bsf – Page 2 – The Notes are Good

BSF Genesis: Week 13, Day 2

Questions:

3.
a.
Amraphel of Shinar, Arioch of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer of Elam and Tidal of Goyim

b.
Bera of Sodom, Birsha of Gomorrah, Shinab of Admah, Shemeber of Zeboyim, Zoar of Bela

c.
The plain of Shinar (Babel)

4.
a.
Decision to setup tents by the city of Sodom

b.
Choices on employment, choices on how to spend money and time, choices about whether to launch new ventures and how quickly to do them. Consequences affect myself, employees, family, readers, other believers. I also need to be talking with others about Christ. I need to pray about all of this.

My Daily Journal:

We know from the previous verses that the people of this valley were wicked. In these verses we also see how inept the battle plans of the wicked are.

Here we see a big front. 5 kings allied against 4. They draw up to fight on their home turf, in their own valley with naturally better ability to prepare to devise strategy, to prepare reinforcements. What we see is that instead all they have is a big front. There is nothing behind it. At the first sign, they retreat. Some are caught in the tar pits of their own turf, some flee to the hills. The leaders themselves flee leaving the women, children, elderly and innocent to be taken by the enemy as slaves including ALL the food.

As Christians we fear confrontations with evil. Evil today acts the same way, with a big scary front. But like this battle, there is nothing behind it. The soldiers are deserted, the leaders flee and they are caught up in their own lies and deceit. I am not suggesting that we should discount the forces of evil, clearly they have the ability to cause harm and pain, but I am suggesting that under the power of the spirit of God, with the truth of the gospel, we need have no fear.

BSF Genesis: Week 9, Day 4

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

7.
a.
Confused their language and scattered them

b.
Continuously. God’s hand is in all things. He does not prevent man from sinning, but He limits it now as always. He does it by allowing the repercussions of sin to play out (greed, lust, hiding, cheating) By our actions we make our towers fall

8.
God is love. It is only through communion with God that we gain insight into communion with others. Without God, we find the primary focus of our love to be self-love which leads to greed, self-serving, objectification of people, etc…

9.
a.
There are about 6800 spoken languages in the world today. But God has the power to touch the lips and ears of all people so they can hear His truth being spoken clearly

b.
Speak the truth in my language to all who I come in contact. Speak the truth in my actions to all who I come in contact. Speak the truth to myself about God. Speak the truth to God about himself, me and all those who I come in contact. Daily walk with God.

My Daily Journal:

I’ve struggled with the main message of this week, but today’s lesson helped it become clear.

The key phrase that I picked up on that was repeated 3 times is “come, let us”.

The people of this land and this time were trying to form a community without God. They wanted to make their own kingdom inside God’s kingdom but without God in it. It centers around them and what they want and how great they are, not God.

God longs for community with His creation. That is why we were created. That is what God is. The Trinity is a divine community and God welcomes us in to it, he seeks us out and saves us so we can join. Christ’s mission was to bring mankind back into the unity of the original creation before sin. When ever 2 or more are gathered in His name, He is present. God loves community, friendships, marriage, relationships, all with Him.

But we don’t include God in all of our communities, do we? We compartmentalize Him. God is great for our church community, but don’t talk about Him at work or school. This is a sports team, not a Sunday school class. My neighbors don’t go to church or believe but they are fun to hang around with. If I want to be in the “in group” at school/work, then I need to tone down my chistian-speak.

We also hear it in the works that we do in “the community.” We are welcoming to churches and church groups, but don’t push religion while you are doing the work, don’t proselytize. Just be quiet and do the work, feed the people, build the homes, help the sick, but don’t bring God into it and you are welcome.

I particularly see it at this time of year because so many “community organizations” are collecting things for “the holidays.” You know, the one day holiday where people get together and exchange gifts. Don’t say the word – we don’t want any of that church stuff in our community, we just want the holy days, uh, holidays for our community without God.

In my opinion, it wasn’t the tower that pained God. It was that they were using His word to form communities without Him. They were using his word to confuse people into joining communities that excluded him.

So what does He do? They wish to be confused and spread confusion, let them be confused – they aren’t using God’s Word to do it though. They want to bond together without God, scatter them.

Want to feel less scattered and confused? Bring God back into all your communities. Commune with others and God.

BSF Genesis: Week 9, Day 2

Today’s Scriptures

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.

