bsf groups – Page 2 – The Notes are Good

BSF Genesis: Week 28, Day 5

Questions:

15.
a.
wept loudly, come close to me, do not be distressed or angry with yourselves – it was to save lives, God did this, tell and bring father, threw his arms around them and wept

b.
embracing, wept, spoke truth and willingness to sacrifice for each other

16.
be truthful and heartfelt. Forgive and see God’s good in all.

My Daily Journal:

I loved Genesis 45:1.

We have talked over the past few weeks about the parallels between Joseph and Christ and how, in many ways, Joseph was a foreshadowing pointing to Christ. I think we see that so strongly in verse 1.

I’m a dad and there are times I need to use my dad voice and make decisions that, while not necessarily popular, are in the best interests of my family. I have to discipline my children and allow them to make mistakes even when I know they are mistakes. My natural desire is to protect them, to help them, to do for them and provide for them. But for them to grow and learn, I have to control that nature and allow them to experience and learn.

In Genesis 45:1, we see how God has placed that same “control” for Joseph to direct with his brothers. Then, Joseph could control himself no longer and we see the heart of God that beat inside Joseph pour out. What did he do when he was “out of control”? He poured out love. He poured out tears of joy. He poured kisses upon his brothers. He hugged them. He forgave them. He told them about God. He told them not to condemn themselves. He provided a new home for them. He provided everything they would need for themselves, their children, their grandchildren. He commanded them to reunite the entire family.

So, what does your “out of control” look like?

BSF Genesis: Week 28: Day 2

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

3.
Nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit Served others, declined Potiphars wife, accepted prison

in humility value others above self Placed loyalty to master and warden over own self interest

taking the nature of a servant Served Potiphar, served household, served prisoners

obedient All glory to God, obedient to God and men

4.
He, through God, interpreted the dream of the cupbearer and asked him to remember him before Pharoah. 2 years later, he did.

5.
Number 7. Cows out of a river, skinny cows eating fat cows, 2nd dream, 7 , grain swallowed up other grain

6.
16.I cannot do it but God can, 25.God has revealed 28.God has shown what He is about to do 32.firmly decided by God and God will do it soon

My Daily Journal:

I love the way that God reached out and grabbed Pharaoh’s heart. We tend to focus so much on Joseph and his brothers in this story that we can miss Pharaoh.

As the leader of what was probably the most significant nation on the face of the earth Pharaoh would have been a very wise and powerful leader. As a leader, however, he recognized several key limitations. One was information. He could only make decisions based on the information he had available. The second was weather and it’s impact on food supplies. No amount of sorcery or magicians could accurately predict the weather and it’s affects on harvests. As today’s politicians know “it’s the economy”, leaders of that day would have known, “it’s the food.”

So this is exactly how God got Pharaoh’s attention. He gave 2 dreams to pharaoh. He could have given the dreams to anyone to communicate to Pharaoh, but he made them personal to him. But, while He gave Pharaoh the dreams, he did not provide him with the ability to understand their meaning. Without that, they were simply troubling dreams.

God withheld the ability to interpret the dreams from anyone who would not testify to the fact that the interpretation came from God. Enter Joseph.

And the result? Gen 41:38-39, Pharaoh recognizes the God of Israel. He seeks to put someone with the spirit of God in charge and turns everything over to God through the stewardship of such a man.

BSF Genesis: Week 27, Day 3

Today’s Scriptures

Questions

6.
a.
my master has withheld nothing from me except you. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God? Not only did he flee the scene but he let go of his cloak

b.
Recognize it as a sin against God, not just men and not just myself. Look for God’s strength and provision and blessing

7.
a.
While he was a servant, he was put in charge of everything in the household and in the field. Recognized and relied on God being with him and showing him favor and kindness through his obedience

b.
By being with me and continuing to teach me to trust and rely in Him alone and not myself. By reminding me to be humble and obedient and show that all the glory is His.

My Daily Journal:

There are some great lessons in temptation in today’s lesson with Joseph. To start with, Joseph knew the rules and didn’t try to bend them or find loop holes. His right and wrong were black and white, not scales of gray. In this regard he recognized that to do wrong was not only against his earthly master but was a sin against God. When we do wrong we tarnish our ability to reflect God’s righteousness.

