Tag: bsf online

BSF Genesis: Week 15, Day 5

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

11.

  • circumcise your heart, so that you may love him with all your heart and soul, and live
  • detestable: foreigners uncircumcised in heart and flesh into sanctuary, desecrating the temple
  • not only outward and physical… inwardly, circumcision of the heart

12.
a. through baptism, new birth, buried then raised through faith, from the dead. New creation, debt free because of redemption paid on the cross

b. Impatience. Ask God to help me walk closer with Him each day so I can better see and stay in step with His plans and desires for my life

13. Genesis 17:21 Abram was 99, God made promise that a son would be born by this time next year to Sarah.

My Daily Journal:

Two things stood out to me today.

The first involves circumcision.  OK, all puns aside (and at this point everyone reading this should say an extra prayer for all the children’s leaders who have to include this in their lessons this week!!!).  There are some interesting thoughts.  First to me was the clear fact that this was a sign, not a payment or punishment.  Abraham did not earn God’s blessing by snipping off a piece of unnecessary foreskin, what a ridiculous thought.  Abraham did not earn God’s blessing by suffering.  Abraham didn’t earn anything.  the covenant was by God, from God, to Abraham.  God gave Abraham the gift of being able to carry with him a sign of this covenant.  Something not on display for everyone to see – He didn’t have him tattoo his forehead or cut off his earlobe or pierce his nose.  This was something personal, something that required obedience, but not any significant cost.

Second was the name change.  This promise wasn’t new to Abraham.  God gave him more details, particularly about timing and players, but it was, in essence, the same promise he had given him 10 years before.  But, it was now time to turn the page.  Who ever Abram and Sarai had been before, they weren’t that any longer.  They now were recipients of the promise from God.  The old was gone, the new had come. Whatever baggage they had from before, whatever self focus and doubt, whatever sins and deeds, those all were left behind when God turned the page to the next chapter in their life.

What new chapter does God have planned for me?  I’m grateful for all that he has blessed me with and I’m glad He sees me as a novel and not just a short story!

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.

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 11, Day 3

Today’s Scripture

Questions:

5.
a.
Make you into a great nation, bless you, make your name great, you will be a blessing, bless those who bless you, curse those who curse you, all people on earth will be bless through you.

b.
1. Nation of Israel, 2. Given a son in his old age, 3. Credited with righteousness (Rom 4), 4. Abraham saves Lot from capture 5. Joseph saved Egypt from drought, 6. Egypt’s losses through the plagues in Exodus, 7. Romans 9 – Promise through Jesus to all who are children of the promise through faith in God

6.

  • blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ
  • the hope to which he has called you, riches of his glorious inheritance, holy people
  • raised up with Christ, seated in the heavenly realms in Christ, riches of grace, kindness
  • Invisible things God prepared revealed to us by his Spirit
  • Portion and cup, security, pleasant boundaries, delightful inheritance

My Daily Journal:

Who have I blessed?

God’s promise to bless those who we bless comes up not only here for Abraham and his descendants, but also in the beatitudes that Christ preached.  I pray for others.  I teach others, particularly children.  I strive to live a life that reflects Christ’s love.  But I don’t spend much time thinking about how I can bless others.

I think it may be because, in comparison to the power and wisdom that I know God has, my words and actions seem so insignificant.  I end up standing back and, in prayer, try to direct God to all the places I think he should lead and go and pour out His power.  But that isn’t what this says, is it.  In these promises, God calls on us to put ourselves into the game.  Does that mean I am any bigger or God is any smaller, of course not.  But it means I’m engaged in the blessing.   And when I engage, God magnifies.

So, who can I bless?  Who can I send a card of encouragement to?  Who can I buy a meal or cup of coffee for?  Who can I call?  Who can I smile at?  Who can I share a word about the joy of the Lord with?  I’m looking forward to see what God does.

BSF Genesis: Week 10, Day 5

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

9.
The promise to Abraham did not come as a reward for Abram’s works, but from the righteousness of God poured out to him by his faith (trust and obedience). It is by grace and it is guaranteed and we fall under the covenant God made to Abraham.

10.
Promise came to all nations. If you belong to Christ you are Abraham’s seed and heirs to the promise.  Mathew 1 -Jesus came from the linage of Abraham

11.
a.
Obedience and faith. That he, in faith, looked to something far ahead, something he didn’t even know or understand, but something that he trusted in God

b.
An everlasting covenant, to be your God and the God of your descendants (to never be abandoned or alone)

c.
Land, to be their God, they must keep his covenant – That the promise in 17:3 is bigger – that Abraham will be the father of many nations, not just one.

My Daily Journal:

I was recently reading a John Ortberg book titled Everybody’s Normal Till You Get To Know Them.  In it he talks about the creation story and, as we reviewed our Genesis study this week it came to my mind.