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 6, Day 4

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

8.
Enoch walked with God (gen 5:22, 24); Enoch pleased God (Heb 11:5); Enoch made faith in God the basis of his life (Heb 11:5-6); Enoch talked to others about the Lord’s command and warned them that God would judge the ungodly (Jude 14-15)

9.
He didn’t : Hebrews 11:5 “Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death”

10.
a.
All who believe will be lifted up and transformed, will not die (1 Cor 15:51 and 1 Thes 4:17)

b.
If alive, not die; Caught up in the cloud with Jesus; meet Christ F2F; New body; physically and spiritually with the Lord forever

c.
New body – so much of my time and energy is spent on this shell, I’m looking forward to trading up!

My Daily Journal:

Death is not inevitable. Our existence is so much more than a fatalist “we live and then we die.” We are ultimately not bound by laws of nature or time. We are not constrained by our ancestry or the actions of our fathers. But what truly makes a difference and what truly last are the choices we make.

It is not that all of those things don’t impact and influence us, they do. But our choice of how we relate to God transcends that and enables us to unite with the divine.

Enoch chose to walk with God for eternity.

BSF Genesis: Week 6, Day 3

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

5.
a.
And then he died, 5:5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 27, 31

The only way to eternal life is to be born again in the spirit
If you do not believe in Jesus, you will “die in your sins”
Death has reigned ever since the time of Adam
Wages of sin is death

6.
All of mankind is made in Adam’s likeness. Because Adam became imperfect, we are copies of that imperfection. Because Adam sinned, we are all sinners. The likeness of God in every person has been corrupted by original sin

7.
a.
Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years. Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. Noah: “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.”

b.
I can do that. Enoch didn’t have some special power or calling. He didn’t have some extraordinary gift or blessing. He walked. I walk. He walked with God. I can do that.

My Daily Journal

One thing I love about the people in the bible is how ordinary they are. They sin. They make mistakes. They live and die. They are like me. But they also serve as examples for me. I can do what Enosh did and call on the name of the Lord. I can do with Enoch did and walk with God every day. I don’t have to build an ark (jumping ahead), I can just walk. It doesn’t take a leap of faith to begin, just a single step.

BSF Genesis: Week 6, Day 2

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

3.
a.
Began to call on the name of the Lord

b.
Pray daily and in many settings. Lead prayer and worship with my family and with others. Use God’s name throughout my speech in a positive and praising fashion

4.
a.
Extol at all times, praise always on lips, glory in the Lord letting others hear, done with others (exalt together), seek and He answers, delivers from all fears, look on him and become radiant, not covered with shame, poor man called and Lord heard, saved out of troubles, angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers

b.
Look on him and become radiant not covered in shame. We are shameful people. As a christian I am even more aware of my sin and shame. But when I look on the Lord, then others see him and not me.

My Daily Journal:

I liked the discussion of daily habits. I was reading an book this week that pointed out that it is very rare that we, as humans, have the ability to just “let go” of something. Instead we are much more successful at grabbing a hold of something else. With that in mind, it makes me think less of what do I need to quit or remove from my life and more in terms of what new habits I need to form which will replace the bad.

Doing my study daily is a challenge for me (obviously), but that is in part because I haven’t made it a habit. I don’t have a trigger at which point I do it (like brushing my teeth when I first get up). I haven’t set a time of day or place. When I quit smoking I reached out for something else to do with my hands and my mouth. In my daytime hours I need to substitute other things to do with my mind and my lips. I need to remove the time thinking about me and substitute it with thoughts about what God wants me to do. I need to remove the words that give my credit and substitute it with words that praise God.

That can be true of so much of our walk with God. We try to cram it in to an already packed schedule instead of finding a better balance and order by reaching for it instead.

BSF Genesis: Week 5, Lecture

Life is hard. Ever since Adam and Eve choose sin, it has tried to jump out and harm us and attack us and draw us away from God over and over and over again.

The bible doesn’t teach us that if we follow God everything is smooth sailing. Just the opposite. God tells us to hold on. But God allows us to choose what we hold on to.

In our lesson tonight we learn about Cain. Cain decided to hold on to himself. As we read the verses you can almost see him standing there, pouting with his arms crossed tightly across his chest. Shut off, defiant, clinging only to himself.

What a dumb thing to hold onto when things get tough. God says that he is our rock and foundation. God invites us to let go and cling to him. God says he never loses a member of his flock.

But let’s look at Cain and what he clings to and how that works for him.

In our first section we are introduced to Cain and Abel. Cain was a farmer and Abel was a rancher or shepherd. They were brothers and Cain was the first born son of Adam and Eve. We don’t know how old they were when our story picks up, but we know people lived for a long time in those days, hundreds of years, but we are brought into the story at a critical point – a point where Cain and Abel brought an offering to the Lord.

