Genesis 3

It is good to be back home! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at church tomorrow. This week's lesson is on Genesis 3, and it highlights the temptation, sin and fall of man, along with the subsequent consequences (curse) that falls on mankind as a result. There is much we can learn from the method of temptation, the stages of falling into sin, and the pathetic excuses human beings make in the aftermath of their own sin. To see this week's lesson notes, click here.

Also, if you don't yet have your copy of William Kroll's Genesis: A God of Promise, A People of Purpose, it is now available in the Second Baptist Bookstore. I'd like to really challenge everyone to spend an hour or two each week preparing for class by using this study. I think there is a lot to be gained from the study, and I know our sessions together benefit from a prepared and engaged group. Thanks for your commitment!

Genesis 2

This week we study the second chapter of Genesis, the conclusion of the creation story. In this week's lesson, God's Word delves deeper into the crown of His creation: mankind. 

This week's study contains the fundamental reason it is so important that believers defend the Biblical doctrine of creation against the many attacks it receives. Genesis 2 describes man as a purposeful creation of God, in God's own image, for God's specifically-designed purposes. My lesson notes can be downloaded by clicking here. 

Rachael found a very good article and shared it with me this week. It should prove helpful for those who would like to read more on the subject of what creationists believe. It is titled "Don't Creationists Deny the Laws of Nature?" and is written by Dr. Jason Lisle. A PDF can be downloaded by clicking here. She found it among a LOT of other interesting resources on the website of Ken Hamm, a well-known creationist and Biblical apologetics scholar. The site is answersingenesis.org, and is worth a read if you'd like to study more on the topic of creation.

Just a quick reminder that I will be out of town next weekend, so Brad Bennett will be filling in as our substitute teacher. Please make Brad feel welcome. He is a great guy who has been very helpful and supportive of the work our class is doing. I'll be back the following Sunday (January 25), and we will resume our study of Genesis. Remember, we are using our study guide (William Kroll's Genesis: A God of Promise, A People of Purpose) by dividing each of the sixteen study chapters into two-week studies. So, on January 25, we'll look at Genesis chapter 3. Then, on February 1, we'll study Genesis 4 & 5.

Genesis 1

Nothing like starting the new year off with a VERY meaty Bible Study series! We begin our study of the book of Genesis this week with Genesis, Chapter 1.

The book we will use as a guide is William Kroll's Genesis: a God of Purpose, a People of Promise. To take a look at one place the book can be ordered online, click here. My hope is that we can have it available soon in the Second Baptist Bookstore, too. Copies also are available at CPO. It is a sixteen-chapter study guide, and we have 32 weeks for this study, so my plan is to spend two weeks on each study guide chapter. For instance, chapter one in the guide covers Genesis 1 & 2, so I'll teach on Genesis 1 this week and Genesis 2 next week. I'll work to keep everyone posted of specifically how we will break up the study as we go.

Since the first lesson is on creation, I've taken the liberty of compiling a sort of "primer" handout that will be available in class, but also can be accessed as a PDF file by clicking here. The handout covers the very basics of "new earth" and "old earth" theology, the four main Christian views of the creation timeline, an explanation of the "gap theory," and a few other items that make for pretty good groundwork for the study. I'm also posting this week's lesson notes here. Some have had trouble downloading the files posted in the past as lesson notes in Microsoft Word, so I'm trying to save everything as a PDF now, in the hopes it will work better. Let me know if you have difficulty.