Within this I also found it very interesting that Joseph had to part with his cloak to be obedient to God. His brothers had already stripped him of his ornate coat, a gift from his father. Now Potiphar’s wife strips him of the cloak given to him as a slave by his master. Each of these trials seems to result in stripping coats from Joseph. This brought to mind the process involved in refinishing furniture. I wonder if God might have a new coat planned in Joseph’s future that, to wear, he needs to abandon his old uniform.

What do I need to let go of so God can bless me with something new? How firm is my conviction to keeping my mirror clean to reflect God’s full glory instead of tarnishing it with sin?

BSF Genesis: Week 27, Day 2

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

3.
a.
Lord is present, Lord gives success, Lord is with people (like Joseph)

Shows kindness and grants favor

Be strong and courageous for God is with us wherever we may go. Expects obedience

b.
Obedience, avoidance of sin, walking in the path of the righteous, meditating on the law (the scriptures) day and night

4.
He was trustworthy. Potiphar was a leader of men and he saw Joseph’s trustworthiness and character. These were not of his own, but a gift from God who continued to bless him and bless everything he did (to the benefit of Potiphar)

5.
a.
Faith in God and in His promises delivered through dreams and a walk with the Lord. He had sustained Joseph through everything so far

b.
through prosperity

My Daily Journal:

Potiphar trusted Joseph because Joseph was trustworthy. Joseph was worthy of trust (trustworthy) not because of his own background, status, heritage, power, position or wealth but because Joseph trusted God. Joseph showed his obedience to God by trusting in Him. God showed his love for Joseph and his power and mercy by blessing everything that Joseph oversaw.

So what does obedience and trust mean. Our Joshua 1 and Psalm 1 references are great illustrations, and I love the way they paint the picture. As parents we learned that it is important not only to teach your kids what not to do but to teach them what to do instead. I remember teaching woodworking. It was important to not only say, don’t put your hand there, but to also say, put your hands here and here instead.

These aren’t do’s and don’ts, but proper methods of teaching and learning. Don’t be afraid, don’t be terrified, don’t be discouraged but instead be strong, be courageous, obey the laws, know that God is with you wherever you may go. Do not walk in step with the wicked, do not stand in the way that sinners take, do not sit in the company of mockers, but instead delight in the law, meditate on it day and night, stand in the assembly of the righteous.

BSF Genesis: Week 26, Day 5

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

12.
intermarried with canaanites. Er and Onan, Judah’s sons, both put to death because of wickedness. Things later forbidden (prostitution) are treated as normal

13.
Continued to intermarry with Canaanites, not living as a separate people. They would have no longer been God’s people

14.
No, he too had a Levirate obligation to father children for his son through her. He started the path of unrighteousness

15.
a.
She desired to honor her husband by continuing his line. She was righteous

b.
Gentiles married into the family of Judah

16.
Blames her in 24, confesses in 26

17.
It is factual. She was grafted into the house of Israel through faith, struggle and righteousness

My Daily Journal:

In verse 26 not only does Judah confess his sin but he acknowledges Tamar’s righteousness. This means more than she did something right. The word used here is tsadaq. This is the same word used to describe Noah (Gen. 7:1), the Law (Deu. 4:8), David (1 Sa. 24:17), and even Yahweh (2 Ch. 12:6).

In this story it is easy to get lost in the graphic nature of what is going on. But there is a very interesting thought and application that we can apply from the then and there to the here and now. It is the idea of “unexpected righteousness.” If both Tamar and Judah were called in to court and each gave testimony, the court would surely side with Judah. He is a man, he is wealthy, he comes from a noble and strong family in the lineage of Abraham and Jacob. But we see here it is not the person in the position of authority (Judah, the patriarch and son of Israel) but someone quite unexpected (Tamar, a widow and a foreigner) who is found to be righteous. A label of righteousness is earned and preserved by being such, not given because of social status. (kudos to http://www.theropps.com/papers/Winter1997/Genesis38exegesis.htm)

How we need to remember this is our view of others in the church and in future believers. This was the main tripping stone of the leaders of the law with Jesus – how could this be the messiah? – this is not what we expected. We see in God’s economy that righteousness is from the inside out, not the outside in.

BSF Genesis: Week 26, Day 4

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

9.
a.
He had created the divide through his favoritism. He pledged to mourn until he died

b.
Until this had occurred the Isrealites would not have survived the famine because without Joseph in Egypt they would not have had access to food. In Egypt the flourished for many years, became enslaved, then were set free by God.

