Growing in Christ Bible Study Genesis to Revelation Week 8

Read Genesis 37 - Exodus 1:7

1.   Joseph is the main character in the latter third of Genesis. He is a type of Christ and his life mimics Christ's in many ways. Read the following verses and list some of the ways he foreshadows Jesus.

                 Joseph                   Jesus                                 Similarity

  1.           Gen. 37:3             Matt. 3:17

  2.           Gen. 37:14           John 17:5

  3.           Gen. 37:13           Phil. 2:5-7, John 3:16

  4.          Gen. 37:2              John 15:18

  5.          Gen. 37:5               Matt. 24:30,31

  6.         Gen. 37:19-20        Luke 19:46,47 & 20:13,14

  7.        Gen. 37:26-28         Matt. 26:15

  8.         Gen. 39:1-12           Matt. 4:1-11

  9.         Gen.39:13-18         Matt.26:59-65

  10.      Gen. 39:20              Mark 15:27,28

  11.      Gen. 40:21,22         Luke 23:39-43

  12.      Gen. 41:14              Eph. 1:19,20

  13.      Gen. 41:42-44        Matt.28:18

  14.      Gen.41:45              Eph.5:23-32

  15.      Gen.47:25              Phil.2:10-11

  16.     Gen.41:55,57         Acts 4:12

  17.     Gen.47:14-20        1Cor.15:24

  18.     Gen. 43:33             John 2:24,25; Matt.9:4

  19.     Gen.44,45             1John 1:9

  20.     Gen.41:16             John 5:19

  21.     Gen 37:23             Matt 27:28

2. Notice what Joseph does when people try to give him credit in Gen.40:8; 41:16,25,28,32.


     What is the result of him doing that in Gen.41:37-39?

      What is the application to us?

3. One of the attributes of God is His soverignty. Basically this means that He is in control of everything. Joseph obviously understands this.
      Write down 3 references  where Joseph illustrates that he knows that this.

       1.

       2.

       3.

     To forgive his brothers was an amazing act of mercy (not giving people what they deserve) and grace (giving people what they don't deserve). Because Joseph believed in the soverignty of God, how did that enable him not to repay evil for evil?


      Who do you need to "let off the hook"?

       4. Explain the elaborate scheme that Joseph did with his brothers and what do you think was the purpose behind it?




       5. What are Joseph's two children's names?

           What do they mean?

           Read Titus 2:14. There are 2 parts to salvation. What are they?
 
                                      How do these boys 2 names foreshadow this?


       6. Read Hebrews 11:22 (The Hall of Faith chapter). What 2 things was Joseph commended for?


            How did they show faith?



 Note to students/teachers.
      Joseph is such an example to us! He is one of the few characters in the Bible without a recorded sin (sort of like Jesus, huh?) Unlike Adam and Eve who only had one thing withheld from them and they took it, Joseph had one thing withheld and he resisted (Potiphar's wife). His trust that God was in control is astounding. All those years in prison yet still giving God glory throughout.Even when he was 2nd in charge he still had to ask permission to leave the country to bury his dad which tells me he was technically enslaved his whole life. We question God if we get a flat tire. Because of this he was able to forgive his brothers because he knew that God orchestrated it all to save his family from famine and to continue to fulfill the Gen 15:13-16 prophecy. Because he knew they would leave, he gave orders about his bones. Do we see God in our day to day lives? Do we see interruptions as inconveniences or as divine interventions?

Fruit of the Spirit Survey / Questionaire

Sorry this is so small!. I guess you could increase the magnification of your screen to view it better. Ideally, select over it and print selection then magnify it on a copier and hand it out. To grade it just add up the columns; for example 1,10,19,28,37 are "love" - 2,11,20,29,38 are "joy" and so on taken from Gal. 5:22,23. You can see how you are doing on bearing the fruit of the Spirit by how high your numbers are and which ones you need to work on. Try it out - a lot of study went into putting this together.

