Saturday, January 12

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Genesis 29, 30   and  Matthew 9:1-17

29:12  In a day of cell phones and Skype we don't realize how precious news from a distance becomes.  Rachel ran to tell her family of Jacob's arrival as Rebekah ran to tell her family of the arrival of someone from Abraham's family.

29:18  In today's economy it is difficult to say what a year's wage is.  In the U.S the poverty level for one person was $11344.  If we go up to $12000 per year, Jacob paid $84000 for his wife.  By the time he had to do it again he paid $168000 for the wife he loved and had an extra thrown in for the same price.  If he was paid more than just enough to escape poverty, the price would have been more.  If we consider that he also received his board and room it might have been less.

29:30  Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah.  Again we see the folly of straying from God's known best plan.  One man and one woman is God's plan.  It is no wonder that Jacob loved Rachel more, she was the only wife he wanted.  There is contention between these two sisters and then among the children of these and their servant girls.  I find it hard enough (though a pleasure) to please one wife.  Pleasing two wives, plus their servants, seems to be an impossible task.  Of course God knew all this before creation and gave instruction to guide us.

29:31 – 30:24  These verses indicate that the rivalry between Rachel and Leah was ever on their minds.  What a divisive setting to form a family.

30:25-43  The rivalry between Leah and Rachel is present between Jacob and Laban also.  It is no wonder that Jacob's sons did not get along well.  But, this is the family from which our Savior came.  Praise God for His love, mercy, and grace!

Matthew 9:1-8  I used to count syllables and say that "get up and walk" (4 syllables) was easier than "your sins are forgiven" (6 syllables.)  Of course I was missing the point of what Jesus was saying.  Anyone could pronounce another's sins forgiven.  There is no way to prove or disprove if it happened.  It would be like pronouncing that one of the moons of Jupiter is made of green cheese.  That cannot be proved or disproved, at least not yet.  But when Jesus told the man to get up, pick up his mat, and go home, his authority was about to be proved or disproved.  He left no room for doubt.  I sometimes wonder what happened to those who questioned Jesus' authority, where were they later when the crowd was shouting, "Crucify, crucify."  They had no excuse to doubt the power and authority of Jesus.

9:9-13  It would seem that Jesus did some things simply to gall the Pharisees.  He knew that they would strongly disapprove of having a tax collector for a disciple.  They thought no tax collector could deserve to be with any rabbi.   But it did not matter if the Pharisees liked what He did nor not.  He would do what was right no matter what others may have thought.  Praise God for that.  I also do not deserve to be with our Savior.

9:14-17  Jesus is announcing that something new is happening right then.  The old and the new do not mix.  The new is built upon the old but completely supersedes it.  Jesus came to completely fulfill the requirements of the Old Testament.  But we cannot understand the Messiah without understanding the Old Testament.  When the New Testament talks about the Scriptures pointing to the Christ, the Scriptures are the Old Testament.  They did not yet have the New Testament.

Don't forget to go to church Sunday.

Larry

Friday, January 11

Friday, January 11

Genesis 27, 28 and Matthew 8:18-34

27:5-17  Perhaps Rebekah remembers 25:23 where God said that the older twin would serve the younger.  Perhaps she was just pampering the son she liked best.  Whatever her reason, she sinned.  She flat out sinned.  It was wrong to do what she did.  But her scheme did work.  It is never right to sin to bring about God's will.  Do we think God is unable to accomplish what He desires?  Does it work to cooperate with Satan to do what God wants?  After something has been done, we cannot determine if it was the right thing to do by its success or failure.  Many evil plans succeed – for a while.  And many righteous plans appear to fail – also for a while.

27:1-29  It is never too late to back out of sin until it is completed.  Jacob could have told his mother that her plan was dishonoring her husband and he would have no part of it.  When he appeared before his father he could have said that he was Jacob and wanted to honor his father with a good meal.  When Isaac asked if he was really Esau (24) he could have confessed his fault.  After Isaac smelled Esau's clothing and before receiving the blessing Jacob could have said who he really was and ask forgiveness. He took none of the escape routes God provided.  We may say Rebekah was at fault.  She did sin.  But there was not excuse for Jacob, he also sinned.  We live in a society where we too often try to shift our blame to someone else.  God will have none of it.