10.
thrown in well, clothes stolen, sold into slavery, sold to Potiphar, falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife, imprisoned, promised to be remembered by cupbearer but forgotten, 2 years pass,

11.
favored in Potiphar’s house, put in charge, fortitude to not sleep with Potiphar’s wife, God with him in prison, put in charge of prisoners, ability to interpret dreams, survived dungeon, honored by Pharoah

My Daily Journal:

I think we see the years of craftiness and cunning that characterized Jacob’s life fully on display with Reuben and Judah. Their over-arching desire was to “fit in.” To fit in with a group, especially one with a moral compass that would conclude that it is a good idea to murder their own brother, means you have to shave a bit off the edges. Think of it literally. We are a stone crafted by the Master, square and true, finely measured. But, that stone won’t fit in with a bunch of crooked other stones. There are three choices: either help the other stones get straight with God, find other stones to connect with or start shaving off bits and pieces of your own self to fit in.

Reuben and Judah both made weak attempts to save Joseph. Both helped keep him from death. But neither still had the moral character, the true shape that matches the cornerstone of the church, that enabled them to stand up to the wrong thinking and action of their brothers. That would have meant they didn’t fit in, just like Joseph didn’t, and we see how that went.

But Christ did not do that. He shaved off nothing. He did not conform to the world, and it hated Him for it. He did not try to fit in with the vision that the religious leaders had, He stayed true to the task the Father had charged Him with.

Fitting in is only a good thing when those who you are trying to fit in with are true and level.

BSF Genesis: Week 23, Day 5

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

11.
a.
God said

b.
20 years, Gen 31:38

12.
a.
7 God has not allowed him to harm me, 9 God given them to me, 11 vision in dream, 42 God rebuked you,

b.
Jacob and Isaac both justified action because of their fear, both formed a covenant with the one they had feared. Jesus on the other hand, when faced with swords and clubs, was not afraid. He did not lie out of fear, but told the truth daily

c.
5, God with me, 7 protected me, 9 provided for me, 11 in dream, 12 restored from wrong, 13 remembered vow from Bethel, 16 wives who honored, 24 warned Laban, 42 God provided, 50 witness, 53 judge

13.
a.
He sought to live in honesty and peace. He formed a covenant with the one he ran from to not do him any harm

b.
vs 55, Laban kissed his grandchildren and daughters and blessed them and left. Through God there was the ability to find peace and reconciliation even for one who had repeatedly done wrong. through which both parties were blessed and moved on.

My Daily Journal:

There will come a time when each of us faces the reality that Laban faced in verse 43. “The women are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have borne?”

We go through life accumulating possessions. This is mine, that is mine, all of this belongs to me.

But, as Laban learned, it doesn’t. We are caretakers. We are servants. We are stewards. Everything on this earth belongs to the one who created it. He is eternal we are temporal.

But, like Laban, we deceive ourselves far more than anyone else deceives us. He calls Jacob the deceiver because he left without notice, but was he really being truthful that he would have thrown a big party send off to all of these things that he considered his own. Who is truly deceiving whom?

But faced with the truth of God, we too will recognize all that we have accumulated is not really ours.

We have all done wrongs in our lives. We have wronged and hurt others and strained and broken relationships over time. The final verses of this chapter provide hope for peace. When Laban did recognize that what he thought he owned, was not truly his, he did a wise thing: he sought to make a covenant of peace. The greatest benefit that he received from that covenant wasn’t the lack of hostility or monetary gain, but it is what we see in verse 55. He gained the opportunity to kiss his grandchildren and his daughters and to bestow his blessing on each of them. These daughters, who earlier in this same chapters felt like they were foreigners to their father, objects that he had sold for personal gain and then squandered that profit, these daughters now bring their children to him, kiss him and kneel before him to receive his blessing.

BSF Genesis: Week 23, Day 3

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

6.
a.
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Isaachar, Zebulun, (Dinah), Joseph, Benjamin

b.
God’s love for us is not based on anything we do or earn, but it is an outpouring from him. When we model love differently, we do not follow the example of the creator

c.
Each time she bore a son she praised God for his comfort in what was really paining her heart. We need to do so joyfully.