Kid's Devotion - Competing For The Right Prize

1. Watch the video

2. Doug trivia - What is the name of the mountain in Bluffington?

3. What were some of the bad things that competition caused in this episode?

4. What did Doug and Skeeter do that cost them 1st place?

5. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+15:6&version=NIV1984  Read this verse. How does this apply to Roger?

6. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+6:19-21&version=NIV1984 Read these verses. What was more important to Doug and Skeeter than winning?

7. What are you currently competing in? How does it make you feel about your competitors? How far would you go to win? What would be worse than losing?

Note to parents

Our kids will be in many competitions from school awards, to sporting events, to beauty pagents and on and on. While competing for the prize is not bad, we cant lose sight of the fact that we are competing for heavenly prizes which are eternal and much better than what the mayor had to offer. Don't lose sight of the fact that the people you are competing against are also loved by God and extremely important to Him. Treat your competitors with that in mind and try to win, but if you lose, be happy for the ones who won, and never compromise your morals in the midst of the competition.

Christian Music Reviews 2012

Alright, here goes another year of Christian music (CDs) reviews. One major change for this year. No screamo reviews; I just can't bear to listen to them. The scoring system remains the same but it is more of a guideline than absolute.

   

1 - worst album of the year

2 - regretted listening to it once

3 - worth one listen

4 - one good song

5 - two to three good songs

6 - four good songs

7 - five good songs

    ( 8-10 are worth buying)

8 - six good songs

9 - seven good songs

10 - instant classic

3

4

A poor man's (girl's) Jamie Grace. Still, young girls may identify with it. Kudos to Francis for resisting the urge to plug it at Passion

9.5

Probably the album of the year in January. Double album, concept album, boldly Christian. Why are they disbanding??

    2

I'm no rap expert but I didnt like either of these

 6.5

Very good radio friendly girl album. Too mellow and adult contemporary for my taste but I appreciate talent

  1.5

2 crimes are committed here; 1- redoing worship songs worse than the original, 2- making worship music sound depressing

 5.8

Ditto Lindsay Mccaul only a slight inch behind

 3

I would have liked this early Relientk esque band 15 years ago. Now it just sounds dated.

 4.8

2 so-so live worship albums with a couple good songs apiece to offer the worship community

5.7

Behind McCaul and Jobe. Remember how big she used to be? It's hard to recapture the magic

 4.1

Very average rock

 9.4

The next big thing (I hope) in Christian music. Great original rocky worship

 5.5

Talented artistic ballad singer. Not my taste but I'm sure the critics love her

 6

New Christian rock band. No songs stand out individually but as a unit a nice work.

5.5

Some good songs but I can't distinguish them from Building 429, 33 Miles, The Afters, Casting Crowns, Mercy Me, Sanctus Real, Abandon ...

5.9

I liked 3 songs. Sounded a little like TFK

3.9

Was this uninspired or is it my heart?? I'm blaming it on the album

5

A cross between The Waiting, Seabird, and Needtobreathe. Decent first effort

 3.5

The best thing I can say about this ballader, the album cover looks like Chuck

 5

Good, not great, alternative rock

 4.9

First 2 songs I was all in. It quickly went downhill after that. See Starfield review

7

Rebecca St. James brothers with very good premier album. Probably new artist of the year, although it is only March

2.9

Ethereal, depressing, chick music. 3 strikes - you're out.

2.7

The album is as good as this cover picture.

5.5

Ala Worth Dying For but not as many good songs and feels produced rather than annointed

5.2

Better than I thought it would be

5.1

Nice sound. Should have been better

6

Best rap album of the year to date. (thats not saying much)

4.5

Second best rap album of the year so far. (that's saying less)

5

After hearing "Our God's Alive" on the radio. I expected SO much more.

