But God chose to sign His covenant in the very fabric of nature itself into the interaction of the light and molecules that comprise the elements of that very promise. In that light (no pun intended), it makes perfect sense that this is the only way that God would have placed His signature. Can you think of a more perfect way of sealing the promise for all eternity and to all creatures of every generation?

BSF Genesis: Week 8, Day 3

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

5.
Be fruitful and increase in number fill the earth, everything that lives and moves will be food, accounting for human blood shed (“by humans shall their blood be shed” – capital punishment), rule over every animal. Don’t eat meat that has lifeblood still in it.

6.
It is the blood that makes atonement. It is not for human consumption, nourishment or pleasure. It is the blood of the eternal covenant that brought Christ back from the dead, the perfect sacrificial lamb Heb 13:20-21, Heb 13:12, He sanctified the people with His own blood

7.
a.
Death. For in the image of God has God made mankind. Killing another man is to kill one with the image of God, i.e., to desire to kill God. The only just recompense is death.

b.
1. We aren’t told why, only that He did. 2. I don’t believe it was only a deterrent because time and again, we see those who willfully disobey God (e.g., Israel in the desert after exodus) are killed. Some immediate (golden calf), some longer term – (wander for 40 years)

My Daily Journal:

Blood atonement. Washed in the water or washed in the blood? Huh?

Here is my limited understanding.

God deposited into man the breath of life, and as such, all life comes from the original deposit made by God. In the original agreement God’s requirement in return for this deposit was obedience. Specifically, telling Adam and Eve they had the choice to not eat from the one tree and be obedient to Him or not. They chose not. We have continued to choose not to obey. Since we broke our end of the deal, the only reasonable/just action by God is to remove His deposit. Removal of life is required. Death is required. But, God by His grace, made a substitution and the first animal was sacrificed. Was this the same thing? Of course not, it was an impartial and inadequate payment. An animal is not man. Nor could any man be sacrificed as a substitution for the sins of others because, since all men have sinned, at best he would receive only the just result of his own sin. But Christ became fully man and lived without sin, the perfect sacrificial lamb of God, who through his death paid the price in full for all mankind because He had no price to pay for His own sin since He lived a life without sin. By the payment of his blood we are able to once again be in pure communion with God (at one with – atonement) as was His original design. And, as we, with all believers, are totally transformed at Christ’s return, we will live for eternity in that communion.

Washing with water is an act of removal. We bath to remove dirt and grime and the smell of toil and labor. We are baptized as a symbol of cleaning the original sin we are born into as we choose to be reborn into the family of God. But being washed in the blood is an addition or insertion. It is a covering because even freshly bathed in water, we still carry the inclination to sin in us. God sees our heart. But by the covering of the blood of Christ, instead he sees the heart of His son. It is also placed not only on us, but penetrates into us (This is my body given…, this is my blood shed…). This is the symbol of the spirit of God dwelling in us as believers and beginning the transformation process.

In preparing this week, I ran across this website on blood atonement which I thought did a great job of bringing together a lot of scriptural references.

BSF Genesis: Week 8, Day 2

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

3.
a.
It was the first thing recorded that he did upon exiting the ark into the new earth. Not seeking food or shelter or exploring or anything. His focus was not on self or family, but on God. What a great “first step for man”.

b.
My Brother-in-law was in town this week so we spent a lot of extended family time together as all the relatives in town fellowshipped. It was great to see everyone engaged in prayer, even having it led by littlest kids at meals. Because all the family in town is in BSF, we all went (including my B-I-L who does not attend BSF or church) and then had opp to discuss God’s grace in providing the ark and the parallel to Christ. The fact that there was only 1 ark, one way, and the beauty of the depth of the story.

c.
It was a pattern, modeled first by God with the first sin, but repeated and reinforced by Adam’s descendents. It does not appear God directly ordered Noah, but he was pleased by the action and the heart that it spoke to.

4.
a.

with shouts of joy and signing and music to the Lord
with a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart
with bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God (by denying self to sin and self-serving)
to walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself as a fragrant offering
By giving gifts (financial) for missions and kingdom work
By professing His name, doing good and sharing with others, submitting to authority, work with joy – all through Jesus
Like living stones built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood (brick by brick as part of the body of the church)

b.
All are important. The Hebrews passage reaches me most because it helps define what I think the OT is referring to when it says “Walk with God every day.”

My Daily Journal:

Patterns to our day. We all have snippets of them. We brush our teeth, comb our hair, shave in approximately the same way each time we do it. They are the things we have made a part of our life and a part of our daily action and movements.

Noah had a pattern of worshiping God. He regularly demonstrated spiritual leadership in his family not by being perfect but by this pattern of worship.

I saw the benefit of these patterns this past week. With family visiting from out of town it would have been tempting to skip our normal behaviors. But because time in worship and praise and study was a pattern everyone (young to old thanks to the children’s program) follows, it was more natural for the visit to change their patterns and attend and participate as well.

What patterns of worship do you have in your daily life? Do you take time to be quiet with God every day? Where is God on your daily to do list.

I actually started doing this a couple of months ago. When I make my list for the day, I now divide it into 4 quadrants by making a big x from corner to corner of the page: 1. God Tasks, 2. Work Growth Tasks, 3. Work Maintenance Tasks, 4. Personal and Family Tasks. This helps me focus on balance, while putting God at the top of my list.

BSF Genesis: Week 7, Day 4

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

9.
a.
God walked with him. spoke to him, revealed his plan, gave specific directions, waited for it to be accomplished, told them to enter ark, shut them in the ark, brought the flood, God remembered Noah, told him when to come out of the ark

b.
walked with him, talked with him, forewarned him (great motivation) and gave him specific instructions – also helped with the animals

c.
Gave me his word, allows me to talk to him daily (and even more frequently), guides my life and give me specific instructions and support through the bible, church, family.

