Catching up

So much for resolutions... on the up side I have worked hard to maintain my Worst Blogger of 2008 title.

Here is my catch up post.

We have been continuing thru Genesis, spending time looking at Jacob and Esau as adults. This is very familiar territory for most of us, watching Rebekah and Jacob conspire to deceive Isaac and steal a blessing that was already his. There is so much good application in chapter 27, we took our time going thru it slowly over 3 weeks.

Week one: Gen 26:34-27:29 - I'm sorry, I forgot to hit record on the DVR.

Chapter 27 captures one family's worst day. Everyone is messing up and God records it all for us in all its gory detail for us to see and learn from.

We looked at how Isaac's walk with God had cooled to the point that he was willing to deceive his wife and knowingly give the blessing to Esau, despite the fact that he knew that God intended to give it to Jacob. In Isaac's life the cooling seems to be a result of the combination of parental favoritism (He loved Esau over Jacob) and feeding the flesh.

We also looked at Esau's selfish character traits. He rebelliously took multiple wives, which were a grief to his parents. Even worse, his view of the Blessing and the Covenant were completely skewed. He wanted the material blessing but had no desire to walk with God or carry on the covenant relationship God established with Abraham and Isaac. This is such an easy trap for us to fall into today.

Perhaps the most sobering picture for us is when Jacob enters the tent to deceive his father. All of Isaac's senses failed him. He was blind and couldn't see that it was Jacob, His hands were fooled by the goatskin, his nose was thrown off by the scent on Jacobs stolen clothes. Only His hearing told him that it was Jacob, but he disregarded the one sense that was reliable. We have the same problem when we go to make decisions based on our faulty feelings and senses. Throw in a heaping scoop of the flesh and dash of rebellion and you have the makings for a catastrophic decision. Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Safe and Godly decisions come from our time in the Word and active relationship with our Father in Heaven, not by our faulty feelings, fleshly opinions and unreliable senses. In all, Chapter 27 is a sad look at believers who are messing up. They are not believing or trusting God; rather they are operating in the flesh; lying to, cheating and disrespecting one another.

Week two - Gen 27: 30-28:9

We continue the story in Genesis 27 this week, picking up with Esau and Isaac realizing they had been outmaneuvered by Rebekah and Jacob. Esau goes into full victim mode, crying, begging and revising history. Some of us know this drill well because we use it to manipulate those who are easily swayed by a tear and a heavily manipulated story. Oh look Esau is crying, hes been done wrong, someone give him a hug and a special blessing. Forget the fact that he is a fleshy, selfish co-conspirator in and attempted blessing heist. It's not a pretty picture to look at when we realize its ourselves we are looking at in the pages of Scripture.

Esau, instead of repenting and spending time talking it out with the Lord seeks comfort in sin. He plans to murder his brother after his dad dies. There is nothing like a little more sin to make us feel better when we get busted in our sin.

We end this week watching Rebekah continue to manipulate her husband, convincing him to send Jacob to her brother Laban's house, to get a wife. Jacob is about to meet his match when it comes to swindlers. More importantly, God will use Jacob's time there to begin the transformation from "heel catcher" to "Israel".

Week three - Gen 28:10-22

As we pick up the story In Genesis 28 Jacob is running for his life from his manly man, wookie-looking, expert hunter, outdoors man brother. I bet his neck was very sore from looking over his shoulder. As he reaches Luz he pulls up a rock, collapes in exhaustion and meets the God of his fathers. His experience is very reminiscent of our early experiences with God as new believers. He hears from God in a dream, sees how active God is in his life, utters his first, clumsy prayer and starts his walk of faith. You know its a great Sunday when you can talk about dreams, angels, Led Zepplin and God in the same teaching.