27:30-40  Esau was not more deserving than Jacob.  Remember, he had sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of soup.  He despised his birthright.  The birthright and the blessing go together.  Esau rejected the greater blessing for one simple meal.  What blessings do we miss because of our indiscretions?

27:41-46  Sin always has regrettable consequences, often very soon.  Here Esau hated Jacob and planned to kill him.  Soon he was sent away from home on a difficult journey.

28:1 One problem here is that there was no accountability.  Jacob had deceived his father.  He stole the birthright.  Then when they are together again nothing is said about what Jacob had done.  The sin is just ignored.  Within the family, and within the church, sin should never simply be ignored.

28:10-22  Even in his sinfulness, Jacob still had God with him.  I am glad God does not abandon His children.

Matthew 8:18-19  This was one thing that confounded the Jews about Jesus.  In the Old Testament God blessed people by making them rich.  If Jesus was the Blessed Son of God, how could he not have a place to lay His head?

8:25  Now, in heaven, Jesus never sleeps.

8:26  My faith would have been gone in this situation also.  Wow, what power Jesus had!

8:28-34  Why did Jesus grant the desire of the demons?  Why did they even want to go into a bunch of pigs?  Jesus was totally in control.  The demons did not go wherever they wanted.  They did not refuse to leave the men.  The people have marveled at Jesus' teaching and wanted more.  They have brought their sick and demon possessed for him to heal.  They were very glad for all these.  But when He messed with their possessions they wanted to get rid of Him.

Remember to worship Sunday.

Larry

Thursday, January 10

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Thursday, January 10, 2013                  Genesis 25, 26                         Matthew 8:1-17

Friday, January 11, 2013                      Genesis 27, 28                         Matthew 8:18-34

Saturday, January 12, 2013                  Genesis 29, 30                         Matthew 9:1-17

Sunday, January 13, 2013                    Genesis 31, 32                         Matthew 9:18-38

Monday, January 14, 2013                   Genesis 33, 34, 35                   Matthew 10:1-20

Tuesday, January 15, 2013                   Genesis 36, 37, 38                   Matthew 10:21-42

Wednesday, January 16, 2013              Genesis 39, 40                         Matthew 11

Thursday, January 17, 2013                  Genesis 41, 42                         Matthew 12:1-23

Genesis 25:1-11  This does not say much for good family relationships.  Notice that verse 6 says he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines.  Apparently Abraham had Sarah as his first wife, Keturah was his second wife, and he had concubines besides his two wives.  All other sons received gifts and Isaac inherited everything.  In Abraham's sight Isaac was the son of promise.  More importantly, Isaac was also the son of promise in God's sight.  God blessed Isaac.  God loves each of us no less than he loves Isaac.

25:21  For a woman to be barren seems to be very Biblical!  But often the children then had an important role to play when they grew up.  Notice verses 20 and 26.  Isaac must have prayed for children for nearly 20 years before God answered.

25:23  "The older will serve the younger.  Was that what God wanted or did God just know that is how it would turn out?

25:27-34  The boys could not have been more different.

26  Isaac did all he could to be at peace.  The wells were his and the Philistines were wrong to plug them.  But Isaac just moved on to another place.

Matthew 8:1-4  If the crowds were still watching, they would have been as amazed by Jesus healing this leprosy as they had been with His teaching.  First, he touched the man.  That was a real taboo.  Jesus is also eager to do for us what we need.  His common answer is, "I am willing."

8:5-13  This man's faith was indeed amazing.  Verse 10 uses the word, astonished, but it could have been amazed.  There were only a few times when Jesus was amazed.  The man realized that Jesus held a position of authority.  And that position was higher than the position of sickness.  It was all very clear to the man.  If Jesus told the disease to leave it had to leave.  Jesus had more authority.  May our faith be as simple and direct.

8:14  Peter is the only disciple that we know was married.  This story is the only way that we know that.