4

Imagine, you are taking communion at an artsy/hipster church, a husband and wife come up. He plays the guitar while she sings earthy songs about the passion for 45 minutes. If that appeals to you, buy this album. Me... not so much

3.9

Kristian Stanfill wannabe

3

Anthony Evans is off the hook for worst album cover of the year. I'm sure the people at his church think he is great

 3

Just not interested in "God as my lover" albums

 2.9

What do you get when you cross Stavesacre, Falling Up, and Stellar Kart? Something that none of their fans like

7.5

I listened to this several more times and saw Chris Tomlin sing some of these songs live and upped my rating from 6.

3.5

Nothing new just a time filler between his next single, remixed single, EP, and remixed EP

5

Upbeat worship with a few good songs

6

This is the best female artist CCM has to offer - unfortunately. The album cover looks like Wicked - the Sequel. 2 or 3 really good songs, though, but Taylor Swift has nothing to fear

 3

Sounds like every other AC male group on Christian radio. The last song is "This is not goodbye". Don't count on that!

 7.1

If Dave Barnes, Matt Wertz, Andy Davis were to produce a Christian album, this is what it would sound like.

How NOT to be a Good Father - Biblical "Parenting"

       I was once asked to give a talk to a men's Bible study group on "How To Be A Good Father" from the Bible. I thought, "This should be easy, I will just take an example of a good father from the Bible and do a character study and show what he did right. The problem is I couldn't find any! Actually, Jacob was so bad, I finally decided to change my talk to "How Not To Be A Good Father - A Study On Jacob". Here are some of the conclusions I came to.
       First of all, Jacob had multiple wives or if you are non mormon (just kidding), you could equate it today to multiple sexual partners or divorces. So many sins that we men do, we model to our children and they do the same things. Sometimes I think our children don't even need to see us do them but it is some kind of generational curse. I think of things I did in High School that I see my kids doing and those sins have long been buried. Genesis is replete with examples of generational sins from lying (Abraham - "she's not my wife" to Isaac -"She's not my wife") to deceit (Jacob - hairy arms to 10 sons - multicolored coat dipped in blood) among others that I find it not surprising that since Jacob had multiple partners, his sons did too. Guys, do you want your kids to have a great relationship with one woman for the rest of their lives? Stay pure. Love your wife. Stay married!
              Malachi 2:15
Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.

       Secondly, and the next few all relate to male/female relations, Jacob didn't press on his sons the necessity of marrying Godly women - well at least believers. We see Judah marrying a Caananite woman and then having sex with what he thought was a shrine prostitute. At least his father and mother (Isaac and Rebekkah) had the sense to send Jacob out of the worldliness they lived in to find a "Godly"wife.
              Genesis 27:46
Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m disgusted with living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living.”
             or in the New Testament
             2 Corinthians 6:14-15

 ¹⁴ Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? ¹⁵ What harmony is there between Christ and Belial^[a]? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

Men, are you letting your kids date unbelievers? Or do you even know who your kids are dating? If you ask your kids, "Is he/she a Christian?" and they give the following answers, "I think so", "We haven't discussed it yet", "He/she doesn't drink", "He/She goes to church", you probably haven't monitored the situational well enough and frankly haven't trained your kids well enough or if you have, your kids are in willful rebellion. Sound harsh?  This is a matter of spiritual life and death.

           Thirdly - Be a man! Model manliness to your boys and girls. Help your boys identify with a good gender model. Help your girls know what a real man looks like. Jacob was bossed around by his wives. He even was told who to have sex with when Leah and Rachel negotiated over mandrakes. Thats how Isaachar came into being. Imagine Isaachar going through life - "Hey, aren't you the mandrake guy"? We are commanded to be the leader and spiritual leader of our families. In fact, part of the original curse of sin is..."Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Gen 3:16b which many people think means that there will always be the battle for leadership in a marriage due to our sin. Men, be strong Godly leaders as modeled in Eph.5.

