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BSF Genesis: Week 17, Day 3

Today’s Scriptures

Questions

7.
a.
Lord was gracious, Lord did what he had promised, at the very time God had promised

b.
Faith – although “good as dead” did not waver through disbelief, stengthened in his faith

c.
I struggle with the same “me do” attitude that many do, trying to rely on myself first, then God when in trouble. God has given me challenges bigger than I can handle to help awaken and strengthen me to trust and rely on Him alone.

8.

  • No one can see the kingdom unless they are born again
  • body good as dead, through faith strengthened and made the father of many nations, credited as righteousness, we inherit
  • Birth through the word of truth that we might be a firstfruits of all created
  • born again of imperishable seed

My Daily Journal

The grass withers and the flowers fall but the word of our God lasts forever.  I know this and I believe it but I don’t understand it.  The idea that we are born again not only into new life but from a imperishable seed.

We accept the gift of eternal life but struggle to trust that God could deliver a promise to give a chile to a 90 year old woman and 100 year old man.  We trust the promise of heaven but try to supplement God’s wisdom and power in our daily actions on earth.

BSF Genesis: Week 16, Day 5

Today’s Scriptures

Questions

13.
Everything – every possession, every friend all flocks, sons in law – But earlier on, they had lost their moral compass

14.
a.
When they hesitated, took them by the hand and led them out. Looked at Lot’s faith, not his application of that faith (2 Peter 2:7)

b.
what had been built burned up but the builder escaped through the flames

15.
Moabites, Ammonites: led into sin, wars, Included in Jesus family (Ruth); excluded from the assembly of God; but called to be redeemed

My Daily Journal

What a wasted life.  That, to me, is what Lot really lost.  We all are given hours and days on this earth.  By how we chose to invest that gift, we bear fruit for God.  In the New Testament parable of the talents, we desire to be a good and faithful steward.  But isn’t time an even greater gift than wealth?

Lot spent his days surrounded by debauchery.  There were so many “attractions” around him, that all in his care lost their moral compass.  Instead of a compass pointing to the true north, theirs twisted into the pull from lots of different attractions.  Lot’s loss did not come when the angels came, his days had already passed by then.  It didn’t come from the destruction of property, it had never had value to begin with.  It didn’t come from the death of his wife, she had died inside long before.  We see how the education and training his daughters had received in this land lead to more sin.  We should not be surprised, it is what they knew.

Lot was alone far before the angels arrived.  He was seated alone at the gate of the city.  When he invited the men to his home he did so alone.  Unlike Sarah, there is no mention of his wife preparing bread.  Every indication is that Lot served the men alone.  He didn’t even have the bandwidth to leaven the bread with the extra time required to knead it and work the dough.  He alone put together the meal.  He had accepted faith earlier on in his life and that faith had not abandoned him, but his choices did not lead him to the community he sought – he served alone.

Like Lot we have all made bad decisions and we have wasted hours of our life in pursuit of sin.  I don’t say this as regret but as a call that we can change.  If an investment continuously loses money, we seek out a new investment.  Should we do less with the hours of our life?

BSF Genesis: Week 16, Day 2

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

3.
v10 “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” 17:21

4.
a.
The Lord and 2 Angels, 18:1, The Lord appeared to Abraham, v10 I will surely return…” v13 Then the LORD said

b.
went out to great them and bowed, washed feed, offered meal, Asked Sarah to make fresh bread, served veal, milk, cheese
5.
a.
Knew her thoughts as well as actions, convicted her of her sin (denial of the truth)

b.
Yes. (all is possible through the Lord), but it pleased God that she was faithful

c.
the Lord would fulfill his promises to her

6.
God’s promises are always fulfilled. He is a God of birth, birth of nations and kings, birth of His only son, birth of us into a new life in His family – God’s focus even in a mission of death and destruction is on new life

My Daily Journal:

One of the things that really stuck with me was how amazing is God’s love for us.  Here He is, in the flesh, on a dire mission to judge the wickedness of an entire city.  He knows the death that has already come to the people of that city and the utter lack of and love for Him found there.  But, even with that gravity which had to be on His mind, His thoughts are first on new birth, His focus is on the future and the redemption He will bring.

As He so clearly demonstrated to Sarah, He knows not only what we make public but also the hidden thoughts we have.  We try to pretend and cover that we haven’t sinned in our thoughts – they were just thoughts – but He gives no such slack.  When Sarah tries to say she didn’t laugh, which from a human perspective may have been true since she only “laughed to herself and thought”.  She didn’t say these doubt out loud, she didn’t laugh out loud, she repressed it and kept it inside.  But the Lord gave no such compromise: “Yes, you did laugh.” (PERIOD).  No negotiation, no argument over what the meaning of the word laugh means, no gray.  Just a simple conviction: Yes you did.