Please post your comments.  I want us to help each other understand God's word.

Larry

Wednesday, January 9

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Genesis 23, 24     and     Matthew 7

23:1  Sarah died at 127.  That is a long time.  Isaac would have been 37.

23:2-20  The rest of the chapter is Abraham bargaining for a burial place for his wife. 

24  This is one of my favorite chapters in the entire Bible.  It shows God's people trusting Him in the affairs of daily life and God very ably working things out in a wonderful way.  Notice in verse 7 that Abraham tells his servant that God will work everything out before the servant arrives there.  That is exactly what happened.  The trip from Hebron to Aram was about 400 miles.  Did the servant fret all the way about he could get things to work out well for his master?  Or did he trust that things would work out?  As soon as he arrived he prayed.  Do we trust God to guide us?  Do we believe we believe He cares?

24:15  We are not told how far Rebekah had to walk.  The prayer was short.  The answer to the prayer had to start walking to the one who prayed even before he started to pray!  Will God do that for us?  Will we allow Him the opportunity to work on our behalf?

24:19 Rebekah must have been very energetic.  How much water can a camel drink?  Besides that there were several men and ten camels I found this on the internet.

20-25 gallons in ten minutes
Up to 40 gallons in one session
Up to 50 gallons in one day
Rebekah many have drawn as much as 400 gallons of water, if the camels had not had any water for a while!

A well in those days was often a pit dug down to the water level with steps along the wall of the pit.  The bigger the jar the fewer trips, but the heavier the jar each time down and back up.  The smaller the jar the less the water would weigh, but then more trips.  Either way it was a lot of work.  This shows much about the customs of hospitality in those days.  Would anyone today in America do such a thing?  Would today's Christian be that helpful?

24:29-30  Laban was very interested in the man when he saw the jewelry!  We know from how the story unfolds that Laban was a shrewd man wanting to make a profit any possible way.

24:42-46  This is how the writers of the Bible emphasized things. They would repeat it.  Notice how these verses repeat (though not exactly) 12-19.

24:60  This blessing has come true.  There are millions of Jews today.

24:67  I have wondered about this verse.  Did they just move in together?  Was there a ceremony of some kind?

Matthew 7:1  To the extent that other Christians watch over me I want them to judge me.  When there are ways I go wrong I want to be told.  Also, then that is how I must judge others.  We should be our brother's keeper, and our sister's keeper.  That is one purpose of the church.

7:6  I have visited a prisoner who said he must be very aware of this verse.  There are those other prisoners who react very violently against anyone who displays any Christianity.

7:7  Abraham's servant was not hesitant to ask, seek, and knock when he needed guidance.  And God answered in a wonderful way.

7:13-14  The latest theory, even among some preachers, is that there is no hell, everyone ends up in heaven, love finally wins.  If those preachers are correct then Jesus is a liar.  Heaven forbid!  Jesus is the way the truth and the life.  There is a way that leads to destruction and many people take that way.  Many people reject Jesus and the way that leads to life.

7:15  It is interesting that Jesus talks about false prophets immediately after talking about something about which many preachers give a false witness.

7:15-20  In 7:1 Jesus cannot mean that we are to never discern the reliability of a fellow Christian.  Because here He is saying we must know the difference between the wolf that looks like a sheep and a real sheep.  He is telling us to watch the fruit carefully enough to know whether the fruit is good or bad.  We MUST judge.  But we must not be judgmental, harsh, and condemning.

7:21-23  In 15-20 we are watching others.  In 21-23 we are judging ourselves.  We must be sure that we produce good fruit.  It might seem that prophesying in Jesus' name would be good fruit.  It might seem that driving out demons in Jesus' name would be good fruit.  It might seem that performing many miracles in Jesus' name would be good fruit.  Apparently that is not necessarily true.

7:24-27  The one who builds his life on the teachings of Jesus is the one who will be accepted by Jesus at the judgment.  Hearing the word does not matter.  This means, as Jesus says elsewhere, that we must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him.

7:28-29  Yes they were amazed.  The teachers of their day came up with very little that was new.  They merely repeated what someone before them had said about some topic.  Jesus had authority within Himself to say what was needed and what was correct without any reference to previous teachers.  He was the Master Teacher.