Ortberg points out that as God creates each part of His creation He says, “It was good.”  That is, until we come to Genesis 2:18 where He says, “It is not good for the man to be alone.”

From the very beginning we were designed for companionship and community all in harmony with God.  Lamech sought companionship without God and developed a spirit of vengeance and retribution.  The people of Babel sought community without God and had their language confused and themselves scattered.

But God’s promise, God’s covenant to Abram, tells him that neither he nor his descendents will ever be alone.  God will always be their God.  They will be a family, a nation, joined together.  The word church didn’t yet exist, but, in essence, through this family of Abram’s that is what God is creating.

We are part of that.  Through our faith in Jesus, we have become members of that family as much as we are brothers and sisters to Christ and God is our heavenly father.  We were not designed to be alone and through the church and through brothers and sisters in Christ and through the nations of believers and through the communion of saints and the indwelling of the holy spirit we will never be alone.  God promised that to Abram.

BSF Genesis: Week 10, Day 3

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

6.
a.
That the faith of one man was enough to save mankind and all animals from destruction

b.
I think we do – the wicked are any who do not accept Christ as their savior. Some of these are my friends, co-workers and family and I do worry for them. Not that God is unfair, but that they are unwise.

c.
Yes. I have accepted the gift of salvation through Jesus and have become a transformed man, not within sin or wrong, but with a desire and longing to serve Him better and be a better example through it.

 

My Daily Journal:

How long did God wait for there to be a Noah?  Normally, when I think of the story I picture God one day looking around and realizing His whole creation had turned over to corruption and turned away from him.  He looks around and, lo and behold, there is Noah, one righteous man.

But what if it was the other way?  What if God waited patiently for there to be a Noah?  How long and how much sin did God tolerate?  How much pain did he feel over how many generations?

It made me stop and think about God timing.  When I say I’m waiting patiently on God’s direction, I normally think days, maybe a week or two.  How many hundreds of years did God wait?  What is he waiting on, today?

BSF Genesis: Week 10, Day 2

Today’s Scripture

Questions:

3.
a.
All of man’s needs, wants and desires were provided by God, focused on community – Not good to for man to be alone so God created companionship and community

b.
God’s first words following the fall of man was a promise of the coming of Christ to defeat Satan
4.
Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. The ancients were commended for it. Faith in the person of Jesus is the equal to faith and trust in God’s love for His creation from His word for all time

5
a.
Gave first and best. Gave sacrificially. Lord looked on Abel and his offering with favor. Revealed a trust and love of God

b.
Heb 11:5 – By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death

c.
Walk with God daily. Trust in him. Have faith. Give sacrificially (not holding back). Open your heart for God to see (He knows what is in it anyway)

My Daily Journal:

At first I was trying to figure out where BSF was going with the lesson this week.  But I think the overarching point that is being looked at is the character of these great men of the bible that we have studied so far.  Abel and Enoch.  And, most importantly within it, that their character was built squarely on faith.

For me the image that stuck with me came in the last answer.  I’ve prayed many times for an open heart to receive God’s word.  I’ve prayed it for myself, for my kids and family, for my church, for the children in Sunday school and BSF.  And, every time I’ve prayed it I had the image of an open vessel, something to catch what God wanted to pour out on me or them.

That is not a bad image, but I saw a different one today.  Today I thought about the fact that the scriptures say God looked at Abel and his offering.  It isn’t that God just looked at the offering, but first and foremost, he looked at Abel and what the offering was saying about him.  The visual idea that came to me was the image of pulling out my wallet and opening it up wide, allowing whoever is with me to take whatever they choose.  From a monetary standpoint it is saying, here is everything that I have, no secrets, no hidden pockets, full disclosure, you see everything as much or little as there is and I am offering it to you to take freely, please.  When I read that about Abel, that is the image I saw of him with his heart to God.

That’s what Abel and Enoch did.  They opened their hearts to God like that open wallet.  This is all that I have, not bragging, not shame, just full open disclosure in complete trust, eyes closed, no caveats, just trust.

But here is the interesting thing.  God already knows what is in our heart (and wallet for that matter).  So the act of opening it up is for us, not for God.

So why hide it?  Well, shame, lack of trust, wrongful pride, holding back — you name the sin condition.  And how does that work out?  Well Cain held back, that didn’t go so well, and if that isn’t clear enough there is the story about Ananias and Sapphira.

That’s convicting enough for me.  When I now think of opening my heart – I’m planning to open it wide.

BSF Genesis: Week 2, Day 2

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

3.