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 13, Day 5

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

11.
a.
Himself, the Messiah

b.
you are a priest forever in the order of melchizedek

c.
Mel was both a king and a priest, king of righteousness and king of peace. Not a priest through Levites, but ordained by God

12.
a.
Christ has offered forgiveness for everything troubling you. He has been given the power to forgive all.

b.
Christ prayers for you continuously. He calls on God to bless you, not because you deserve it or have earned it, but because it reflects the glory and honor of the Creator

c.
Give to the church joyfully and without regret or reservation for the body of believers is the the body of the church of which Christ is the head

My Daily Journal:

Christ cried.

Hebrews 5:7  says Jesus offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears.

One of the men in our group talked about this and it helped reveal how amazing this is.  Think about it.  This is the creator of everything.  Everything.  Heavens and earth, seen and unseen, mortal and spiritual beings, matter, dark matter, antimatter, everything.  This is the all powerful.  All knowing.  Eternal God.  And he cried.

Growing up my fear of my father was not one of fear of punishment or anger from him, but fear of causing him disappointment or pain.  If as a child I understand this for my human father, then as a maturing adult believer how much more should I feel this for my Lord.  And, yet, he cried.

I don’t say this as a depressing thought or for guilt, but I think it shows the heart of God and His amazing love for me and all of His children.  That love, embodied in Christ, serving in the role of eternal priest for me, interceding on my behalf and paying the sacrifice for my wrongs, well… that is love.

BSF Genesis: Week 13, Day 4

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

8.
They came out to meet him in the valley and each attempted to honor him in his own way. Melchizedek brought bread and wine and blessed Abram with a prayer of blessing from God and honoring to God. Abram gave him a tenth of everything. Sodom focused on possessions. He wanted the people and to leave Abram with all other possessions. Abram said he swore an oath to God to not take anything, even a sandal strap. But the other kings should receive their share.

9.
a.
I am your shield. I am your great reward

b.
He had just stood up to a king of a wicked people and given up a great amount of wealth and riches. He had delivered a message to the king of Sodom that God was against him.  But, more so, I think he had fear for his nephew Lot.  Lot must have chosen to go right back into sin city.  Abram would have had great fear for his nephew.  Not to read ahead, but he doesn’t consider Lot to be a viable heir, but instead his only living heir is a servant he acquired.

10.
God tells us to not be afraid, over and over again. But it is hard. We make so many decisions and there is such uncertainty in this life it is hard not to be afraid and not to have second thoughts.  It is easy to look back on each decision and have doubts and questions: did I make the right choice.  But God calls us to have confidence and to shed the fear because God works all for His glory.  It is not whether I make the right decision, but how I make the decision that matters most to God.  Do I rely on myself or put my trust in Him with the intent to bring glory to Him?

My Daily Journal:

Question 8 was my pivotal question this week.

Here comes Abram marching back into the Valley of the Kings.  He is victorious.  He is accompanied not only with his entire army but with all the people and possessions.  To the victor go the spoils.  This all belongs to Abram.

The valley he walks in to must have been somber.  Not only had all the local kings been defeated in battle, but their cities had been sacked and raided, their people had all been hauled off as slaves.  It says the armies took ALL of their food.  The kings had fled from the battle, leaving their soldiers to be trapped in tarpits.  The few soldiers that did escape fled to the hills, but you cannot imagine they maintain any loyalty to these defeated and cowardly kings.

In comes mighty Abram and out come Melchizedek and the King of Sodom.  With one swipe of his sword Abram could kill the king and place himself on the throne over the entire valley.  Not even his own sword would be required, he had an army of fighting men with him loyal to his word or hand gesture.

The contrasts in this meeting are so rich.  Look at this:

The first words out of the mouth of the King of Salem are: “Blessed Be.”

Abram’s response is to give him a tenth of everything.  Note, he does not ask permission of anyone else.  All of this is Abram’s to give or keep as he sees fit.

Next is the King of Sodom.  His first words are “Give me.”

Abram responds, “With raised hand”

While the King of Sodom is trying to put on a good front, it has to realize that with one motion of that raised hand he is dead.  But instead of raising his hand against this wicked King, Abram says, “With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth”

What an amazing and powerful scene that is such a strong lesson to us.  Are my thoughts and words first to bless others or to get for myself.  Do I raise my hand against others or raise it in praise and promise to my solemn Lord?