God's blessings.

May your Bible study be very beneficial.

Larry

Tuesday, January 8

Tuesday, January 8

Genesis 20, 21, 22 and Matthew 6:19-34

20  Abraham again fails to trust God.  He tries to cook up strategies of deceit instead.  Not a good plan.  But God is faithful and does not allow any harm to come to Sarah.  This story also shows that God is against half-truths.  Sarah must have been with Abimelech for a couple months, at least long enough to determine that all the women in Abimelech’s family were unable to conceive because of Sarah’s presence.

21:1-7  Praise God, Isaac is born.  Indeed nothing is too hard for God (18:14.) 

21:8-21  Ishmael mocked Isaac.  Sarah is offended.  Abraham is distressed by sending Hagar and Ishmael away.  Ismael nearly died.  Hagar was grieved.  All this resulted from one sin.  Abraham should have never had a child by Hagar.  It did not matter what the culture around them may have allowed.  God’s intention was one man and one woman in marriage.  Any other arrangement is sin.  Any other arrangement will cause pain and sorrow.

22:1-19  Abraham had obeyed God many times and God had blessed him.  Abraham had believed God when He said that a nation would be founded through Isaac.  How could it be that God would ask him to sacrifice the child of promise?  That means that he would be dead.  So how would God establish a nation through a dead youth?  No matter how contradictory all this may sound, Abraham believed God.  Abraham told the servants (verse 5) that “we” will return to you.

22:8  Isaac was old enough to know what was going on.  He probably looked around many times before asking about the lamb for the sacrifice.  Finally he had to know.  Was Abraham avoiding the problem or did he really believe that God would provide a lamb?  Turned out the he was right, God did indeed provide a lamb.  Isaac was spared.  Many years later God provided another lamb for all the world.  The sparing of Isaac and the sacrifice of Jesus probably happened on the same mountain, at least is was the same mountain range.  A little word study will show that both these events happened on Mount Mariah.

Matthew 6:19-24 You cannot serve both God and Money.  You cannot serve both God and Money.  You cannot serve both God and Money.  In our American society this cannot be stressed strongly enough.  Serving Money leads to many sins: greed, gambling, theft, jealousy, covetousness, divorce, child neglect, and many more.  If we store up our treasures on earth we will lose them all.  If we store them in heaven we will lose none of them.

6:25-34  Do not worry.  Jesus really understands the human heart.  He just finished telling us not to love money and then he says not to worry.  If we don’t love money, if we don’t have enough money, then we had better worry because how will we ever be able to get by!  At least that is the usual line of thinking.  Actually, if we trust God then we neither need to serve Money nor worry.  Do we think God can take care of us?  Do we believe that  nothing is impossible for God?  Do we believe that God created the heavens and the earth?  If he can do that he can certainly take care of us.

(We are moving right along.  Tomorrow we will be half done with Genesis.  Are you keeping up with your reading?  Please leave your comments at the bottom of the blog.)

Larry

Monday, January 7

Monday, January 7

Genesis 18, 19             Matthew 6:1-18

18:1-8  At a restaurant we sometimes wonder if they had to go kill the cow before they could cook it.  For Abraham's three visitors it was actually that way.  It must have been a couple hour wait.  For us two minutes seem like a long time at the fast food place.  We have so little tolerance for waiting. 

18:12  We need to be very careful.  Sarah laughed to herself but God knew it.  Wow!  My thoughts are not always very good.  This is all the more need for a loving God.  Praise God, that is what we have.

18:3 and 10  From verse 3 to verse 10 and further there is a change in the mind of the Bible translators.  In verse 3 we see one of the men referred to as "lord."  In other words, this was a word of respect, much like we would say "sir."  But starting in verse ten one of the travelers is referred to as "LORD."  Somewhere along the line Abraham realized that one was God.  This would be God the Son before the incarnation.

18:14  We also need to remember that nothing is too hard for the Lord.