  • Said let there be light and there was, Light was good, sep’d from darkness, called “day” and “night”
  • Keep my lamp burning, turn darkness into light
  • With you is fountain of life, in your life we see light
  • Word is lamp to feet and light to path, unfolding of words give light; understanding to simpleminded
  • In him: life; light of all, shines in darkness, not overcome. JTB came to testify re: the light, JTB witness to it (JTB=John the Baptist)
  • Light has come into world but people loved darkness (evil) evildoers hate light, exposed, truth->light
  • Jesus is the light of the world, followers will never walk in darkness, but will have light of life
  • Unbelievers blinded, not see gospel light=glory of Christ/image of God, light shine 2 know God
  • Chosen people, royal priest, God’s possession, called out of darkness into His wonderful light
  • Walk in Light=fellowship and purification for sin, if confess sin, He is faithful/just & will forgive

4 a. GREED: the eye is lamp of body, healthy (generous) eyes fill body with light, stingy eyes with dark; IDOLATRY: Light cannot have fellowship w/ evil; DEEDS: Live as children of light, expose deeds of darkness, shameful what disobedient do in the dark; FAULTLESS: shine like stars; FORGIVEN: walk in light, if say in Christ but walk in darkness you lie; ETERNAL: God’s glory is the light of heaven.

4 b. To help me be a better witness in and with my emotions. The worry and stress I carry and that I, at times, allow others to see does not convey the trust that I have that God is in control. I find my mind and emotions at times in a dark place despite knowing that God’s light will overcome all darkness and worry.

My Daily Journal:

On opening night of BSF we discussed that the bible as a whole is the method God has chosen to reveal Himself to His creation.  That is true for it as a whole and for each part or element of it.  Everything in the bible is suitable to teaching and learning about God.

In week 1 of BSF we focused on the big question: Who is God?  Specifically as revealed in the first chapter of Genesis.

This week we look deeper into: What can we learn about God from what He did? Again, with a focus on Gen 1.

So, after going from eternal nothingness to creating ALL of the heavens and the earth (all mass, matter and laws that govern it), God wasn’t ready to call it a day.  No, he said, “let there be light and there was light.”  Then He separates the light from darkness, calling the light day and darkness night.

We can go a lot of directions with this.  Light is just light and it is also not just light.  Light is the shekina glory of God that was a pillar of fire in the desert.  Light is justice and mercy of God shining on all.  Light exposes darkness.  Light is a word that encompasses all of glory and goodness and power and energy.  Jesus is the light of life and the light of salvation. Scientifically, light is unique.  According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, light is the only constant.  We won’t even get into the Particle / Wave Duality of Light and Matter & Quantum Entanglement discussion.  But, let’s just say that light is a much bigger thing than most of us recognize as we live our daily lives.  There is nowhere anywhere that does not contain some light either in a visible or invisible spectrum.

And what of darkness?  We learn in these first few verses that God allowed choice far before He created anyone capable of making that choice.  His light, His glory is capable of penetrating everything.  As we peer deeper and deeper into space, it is impossible to find any space where there is not light.  Scientist are even now making discovers through analyzing light bending around galaxies.  But God allowed there to be darkness, for there to be a place where people can choose to not be in His light (even though that is an illusion because the waves of light always penetrate the darkness).

We can follow lots of discussion and dissect the Hebrew words used for light and darkness, but what strikes me is something for more simple and one that we almost always miss in reading God’s story of creation.  Look at Gen 1:5b, “And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.”  When I think about the end of a day, I might think about midnight.  I might call it a day when the sun sets.  But look at what God did.  And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

See, the important message is that from the very beginning God never left His creation in the dark.  He never called it a day until it was morning and the light shined again.  He didn’t leave his people in the darkness of sin, His Son Rose from the darkness on Easter morning.  He will not leave His creation and His children in our current state, but take us up to the new heaven for all eternity, to live forever in His perfect light without darkness and without night.  Now that’s a good day!

Online Resources

I like doing my lesson online and thought that it might be good to share some tools I have found that make it easier and a more rich and in-depth study.

Obviously, bsfgroups.org (now preview.bsfinternational.org/lessons) is the official location for getting the lesson in a pdf format with space to type in answers on the form.

bsfonline.org goes lesson by lesson and provides all of the bible passages referenced in the lesson in one concise place.

blueletterbible.org is my favorite source for getting deeper into the word.  With one click I can see dozens of different versions of any passage.  It also links to the Greek and provides translation and interpretation through Strong’s Dictionary.  There are also links to sermons and study materials from pillars of faith.

dropbox.com is the tool I use to store my lesson.  Dropbox automatically puts a copy on my work computer, home computer and even provides access via web if I am somewhere else.  No more excuses that my lesson is at home so I can’t work on it over lunch at the office.

wordpress.com is, obviously, the blogging tool I use.

biblegateway.com is not only a great bible site but it reads the passages.  This is not a mechanical, computer voice but a voice actor.  On the long passages (like last week to read 2nd Thes) I can turn it on while doing other chores and get the joy of hearing the word.  This is also helpful to learn the pronunciation of many of the towns.

atozmom.wordpress.com is another bsf lesson blogger who has been doing this for a few years.

If you have others, please share them for everyone reading this to see.  Do you have favorite blogs, websites, tools or especially mobile apps that you use?