BSF Genesis: Week 13, Day 3

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

5.
He had 318 trained men that were able to go into battle and he was allied with Mamre, Eshkol and Aner

6.
a.
He fought a battle of righteousness before God. To those on God’s side, it was a pleasant site, to the enemy it was death. His household took a stand, but their armament was God provided

b.
Not the weapons of this world, but weapons of divine power. They battle strongholds of argument and pretense and wrong knowledge and wrong thought

c.
The sword of the Spirit. All else is defensive, but God’s spirit strikes the enemy

7.
It is both a challenge and comfort. I am not equal to the task of bearing the burden for whether a person lives or dies for all eternity. Comforting to know that the scripture recognizes my inadequacy and that it is only by carrying Christ in spirit that it comes to pass.

My Daily Journal:

In the lesson today I changed perspectives and looked at the battle and victory through Lot’s eyes.  At this point, Lot has been chained as a slave in captivity.  He has been marched off from his home, all of his possessions taken away, his family enslaved, he is helpless, with only one hope: Abram.

I can relate to Lot.  I am enslaved by sin.  I fight it off, but by my own strength I have no hope of staying free.  But, also like Lot’s relationship with Abram, I too have I have a family member, a savior who has elected to call me brother, who will pursue me, fight the evil ones that hold me in bondage and set me free.  Like Abram, Christ has an army of trained soldiers at the ready, clothed in the spiritual battlement.  They come, without reservation or condition, to rescue any of us that call on His name.  They do not expect us to free ourselves.  They do not hold back with thoughts that we have received no more than we have earned.  They just come and fight and vanquish.

I understand that I, too, am called to dress in the armor of God.  I am pleased to be called to serve.  But I am even more thankful for all the times in my life that Christ has sent soldiers in, whether fellow christians, angels or the holy spirit, to fight for me and to rescue me.

BSF Genesis: Week 13, Day 2

Today’s Scriptures

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 12, Day 5

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

11.
a.
Look, (listen), Go, Walk through the length and breadth of the land

b.
give you every place where you set your foot. I will be with you. Be strong and courageous

12.

  • We give an account of ourselves on judgment day
  • appear before the judgment seat of Christ and receive what is due us
  • So that we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming

 

My Daily Journal:

God was training Abram.  Training requires movement.

My daughter is learning to drive.  But it is impossible to learn to drive sitting in the garage.  God wants to steer us in the right direction.  God wants to lead us on the path, the straight highway that leads to him.  But, like a rider on a bicycle, it is far easier to steer when there is movement.

How do we move as Christians?  By being missional.  By teaching and disciplining others.  By preaching the truth of the gospel and proclaiming the love of Christ for the world. By serving.

BSF Genesis: Week 12, Day 4

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

8.
a.
Good pasture land, peace from fighting with Abram’s men, a place to pitch tents

b.
He moved away, to Hebron near the trees

c.
Don’t place worldly (temporary) amenities over heavenly (eternal) ones. Everything of earth will go away including life, wealth, home and family

9.
He gave up a valley. His descendents were given everything he could see and he would have descendents life the dust of the earth

10.
a.
Gal 3:9: Blessed along with Abraham, Jeremiah 29:11: God has planned good for us and not disaster, gift of future and hope, Matt: 11:28-29: Rest – come to me all who are weary…, Isaiah 40:29-31: Power to the weak, strength to powerless, soar on eagles wings, Phil 4:19: All needs from His glorious riches, Rom 8:37-39: Victory and love: nothing can ever separate us from God’s love, not death, life, angels, demons.., Prov 1:33: peace, untroubled by fear of harm, 2 Cor 4:18: Troubles will pass, John 14:27: peace of mind and heart, John 7:37-39: Living water, the Spirit, John 14:26: The Holy Spirit, Rom 3:23: Forgiveness, Rom 10:9: Salvation, Rom 6:23: Eternal Life

b.
We give up sin, guilt, fear, troubles, worry, murder, adultery, wickedness, lustfulness, greed, gluttony, unrighteous anger, self-pride, laziness, coveting and death. We get peace, love, protection, strength, power, victory, the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, a mission from God and to be brothers with Christ for all eternity.

 

My Daily Journal:

Decorating a hotel room.  I can’t find the reference, but I remembered this analogy while thinking about all of the promises vs. costs involved in living the life of a brother to Christ.  Our time here on earth is like living in a hotel room.  It isn’t home.  Home for believers is in heaven, for all eternity.

But how much time, effort, money and fight do we put into furnishing and decorating our hotel room.  Instead of using our resources for value that matters to God for all eternity, we invest in making our hotel room more comfortable.  We buy bigger houses and decorations, we focus on better curtains for the hotel room.

It isn’t that God doesn’t want us to have wealth or comfort – clearly Abram and Lot had been blessed with more than the land could even support.  But where is our focus?  Is it on our eternal home or our temporary dwelling.  Maybe that is part of the reminder in the fact that Abram was called to live in tents.