Month: April 2019

GET READY

How many times have you moved from one location to another? What is the greatest distance you have moved? What caused you to make this move? When did you make it? How did you prepare for the move? How long did it take? How long was it before you felt “at home” in the new location?

THE WORD

12 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵ Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, ⁶ Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸ From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. ⁹ And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.

15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” ² But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”  ³And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” ⁴ But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” ⁵He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” ⁶ And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.  

⁷ Then he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.” ⁸ But he said, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” ⁹He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. ¹¹And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 

¹²As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him. ¹³Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know this for certain, that your offspring shall be aliens in a land that is not theirs, and shall be slaves there, and they shall be oppressed for four hundred years; ¹⁴but I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. ¹⁵As for yourself, you shall go to your ancestors in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. ¹⁶And they shall come back here in the fourth generation; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” 

¹⁷When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. ¹⁸On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land.”  NRSV

GET INTO THE WORD

1.   Who is God talking to in this passage? What does he tell the person to do? What does he promise in return? How do you think the person felt about this at first? 

2.   What does Abram do? Who else is involved? Where do they start from [see Notes]? Where do they go? What do they do when they arrive? What does God promise here?

3.   What does God say to Abram in chapter 15? How does Abram respond? Why is Abram afraid? How does God reply to Abram’s fear? What does God show Abram? What does he say about Abram’s descendents? How does Abram respond to this?

4.   How does God identify himself next? What does he promise here? What does Abram say in response? What does God tell him to do next? Why does God direct this [see Notes]?

5.   What happens to Abram next? What does God tell him? Why do you think God gives him this look at his future and the future of Israel? How does God “sign” his covenant with Abram?

GET PERSONAL

Are there times when you wonder about some of God’s promises? How does God help you to know he is good for every promise he makes?

NOTES . . .

MEMORY VERSE
And he believed the Lord and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness, [Gen 15:6].

LESSON 8
Exodus 3: God calls Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt.

GET READY

We all have had projects or tasks that weren’t going well, when we wish we could go back to square one and just start over. How do you deal with that kind of task? Do you scrap what you have done and begin again? Do you keep working through the difficulty? Or do you try to hand it to someone else?

THE WORD

6⁹ These are the descendants of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. ¹⁰And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 

¹¹Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹²And God saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth. ¹³And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth. ¹⁴Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. ¹⁵This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. ¹⁶Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; and put the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks. ¹⁷For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. ¹⁸But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. ²⁰Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind shall come in to you, to keep them alive. ²¹Also take with you every kind of food that is eaten, and store it up; and it shall serve as food for you and for them.” ²²Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

7Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation. ² Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and its mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and its mate; ³ and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive on the face of all the earth. ⁴ For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” ⁵ And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.

⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came on the earth. ⁷ And Noah with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸ Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, ⁹ two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰And after seven days the waters of the flood came on the earth.

9The Covenant with Noah
God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. ² The fear and dread of you shall rest on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the air, on everything that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered. ³Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and just as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. ⁴ Only, you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. ⁵ For your own lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning: from every animal I will require it and from human beings, each one for the blood of another, I will require a reckoning for human life. 

¹¹I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹²God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: ¹³I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  NRSV

GET INTO THE WORD

1.   Who are the people in this incident? What distinguishes them from others?

2.   What is the situation at the beginning. What does God plan to do about it? How do you suppose Noah felt about God’s plan? 

3.   What does God want Noah to do? How big was this project to be? What was Noah supposed to do when he finished? How do you think he felt about that? How do you think his sons felt when he told them?

4.   How many of each species was Noah to take with him? How about the “clean” animals? Why is there a difference between the two types [see Notes]?

5.   How many people were in the ark? How old was Noah when the Earth flooded? How long was the flood [see Notes]?

6.   What did God do with Noah after the flood? What was the relationship with the animals he had saved? What was different about the food for humans? What restriction did God put on eating? Why do you think he did that?

7.   What did God promise Noah? Who else was involved in this promise? What sign did God give about his promise?

GET PERSONAL

What is your overall image of God in this situation? What aspects of his character seem important here? How has he helped you see the need to “wash out” your old habits and attitudes and start over with your new life and new relationship with him?

NOTES

Memory Verse
It’s the last verse in this passage: Genesis 9:13.

Lesson 7
Genesis 12 and 15: God’s Call and covenant with Abram.

GET READY

You were speeding and got stopped. While the police officer is approaching, what is going through your mind? Are you worried about the cost of the fine? About how the police officer is going to deal with you? About the points on your record? About the increase in your auto insurance premium?