          Fourth - Jacob put his family in a worldly environment. He settled near the city of Shechem and subsequently his daughter Dinah was raped.Where are you living? Are you in a spiritually dangerous place for your kids? Are you in a spiritually unsafe church for your kids? Are your kids in a spiritually unsafe school? You might say, "Well, it's good for business" or "It's too expensive to move" or "I like the pastor here even if there is no youth group". Have you ever thought how serious it is to raise Godly kids? If my 4 kids rejected Christ I would feel so guilty for even bringing them into this world knowing that they will be spending an eternity in Hell. It would have been better to have been "barren". Do you think that way? You need to be like Lot , pulling his family out of Sodom after he got them in there.

          Fifth - Don't strive for peace rather than purity. Jacob was going to let Shechem treat his daughter like a prostitute to keep peace rather than dealing with the problem like Simeon and Levi (the foreskin guys) did. And when Reuben slept with Bildad there is no evidence of Jacob dealing with it. Deal with problems when they come up. Sometimes we are afraid to deal with sin and rebellion in our kids because we want them to be our friends. We don't want tension in the house. Man up! Be like Barney Fife and nip it!
            Galatians 5:9“A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”

         Sixth - Don't play favorites. From the coat of many colors to the order that he lined up his kids when they met Esau, Jacob was terrible at this. Hopefully it won't cause your kids to murder each other but hatred, resentment, jealousy, acting out to get love, inferiority complexes are certain. If you want an environment conducive to brotherly love and spiritual growth you have to love your kids the same and accept their uniqueness as special creations of God for a special purpose. Sure we might like football better than choir but your kids can't identify what they do with who they are and choosing one over the other because of that will thwart their pursuit to find their identity in Christ.

         Seventh - Don't be a whiner. A recent book which researched contemporary world changing Christians, studied what their parents did right to raise such Godly kids. The one common denominator was that these families laughed together. They clowned around. They had fun. They exhibited joy. I don't see one joyful moment in Jacob's life. When Jacob met Pharoah, here is how he described his life...
After Jacob blessed^[a] Pharaoh, ⁸ Pharaoh asked him, “How old are you?”
 ⁹ And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.” Gen 47:8,9 What a whiner!
In at least 7 passages prior to his death, Jacob refers to himself dying, some of them at least 20 years before it happens. He was Eeyore mixed with Fred Sanford! How about us? Jesus says,
                                Matthew 9:15

 ¹⁵ Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
 We have Jesus not only with us but in us. This is not the time to be somber; this is the time to be celebrating. Have fun with your kids. Let them know that everyday is a great day when you know Jesus - just some are better than others.

             Lastly - don't be self centered like Jacob. His whole life was engrossed in his woes. In fact he was so clueless about how much the brothers hated Joseph, he sent Joseph out alone to check on them. His prayers were centered on himself ...
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear ²¹ so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the LORD^[f] will be my God ²² and^[g] this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”Gen 28:20-22 (count the "I's, "me's", and "my's")
blessings were centered on himself ...
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” Gen.32:26
danger to family was centered on himself. When Simeon is taken captive and the Egyptians want Benjamin, what does he say but "everything is against me." (Gen 42:36) And then if something happens to Benjamin he fears he himself will die.

         Are we so concerned about our own selves that we would leave or cheat on our spouse? Are we so concerned about our own peace, calm, status quo that we don't want to deal with marital conflicts or children's sins or dating relationships? Are we so concerned with our success, future, and comfort that we won't move to protect our kids or change churches for our kids growth? Are we so concerned with this life and the temporary pains we are going through that we forget to point our kids to their awesome eternal destiny and that life on this Earth is but a vapor? Are we so consumed with our work ,toys , or entertainment that we are becoming clueless to what is going on in our kids' lives or getting more involved with the kids who do activities that fulfill us? If the answer is yes .... don't be surprised if you raise 10 rotten kids. Harsh, but true.

Growing in Christ Bible Study Genesis to Revelation Week 7

Read Genesis 25-36

1. Gen. 25:19-34 and 27-28:9 focus on Esau. Who was Esau?

     What is a birthright?