18:16-33  Should we bargain with God?  In this case I believe it was okay.  Abraham was not seeking anything for himself.  He was first of all concerned about God's reputation (Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?)  And he was concerned about his nephew, Lot.  Usually we try to bargain with God for something for ourselves.  That is not so good.

19  Horrible, horrible, horrible.  This is hard to read.  It is also hard to write about.  Lot was likely more righteous that the other citizens of Sodom, but he could not escape the horrible effects of sin.  It is too bad that he did not stay totally away from that wicked city.  In our modern world there are many things that will drag us down too.

19:22  Lot was safe.  There could be no destruction until Lot reached a place of safety.  God was looking out for him.  God still protects those who are His.

19:26  We must be totally removed from the wicked things of our past.  They must be out of mind to the best of our ability.  Don't even look back at those bad things we have done that God has forgiven.  As we mull them over in our mind we dishonor God.  He has forgiven them, removed them from us.  We should be glad to be rid of them and not continue thinking about them.

19:29  Let us be righteous.  Perhaps we will be the means of God sparing those we love.

19:30-38  More horrible stuff.  The Moabites and the Ammonites were later to be a thorn to the Israelites.  Little sins can grow to be big problems.

Matthew 6:1-4  For whom do we do good?  It should be for those needy people we help.  And it should be for the glory of God.  Those in need are people God created.  When we help them we are helping God.  And we are using resources provided to us by God.  So all praise goes to God and not to us.

6:5-15  This passage is sometimes difficult because I am one who is supposed to lead the congregation in prayer.  My prayer must never be for the purpose of impressing anyone.  My prayer should help and encourage others to lift their prayers to God also.  If that does not happen then my public prayers are bad.

6:9-13  There is not room here to say much about the Lord's Prayer.  Let it be enough to say that we need to analyze each phrase of this prayer and try to express the heart of Jesus' instruction in our prayers.

6:14-15  Forgiveness is so important.

God's blessing to you and your reading His Word

Larry

Sunday, January 6

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Genesis 16, 17   Matthew 5:27-48

Monday, January 7, 2013                     Genesis 18, 19                         Matthew 6:1-18

Tuesday, January 8, 2013                     Genesis 20, 21, 22                   Matthew 6:19-34

Wednesday, January 9, 2013                Genesis 23, 24                         Matthew 7

Thursday, January 10, 2013                  Genesis 25, 26                         Matthew 8:1-17

Friday, January 11, 2013                      Genesis 27, 28                         Matthew 8:18-34

Saturday, January 12, 2013                  Genesis 29, 30                         Matthew 9:1-17

Sunday, January 13, 2013                    Genesis 31, 32                         Matthew 9:18-38

16  What a mess people get into when they mess with the way God has decreed.  Were it not for Ishmael much of the conflict in the Mideast would be avoided.  Wikipedia say this, " Ishmael is recognized as an important prophet and patriarch of Islam. Muslims believe that Ishmael was the firstborn of Abraham, born to him from his second wife Hagar. Ishmael is recognized by Muslims as the ancestor of several prominent Arab tribes and being the forefather of Muhammad."  Wouldn't it be nice if only one group claimed the Promised Land.  This all happened because of lack of faith.  Sarah did not have enough faith to believe that she and Abraham would be able to have any children.  So, taking things into her own hands, she followed the customs of her society giving her servant to her husband to produce children.  The plan worked, but did not work out.  Ishmael was born but the entire story is one of conflict.  In fact, the entire story is one of conflict even down to the present time.

17:17  It was a matter of faith.  Could Abraham believe God?  All the evidence pointed toward the promise of children through Sarah not being possible.  But looking ahead to 18:14, nothing is too hard for the Lord.  Remember, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  If we believe Genesis 1:1 then a woman being 90 years old is no problem for God to have her bear children.  The difficulties we face are also no problem for God.

Matthew 5:21-48  In each of these six moral teachings Jesus really cuts to the heart.  He exposes the hypocrisy of mere religious observance and the depravity of human society.  Who stands unconvicted by these words?  We most certainly cannot assume that we can stand before God at the judgment and claim that we are good enough to enter heaven.

Larry Evers