We see that both brought a portion of the product of their labor. But it is also clear that the manner in which they brought it and the nature of the offering were different. Cain brought “some”. Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.

A key difference is in what they were willing to give up or sacrifice to God. When Abel brought the best of what he had, first, he had to recognize that it was the best. Second, he had to be willing to sacrifice it, to give it up. In so doing, he opened the door for God to give him something even greater than what he had produced that had been his best. And we see that God poured out his favor on Abel AND on his offering.

But that isn’t what happened with Cain. Cain gave. He may have given more than Abel, we don’t know. His offering may have been worth more on the grain market, but there isn’t any indication that he gave the best. It says he gave “Some”, but it does not say that he gave the best of what he produced. Meaning, he held onto to that. He kept what he considered to be best on his own little trophy case, rather than clearing room for the type of trophy God wanted him to have.

What happened? Cain became very angry and downcast. Pay attention to that last part. If you are downcast, where is your focus? Is it up and to God? Is it forward and positive? Remember what happened when Eve filled her vision with the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Look at where Cain has his eyes.

God doesn’t need our stuff. We need to let go. God teaches us how to do this in his word and by his example. What did He give? In addition to everything that exists in the physical universe, He also gave His only Son. Jesus is the only acceptable sacrifice.

What are you doing in “half-hearted faith”?
Where do you need to give 100% of your heart?
What have you earned or achieved that you are having a hard time removing from your life because “it is so great”?

In our next section, we see that Cain’s actions soon follow his eyes. But, it is important to realize it did not have to be this way. God loved Cain so much that he sat down and talked to him, one-on-one (maybe three on one with the whole trinity thing, but you get the point). God offers him a do-over. God warns him about the door he is so focused on, the one that follows his downcast gaze, i.e., the door that leads further down. God tells him, sin is crouching at that door. You have the power to rule over it, don’t let it pounce on you. Now, if something is crouching right outside your door waiting to pounce, how are you going to keep it from pouncing on you? Duh! Use a different door. God is holding open the door back to him, but…

Soon, Cain commits premeditated murder. He lures his brother out into a field and whacks him (in the literal sense). It’s done. The first recorded death of a human and it is committed by another human.

So God immediately rains down condemnation on Cain, right? Actually, no. God’s first action is to offer Cain an opportunity to confess and repent. “Where is your brother, Abel?”

But Cain doesn’t confess or repent. He doesn’t fall down and cry out to God. He keeps going right through that door. He follows murder with lies and denial and condescension. “I don’t know.” “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

God cries out to him to listen and see what he has done. To recognize his action and change; to see the consequences and curse that he has brought onto himself from the very land that he relies on for a living as a farmer.

But, Cain chooses to close the door. In verse 14 Cain says to God. I will be hidden from your presence. Click.

What more could God have done to bring Cain back to him? All he had to do was repent. But lying and denying are like going the wrong way down the one way street that is supposed to lead back to God. Should it be any wonder to us if we get hit by a bus?
What are you lying about or denying?
What are you trying to keep hidden in your life from God? How is that working out?
Where do you complain that what you face is “too much” or “too hard” while at the same time contributing to making it even more, harder and worse?

Our third section gives us insight into the life of Cain. Clearly, God still saw him, even if he chose not to see God (it is written down in the bible, right).

We see God continued to provide. He gave gifts of music and carpentry and architecture and craftsmanship and arts. And what did Cain’s children do? They denied God.

Look at verses 17-24. What’s not mentioned? God. I looked back starting in Genesis 1:1 and would encourage you to as well. This is the longest number of verses so far with no mention of God. In Genesis 1 it is hard to go a single verse without God. But here, we go multiple generations. What is the focus? On accomplishments, on talents, on celebrity and commerce. Add in a best dressed list and this could be daytime TV.

Not only is there no mention of God, but they quickly take the things that come from God and twist them and misuse them. Think about it? How did Cain get married? Not just where did he find a wife, but actually, who married them? How did they enter into a holy covenant without God? Is it any wonder then that a few generations down that sacrament gets stretched further? Why not marry 2 wives? Why not kill someone and claim 11 times the protection for it that God offered to Cain? Why not sing about it? Wives… I’ve killed a man….

But what will all of this bring them? All of these accomplishments without faith? I don’t want to jump ahead, but come back and you learn about how they end up “all wet.”

What accomplishment are you holding onto as being yours instead of God’s?
Where do you focus on the performer or celebrity instead of the divine who gave the talent?
Are you spending your time reading People or reading God?