THE WORD

3Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” ²The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; ³ but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.'”
⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; ⁵ for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
⁸ They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰He said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” ¹¹He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹²The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.” ¹³Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.”
¹⁴The Lord God said to the serpent,
      “Because you have done this, cursed are you among all animals
            and among all wild creatures; upon your belly you shall go,
            and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
      ¹⁵I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between 
            your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike
his heel.” 
¹⁶To the woman he said, 
“I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing; in pain you 
      shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your
            husband, and he shall rule over you.” 
¹⁷And to the man he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,
         and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you,
      ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you;
            in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; ¹⁸thorns and
            thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the 
            plants of the field. 
       ¹⁹By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return
            to the ground,
²⁰The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living. ²¹And the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them.
²²Then the Lord God said, “See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” —  ²³therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.  NRSV

GET INTO THE WORD

1.   Who is the new character in the garden? How is he described? What does he ask the woman? How does she answer? What does he say in response to her answer?

2.   How did the woman respond to the serpent’s statement? What did she do? What happened as a result? How did the man and woman deal with the new situation?

3.   How did the man and woman react to God’s presence? How did the man answer God’s questions? How does the woman respond when God questions her?

4.   What does God say to the serpent? What is the punishment? What does God say about the woman and the serpent [see Notes]?

5.   What does God say to the woman about her consequences? What does God say about the woman’s relationship with the man?

6.   What is the man’s fate in all this? How do you think he responded to God’s punishment? How do you respond?

7.   What does the man do next? What does God do for them? What does God do to them next? Why does he take this action?

GET PERSONAL

What kinds of Obey or Trust choices have you experienced recently? How did God help you realize the potential consequences of your choices? How did he help you trust or obey him?

NOTES . . .

Memory Verse
Just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s
act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all,
[Romans 5:18].

Lesson 6:
Genesis 6-9: The Great Flood (but also check out the first murder in chapter 4).

GET READY

“Genesis” means beginning. In Hebrew this book is called “bereshith,” which is usually translated “in the beginning” – which is, in fact, how the Bible opens. Genesis and the next four books are often called the Pentateuch (“Five Teachings).

THE WORD

Author

Scripture itself, as well as Jewish and Christian tradition, holds that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible [check Lev 1:1-2, Neh 13:1, Matt 8:4 or Acts 26:22]. In fact the first five books are called the “Law of Moses,” or Torah. Moses is certainly at the center of events during the exodus from Egypt and would have a definite interest in recording the early history of the Jewish people as they prepare to start life in their new and “promised” land.           

Some scholars, however, point to the different writing styles and differences in the story lines as evidence that more than one “source” wrote parts of Genesis. Whether it was Moses or someone else, the writer relied on the Hebrew oral tradition for the stories about creation, the early humans and the original Israelite families. 

Context

Throughout their history Jews have been a nation of families, and the history of those families has been very important to their identity as God’s chosen people. When they escaped from Egypt the Jews were nothing but a group of former slaves. They needed to know who their ancestors were and, more importantly, how God had chosen those ancestors and worked with them, if they were going to be successful as God’s people. Genesis is that story.

Structure

Genesis has three major sections. The first section tells the story of God’s creation of the world and humanity, and humans’ “first” sin and separation from God [1:1-3:24]. The second section is the story of early humans: the first birth, the first death, Noah and the great flood, [4:1-11:26]. The last section is the story of Abraham and his descendants: Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, [4:27-50:26].

Major Themes

Genesis introduces three basic doctrines (or teachings) of our Christian faith:

• God, who is the creator of the universe and humanity, wants a relationship with his creation – with us.
• Humans are created in God’s image.
• Humans are incapable of loving God and maintaining a relationship with him.

We will expand on each these great teachings below.

      Genesis is also the story of a family – in fact it reads like one of our contemporary soap operas. There is love and marriage, infidelity, lying, trickery, deception, attempted murder, kidnapping – all the characteristics and dysfunctions we see around us today.

GET INTO THE WORD

1.   According to tradition who wrote the book of Genesis? What else did he write? What is this work sometimes called? What makes this person qualified to write such a work?

2.   Why do some people believe more than one person wrote Genesis? What evidence do they have? What is the source of information for Genesis?

Note . . .The “sources” are identified by letters: “J” is the “Jehovah” source because it uses that name (or “YHWH”) for God; “E” is the “Elohim” source, referring to God as “Lord”; “P” is the “Priestly source for its focus on the role of priests.