7.
a.
Her husband’s love and to not live in the shadow of her younger sister. I think so because she was buried in the tomb of the patriarchs, with her husband, and her family

b.
Jesus was born through the tribe of Judah, Leah’s 4th son

c.
God is a long term thinker and giver. We grow impatient in a few minutes or hours, God looks to eternity

My Daily Journal:

I found the change in Leah’s naming of her sons to be very interesting. Leah saw each of her sons as a gift from God. She praised him and honored him for who he was and for giving her these gifts. But we see the way she planned to use those gifts change with each child.

The gift of Reuben was like a bargaining chip to gain the love of her husband. The gift of Simeon and Levi were the same. Surely my husband will love me now.

These gifts were like many of us see good deeds today. Surely this buys me favor with others. Surely this will enable me to deserve what I desire and don’t have today.

But then, with Judah, something changes. The gift of the child is no longer something thought of as a tool or token to gain the loving relationship of a distant human. Everything in the naming of Judah had to do with the relationship between Leah and God. “This time I will praise the Lord.”

Is it any wonder that it was through this son’s descendents that God sent His own son? What gifts from God am I trying to leverage into something I want from someone else instead of appreciating them as gifts from the one who loves me unconditionally and gives me everything?

BSF Genesis: Week 16, Day 4

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

11.
a.
The men came to force themselves on the men, Lot offered his virgin daughters, they pressed against Lot, SIL’s thought joke, no one in his family even helped prepare the meal – he only had influence over himself and not a great job of that

b.
When he moved there (Gen 13:13) people were wicked and sinning greatly, Gen 14, Lot carried away as captor, 14:122-24 Abraham’s response to King of Sodom when he returned Lot there

c.
Do not pitch tent along side wickedness. leads to more integration – If God pulls out of a bad situation, don’t go back

12.
Not gone back to Sodom after being captured. He must have chosen to go back.

My Daily Journal:

The convicting message to me was what signs and warnings has God graciously placed in my life that I am choosing to ignore and disobey. All along the choice to be in Sodom had been Lot’s. God didn’t send him there, he chose. He didn’t move in then wicked people move next door, they were there first. He not only lived by there, but he integrated into the community. There wasn’t a mention of a wife when he moved there, but now he is married and has children. His children were raised there. He has a home in town. He calls the men trying to rape and sodomize the angels his friends (19:7). But the signs of trouble had been there all along. God had pulled him out of the city in captivity then through Abraham rescued out of being a literal slave. But Lot chose his own slavery to being surrounded by sin.

What part of my life does God want me to flee? What warnings has He given me that I choose to deny and ignore?

BSF Genesis: Week 15, Day 4

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

9.
a.
In God’s eyes, yes. He was neither blameless nor perfect, but the covering of Christ given by his faith made him so to God

b.
walk before God faithfully

10.
a.
be blameless, God makes His covenant, greatly increase your numbers, father of many nations, name change, fruitful, nations and kings come from you, everlasting covenant including descendants: be your God and the God of your descendants, land

b.
vs 7: everlasting covenant God, Abraham, his descendants for the generations to come. vs 8: The whole land of Canaan I will give as an everlasting possessions to you and your descendants after you

c.
everlasting

My Daily Journal:

I participated in an interesting discussion about different ways of looking at the concept in Genesis 17:1 of what it means to walk before me faithfully.

When I thought of it, my mental image was along the lines of Esther entering the court of the King. This was not something you did haphazardly. You prepared, both physically and spiritually, through dressing in the proper attire for court and through the prayers and fasting of yourself and supporters. You don’t show up tracking in dirt, you cloth yourself in the robes that were a gift from the King. You don’t show up proud and boisterous, you appear as a humble servant seeking, but not deserving, favor. There are many analogies and parallels to be drawn from this illustration.

Another thought that was presented was the mental image of how a parent walks with a child with me being the child. The parent normally walks slightly behind the child, so they can keep them in sight at all times, to protect from harm. The child is not to run ahead or try to hide, but be in sight of the parent. The parent walks along. When the child stumbles the parent helps them get back up. As they continue to move forward the view is always forward. Past stumbles are behind them, the parent only looks ahead for the child.

I thought this was a great illustration of how scripture can speak to us in so many different ways and different levels. I am the child. I am also the servant. God is both the parent and the King. He is personal and walks with me. He is also the sovereign who gave me the robe of righteousness as a gift.