Genesis 15-16

This week's lesson highlight's God's covenant with Abram, and Abram and Sarai's attempts to "help" God achieve the promise He made. God, of course, needs no help, and we can take a lesson that His plans are the only ones that matter. Our own feeble efforts to control outcomes generally only complicate our own lives, as was the case with Abram and Sarai. To read this week's lesson notes, click here.

I've also posted what I think is a fairly handy timeline of the lifespan of Abram as a pdf document. I think it can help give some perspective about how much time is passing between God's promise and the fulfillment of His promise. That timeline can be found by clicking here.

God bless you.

Genesis 12-14

Since we ran a little short on time last week, we'll begin this week's lesson with a brief discussion of the Tower of Babel. We'll then quickly proceed to the text explored in chapter 4 of our study guide (Woodrow Kroll's Genesis: a God of Purpose, A People of Promise). Chapter 4 of that book covers Genesis chapters 12-14.

Chapters 12-50 of Genesis encompass what are known as the "Patriarchs" of the Old Testament. Abram (later renamed "Abraham" by God) is the first of the Patriarchs, and this week we study the beginning of his story. This week's lesson demonstrates a couple of precious aspects of God's word:

• God's word doesn't pull any punches. When heroes of the Bible foul things up, when they sin, the Bible tells about it. Unlike other ancient religious texts, God's Word shows human beings (even the heroes of our faith) as they are: warts and all.

• God's word - being supernatural in origin - never ceases to amaze with its ability to interpret itself. Who would have thought that an obscure, brief appearance by a priest named Melchizedek would be just the picture God would use to later explain the priesthood of His Son Jesus Christ? 

To see this week's lesson notes, click here. God bless you.

Genesis 6:1 - 11:26

An awful lot to cover this week. We'll see if we can get through it in one class session. If not, we'll just hold onto some of it for next week. This week's study covers the story of Noah, the worldwide flood, and the Tower of Babel. 

The world scoffs at the Biblical notion of a global flood, but there is quite a lot of evidence to support it. In fact, a worldwide flood like the one described in Genesis answers scientific roadblocks like fossils atop mountains and presents a reasonable theory for a younger earth than many secular scientists ascribe to. All of this, of course, points to our Creator as the originator of the universe rather than random chance and evolution. I've discovered some very interesting resources online if you have questions about Noah and the flood. www.nwcreation.net is one that I found particularly interesting. For this week's lesson notes, click here. To take a look at a one-page handout on the timeline of the flood, click here.

Genesis 4-5

I hope everyone who attended last week's class was as blessed as I was by the testimony of Josh about the mission field and church planting in Boise, Idaho. His message should inspire all of us to find our next opportunity to go on mission for God somewhere!

This week's lesson is Genesis 4 & 5. We'll learn about the further deterioration of a mankind that has been corrupted by sin and the snowballing consequences of that sin. We'll also see a picture of God's plan for redemption and reconciliation to Him. For my lesson notes, click here.