3.   What is the primary characteristic of the Jewish nation? Why is this important to them? What were they before they became a nation? 

4.   What are the major parts of the book of Genesis? Which is the longest? What role does each part play in helping the Jews understand who they are?

5.   What are the major themes of Genesis? Why are they called doctrines? What else is included in the book of Genesis? How different is this from our life today? Why do you think this is part of the Bible?

DOCTRINE NOTES . . .

God: Our faith starts with the belief that God created the universe and all that is in it, including us. Genesis opens: In the beginning God, created the heavens and the earth [Gen 1:1]. The first things we learn about God are that he existed “in the beginning” and that he created everything else that exists. Other attributes of God include:

• Spirit: According to Jesus, God is spirit, [John 4:24]. He has no physical form or body.
• Changeless: even though part of creation may change, God is the same, and your years will never end, [Heb 1:12]. God is perfect; he is not different from one time to another or to one group or another.
• All Powerful: God created the universe out of nothing; for God all things are possible,[Mark 10:27].
• All knowing: if God created everything he knows everything about every thing. In fact he has put wisdom in the inward parts [and] given understanding to the mind, [Job 38:36].
• Everywhere: in Psalms the poet asks where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? [139:7]. God is present throughout his creation.
• Eternal: God does not exist in our time frame; he is present in all time: he is the one who is and who was and who is to come, [Rev 1:8].

Humanity: Our faith continues with the belief that God created us and wants a relationship with us.

• We are like God: Genesis teaches that God created us in his “image” and according to his “likeness,” [Gen 1:26]. 
• We are alive: In the second creation story (yes, there are two; and, yes, they are different), Genesis says God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being, [Gen 2:7].
• We are created for a relationship with God: from the beginning God wants a relationship with us. Paul calls this a “mystery” for the fullness of time to gather up all things in him, [Eph 1:10].

Sin: humans are not capable of maintaining a relationship with God. Sin is both the situation we are in apart from God and the disobedient actions we take because we are apart from God.

• Sin is disobedience: Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s direct command to not eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, [Gen 2:17]. As a result, God cut off their relationship with him, [Gen 3:23].
• Sin can be a thought, such as hate [1 John 3:15]; something we said, like an insult [Matt 5:22]; or an action, such as murder, theft, or lying about someone, [Matt 15:19].
• Sin is not scalable: there are no “little” sins or “medium-sized” sins (or “really big sins”). James says, whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it, [2:10].

4. God creates the universe and humans — Genesis 1:1 – 2:25

GET READY

Let’s be clear at the outset: if you are looking for a scientific explanation of how God created the universe you are in the wrong book: here all you will get is “God said . . . and there was . .. it was good.” Genesis presents the spiritual story of God’s creative actions.

THE WORD

1In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, ² the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. ³ Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. ⁴ And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. [Verses 6-25 describe the creation of the sky, the oceans and dry land, plants, the sun, moon and stars, and animals.]
         ²⁶Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” 
         ²⁷So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 
         ²⁸God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” ²⁹God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. ³⁰And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 
[Verses 31-2:4 describe God’s rest on the Sabbath.]

2Another Account of the Creation
⁴In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, ⁵ when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up — for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; ⁶ but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground — 7then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. ⁸ And the LordGod planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. ⁹ Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Verses 10-14 describe the rivers flowing out of the garden.]
         ¹⁵The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. ¹⁶And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; ¹⁷but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” 
         ¹⁸Then the LordGod said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” . . . ²¹So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²²And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³Then the man said, 
      “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;
      this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.” 
         ²⁴Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. ²⁵And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.  NRSV

GET INTO THE WORD

1.   When does the Bible open? What is happening? Who is involved?

2.   What is the first thing that God creates? What does he do with this creation? What is the result? What is the order of the rest of creation [see Notes]?

3.   What does God create after animals? What is different about this creation? What role does it play in God’s world? How did God bless these creatures?

4.   How does the second creation account begin? How is the creation of humans different? What are the two steps in this creation? What is different about the reference to God [see Notes]?

5.   What does God do next? What is in this garden? Why do you think these things are included? What does God say about these items?

6.   What does God create next? What is different about this creation? How does the man respond? What is the outcome?

GET PERSONAL

How do these two creation accounts affect your view of God? How do they affect your view of the world? How do they affect your view of humanity? How do they affect your view of yourself? How does God help you know your value and importance to him?

NOTES . . .

Memory Verse
Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made,
[Romans 1:20].

Lesson 5:
Genesis 3: The first sin