      Read Heb.12:16,17 and Phil. 3:18-21. Why was what Esau did so bad?

    If Jacob illustrates the person living by faith and Esau - the lost person, tell how their mindsets are different.


       Who did Esau marry? 

  

        What does that tell you about him / the unsaved person? (and how that ties in with the above picture and video clip)


2. Look at the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in  Gen. 15:1-5, 26:1-4, 28:10-15. What was commonly going on in their lives that brought a visit from God?


    What can you learn from that?


3. Lets look at Jacob's spiritual growth. Read Gen. 28:16-22. Write down some things that show that Jacob had an immature walk with the Lord.


     Read Gen. 32:22-32. What was the spiritual significance of Jacob wrestling with God as it pertains to his spiritual growth?


     Read Gen. 35:1-14. God reaffirms His covenant with Jacob here. What in this passage reveals spiritual growth?


     Finally read Gen. 49:24,25. What in this passage reveals spiritual growth?


4. Who is Leah?

     Describe her?

     Read Gen. 29:31-35. How was she trying to be loved?

     When she had Judah, how did her focus change?


Read this quote from Tim Keller.

Many years ago, when I first started reading the Book of Genesis, it was very upsetting to me. Here are all these spiritual heroes—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph—and look at how they treat women. They engage in polygamy, and they buy and sell their wives. It was an awful to read their stories at times. But then I read Robert Alter's The Art of Biblical Narrative. Alter is a Jewish scholar at Berkeley whose expertise is ancient Jewish literature. In his book he says there are two institutions present in the Book of Genesis that were universal in ancient cultures: polygamy and primogeniture. Polygamy said a husband could have multiple wives, and primogeniture said the oldest son got everything—all the power, all the money. In other words, the oldest son basically ruled over everyone else in the family. Alter points out that when you read the Book of Genesis, you'll see two things. First of all, in every generation polygamy wreaks havoc. Having multiple wives is an absolute disaster—socially, culturally, spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, and relationally. Second, when it comes to primogeniture, in every generation God favors the younger son over the older. He favors Abel, not Cain; Isaac, not Ishmael; Jacob, not Esau. Alter says that you begin to realize what the Book of Genesis is doing—it is subverting, not supporting, those ancient institutions at every turn.

    From what you have read so far in Genesis give some illustrations to support him.



Note to teachers/students.
          Character studies are great ways to learn Biblical principles, and in these passages we learn a lot from the 3 people I focused on; Esau, Jacob, and Leah. Esau represents the lost person. He is living for the here and now, and oh yeah, when this life is over, he would like the blessing too. It doesnt work that way. Even an unbelievers best efforts are what the prophets call "fuel for the fire" or "filthy rags". Esau tried to do good and completely married the wrong people. It's comical to me when unsaved people give large sums of money to charities or worthy causes and want to be photographed with a large check while doing it.
        Jacob, on the other hand, valued the blessing more than anything. Not only did the blessing include financial and earthly blessings, but it included the promise of the coming Messiah through him. This is a picture of salvation. Desiring Christ more than anything. It isn't that Jacob was worthy - he was a scoundrel, cheat, terrible father, selfish, whiner, coward, etc. but he wanted God more than anything. He did mature in his faith from saying "I will follow you if..." at Bethel (house of God) and being impressed at the place where God appeared (don't we do this with church or conferences like Passion ) to renaming it El Bethel (the God of the house of God). He met God and after being crippled symbolizing having to finally lean on God rather than his scheming, he had his family put away idols and eventually called God - the God of Jacob.
        Leah's god was love. She desperately wanted to be loved. She was given in marriage to a husband that didn't want her and constantly in the shadow of her beautiful sister. She felt that if she could give children to her husband he would love her, but finally after the fourth she gave up her idol of love and found love in God, the one who satisfies.