10.
a.
Only Noah and his family knew and then not exact day until one week before it started to rain. In Noah’s day “all the people on earth had corrupted their way” in Matt warning to keep watch implies there is a means of salvation (Christ=Ark, we are invited in)

b.
The one important thing missing is communion with God. Only Noah found favor in God’s eyes. However, there is also no mention of work or service, just self-serving. Basically, they were doing nothing other than self focus and self interest, nothing that other animals weren’t doing.

c.
Keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come

d.
scoffers say everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation – forgetting judgment by flood that came and ignoring judgment by fire to come

Today’s Journal:

Then the Lord shut him in.

What an interesting sentence to focus on from Gen 7:16. We often think of being shut in as a negative. But when battles rage, the protection of a safe shelter is our desire.

Noah built the ark according to God’s design, but only God could seal the deal. Only God knew the hearts of all other humans to be able to close Noah in and the others out when the rains began to fall. What a blessing to Noah that it was not up to him, that he didn’t have to choose whether to open the door to allow others in. What a relief of any guilt or regret.

In our life God opens some doors and God closes others. When we follow God’s will and wait on His timing it is never up to us to open or close the doors, only to seek the path He wants us to walk with Him and go through the doors He has provided. But we like to plan. We like to linger in the safe and secure. We like to go back and relive things.

What doors in your life do you need God’s help in closing?

BSF Genesis: Week 7, Day 3

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

6.
a.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God

b.
change who is around you – walk with God (i.e., be around him)

7.
That he was going to destroy all people, build an ark (specific instructions) what animals to take, when to go in, 7 days countdown to wipe-out

8.
a.
v 19 all high mountains covered, 21 every living thing died, everything with nostrils died, everything even birds

b.
I cheated on this one (it was a challenge). The main evidence I saw was a sedimentary layer that covers everything (sea fossils found on the summit of Everest). From ancient tradition the fact that virtually every culture has a flood story. For more info: http://www.icr.org/noahs-flood/

c.
8:11+ All the springs of the great deep burst forth, floodgates of the heavens were opened, rain fell 40 days/nights, flood kept coming, waters rose and increased greatly, mountains covered to depth of 15 cubits

My Daily Journal

My take away today was in the question about being godly when everyone around you is not. This is as true of a challenge in our day as it has been in any day. If anything, the influence of culture can be even more difficult to avoid, with the intrusion into every media, billboard, airwaves, dress. But we get a good example of how to address this from Noah’s and Enoch’s examples.

On pinterest (yes, I have a pinterest account), I saw a sign that says you become like the 5 people that you spend the most time with. So what example do we see in Genesis? Noah was surrounded by people whose every thought was evil. So who did he spend his days with? God! If the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are 3 of the 5 people you spend the most time with, how would that transform who you become?

BSF Genesis: Week 7, Day 2

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

3.
Sons of God were angels (same greek word ben elohiym is used here and in Job 1:6, there translated as angels) which is different than Matt 5:9 “blessed are peacemakers called sons of God”.

4.
a.
The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race every thought was evil all the time

b.
Gen 9:17 Covenant of God to not destroy again by flood. Hbr11:7 by faith we all became heirs of righteousness (w/ Christ)

c.
God’s judgment is swift, powerful and just, but not harsh. Through grace he provides a means of salvation for those who come onboard in faith and a covenant for all mankind for ever.

5.
a.
Sin: in thought, word and deed, not only by what I have done by by what I have left undone

b.
Filled with the joy of the Lord in teaching and encouraging others, particularly children and I find strength in their faithfulness

My Daily Journal:

I found it interesting that we, as humans, try to justify our reclassify our sins under the heading of “if no one gets hurt then it isn’t a sin.” This logic follows the “no harm no foul” mentality.” Consenting adults can do what they want. I can be as self destructive as I want, it is my personal freedom. Society judges us to be judgment if we don’t just accept that everyone can do what is right in their own eyes as long as no one gets hurt.

But, as we read in our lesson today, God gets hurt. God feels regret.

When my children do wrong, I feel regret for them. Not regret that I have them as my children, but regret because I understand the consequences of the wrong, both in terms of its direct repercussions but also for the lost opportunities that could have been pursued instead. I hurt with that regret for them. I think this is the same feeling that comes into our heavenly Father’s heart.

As David wrote to God: ‘Against You, You only, I have sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight’ (Psalm 51.4) All sin is against God and someone (God) always feels hurt.

BSF Genesis: Week 7, Day 5

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

11.
Jesus tells us that he prays for us to the Father even though he is part of the trinity. I think it means that was happening.

12.
a.
2/17 started, lasted 150 days, 10/1 mountains visible, 40 days later raven, 1/1 saw dry earth, 1/27 complete dry – They were in the ark until God said to come out, not a day more or less.

b.
God said to Noah “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives.”

13.
I have prayed and God has intervened. I had prayed that a new employee at our company starting this week would have a great first day on the job. When he didn’t show up for work on his first day and then called to say he had accepted a different offer the day before and had started with that company instead, I knew God was in control. I assume he had a good day at his job, but he wasn’t not supposed to be part of our team. It isn’t easy to rely on God in the short run, but I have to remember that God knows far more and better than I.

Today’s Journal:

My meditation for today was on stepping in puddles. Our verses today made me think about how many times I get my feet all wet and how muddy my walk is because I rely on my own judgment to step out rather than wait on God. Noah sought discernment with the raven and the dove. I seek discernment with bible study and prayer. Noah waited patiently for God’s word. I knock down doors when I think the timing is right. Noah found favor with God. God’s grace shines favor on me, but I’m sure the muddy tracks I leave in His house must be very frustrating to Him.