BSF Genesis: Week 5, Day 3

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

7.
a.
If you do what is right will you not be accepted? Sin is crouching at your door but you must rule over it

b.
God talked with him one-on-one. He doesn’t lower standards but offers him a second chance and confirms Cain has the power to rule over sin

8.
a.
Repent and try again (instead of being sad, make it right). Warning: if you don’t, then you will carry this as darkness in you and it (sin) will take you over – if you shut out the path of light, you will be swallowed by darkness – rule over it, fight it, go the other way.

b.
Any one who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor anyone who does not love brother/sister. Anyone who loves passes from death to life. Anyone who hates is a murderer. Jesus laid down his life for us, we should lay down our lives for our brothers/sisters.

My Daily Journal:

I was struck by the visual of sin crouching at the door. It brought to mind the game show, The Price is Right.

Host: Well, Cain, I can see you have your mind set on door number 2. But before you choose that door, let me tell you a little bit about what’s behind it. You see, sin is crouching just behind that door.

Cain: (continues to stare at door number 2)

Host: You know you can choose door number 1, right?

Cain: (continues to stare at door number 2)

Host: You cannot even imagine the prize package We have assembled if you choose door number 1?

Cain: (continues to stare at door number 2)

Host: You know we offer free do-overs, right? You can just go back and start the whole sacrifice/offering thing all over again. What do you say?

Interesting that the bible notes that Cain’s face was downcast. We learned in the garden that our actions follow our eyes. Cain’s eyes are cast downward and the only door He can see is the door downward, going the wrong way on the one way street that is supposed to lead to God. He isn’t opening a prize door, he is staring at the exit.

When I face struggles, do I stop and look to God for a better door or do I see only one way out? When sin is crouching at the door to my heart do I try to fight it on my own or do I enlist as a soldier in God’s army?

BSF Genesis: Week 5, Day 2

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

3.
a.
Cain gave some of the fruit, Abel brought fat portion of firstborn. I don’t think it was the what, but the how and why.

b.
God doesn’t need our offering, but wants our faith and trust. He wants us to be willing to give up what we consider “best” so He can give us something even better.

4.
Yes. I think she learned through the fall that God’s word was truth (and she had just gone through childbirth reminding her of all aspects of that discussion). God made a promise and now He was beginning to fulfill that promise.

5.
a.
Cain worked the soil, Cain was very angry, his face was downcast

b.
He wanted full recognition and reward. He didn’t want it pointed out that he wasn’t doing his best.

c.
Same. I don’t enjoy being shown that I’m not doing my best

6.
A sacrifice of praise and to do good and to share with others / Through daily prayer and meditation, teaching and writing

My Daily Journal

The part of today’s lesson that really stuck me was God’s attribute as a teacher wanting to help me grow. God requires a sacrifice, an offering, from me. Not because He needs something that I have. God created all of it and owns all of it. He has put me in place as a steward, but I am only on a temporary work assignment here, where God is eternally in charge and in control. Instead, the sacrifice and offering is a check on the condition of my heart and head.

God wants me to sacrifice that which I deem to be the best that I have acquired. If I cannot let go of what I consider to be best out of the things that my labor has produced, then I am blocking God from giving me something better than that out of the work of His labor (which produced everything that exists in 6 days). If I have already place something on the pedestal of “best” and am not willing to remove it, then how can God give me something better?

With that understanding, it is absurd not to joyfully give up whatever it is that I achieve or acquire with my work because what God can give instead is so much greater. It isn’t a negotiation, it is an exchange of gifts, given in joy and love.

But that begins with the view of God as a giver. I think that is at the heart of the difference between Cain and Abel.

Cain may have largely seen God as a God who takes away. In Cain’s eyes, God took away Cain’s inheritance of the Garden of Eden; He took away the ability to garden without sweat and thorns and thistles, He took away constant peace without constant vigilance and fear. If Eve saw the fulfillment of the prophecy as immediate, Cain may have been raised as a fighter, as one who uses force to work the ground and as one who is prepared, with force, to crush the serpent’s head.

On the other hand, Abel may have largely seen God as a God who gives. Abel practiced husbandry of livestock, he cared for animals, he shepherded his flocks and he saw the pain that must have been present in the first animal sacrifice that God had performed with His own hands. He saw what death looked like and may have recognized God’s grace.

What is my attitude in approaching God and His church? Do I gladly sacrifice the best that I have acquired perceiving that God gives far better gifts? Do I see the church and pledge drives and capital campaigns as giving or taking? Am I willing to contribute some or joyfully give the best that I have acquired?