Week four - Gen 29

This week Jacob makes it to Haran, meets Rachel, falls in love and gets married. In the process he gets to see how ugly his sin looks when Laban turns the tables on him and shows the "heel catcher" what its like to be caught. Thru Jacob's life we see how awful it is to "reap what you sow". We also see how dangerous it is to make decisions "in the world" by negotiating with Laban rather than seeking the Lord for direction. Like many of us Jacob is trying to make it using the Frank Sinatra "I did it my way" approach. God will show him how well that works out. Its a tough week for our friend Jacob, he wastes 14 years of his life in servitude to a cruel master to get what he thinks he wants and ends up with more than he bargained for. Sadly, like many of us who have been here, he never talks to God once. Hang on guys, this does get better :)

Spotlight on Isaac

We looked at Genesis 26 this week, the only chapter in Genesis that deals exclusively with Isaac. Like his daddy Abraham's story, chapter 26 starts with a famine. God often tests us with situations to see where we will turn. Isaac was headed in the wrong direction, towards Egypt. God intervened and kept him in the land but unfortunately, like many of us He chooses to live on the edge of obedience. In Gerar, Isaac struggles with honesty and the consequenses of living on the edge. Finally has to confess his lie but when the sin is confessed and cleared up, God blesses him with the provision that makes him the envy of his neighbors. Finally God uses a series of moves to get Isaac back to the place he needs to be and finally gives him rest at Beersheba.

In this chapter we see so many of the struggles we each encounter on a daily basis: dealing with sin; trusting the Lord; learning to walk with him in the Spirit; conflict with our enemy (the Philistines) and finding His promised rest.

Here is the link for Sunday's teaching: Gen 26

I hope you enjoy some time with the Lord in His Spirit and find your rest this week.

Arminianism study notes

Just a quick post to get the notes from tonights study up, read and enjoy.

Arminianism study notes

God bless!

7,300 days later...

Denise and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary this week. It is hard to imagine that we have been together that long. I know that many sages wax eloquent about how fast time passes but I feel like it really wasn't that long ago that I looked across the parking lot of Casa Roble High School on that warm spring day to lay my eyes on Denise for the first time. She was holding her books with her arms crossed; she had on a cute little short sleeved sweater and skirt (perfectly matching and accessorized of course); the breeze blew her long hair ever so slightly and her eyes were shaded by a pair of the 1980's signature sun glasses - Ray Bans. All I could say was WoW! We fell in love that spring of 1985 and have never looked back. I wouldn't trade her or any of our many up's and downs for anything. Hand in hand we walked together thru ten years in the military and ten years in the Ministry in Fayetteville. Now we are six months into our third "ten year period" in Alabama as church planters.

Holy and Blessed Father who is the source of all good gifts, I thank you for the gift of my wife. I am awed by your grace as you have preserved us through these last 20 years and I am amazed that you continue to draw us closer together. Thank you Father for picking such an excellent bride for me, I worship and praise you for taking such good care of me...

The signs we miss...

True Story...

It's 2:30 pm on Saturday afternoon, I have been closed for about 30 mins and I am cleaning up and getting ready to go home. I am at the register ringing out when I hear this loud banging on the door. I look up and there is this guy standing there looking at me and knocking. I figured there must be a problem so I run over to the door, open it and say "how can I help you?" He looks at me like I am stupid and asks me if I am closed. TIME STOPS... What to do? Do I:

A. Sarcastically tell this man that I always lock the door, turn off the "OPEN" sign, and put up the chairs during business hours

or...

B. Politely tell him that I am sorry but we close at 2pm on Saturday.

for the record, I did option B, but think about how many signs he missed. There is the shut off "OPEN" sign right above the door, the hours sign posted on the door, the locked door and the chairs up on the tables. Why did he feel the need to bang on the door to confirm that I was closed?

Some things we will never know...

I have a confession to make, I also missed a sign this week. It was the "low battery" indicator on the Digital voice recorder. Which means that 5 mins into the teaching this week the batteries died on the recorder and I can't post Sunday's teaching. I have confessed, I repent and I wish to forsake this sin and walk in freedom from now on... do you forgive me? Thanks!

We finished Genesis 25 this week, we talked about the birth of Jacob and Esau and how Esau traded his birthright for the "Lentil Stew and Bread" combo meal. I think I would have held out for the "Hot and Spicy Mutton with Goats Milk" Combo but hey, to each his own.

Verses 32-34 show us Esau's opinion of his birthright. In vs. 32 He says "what good is it (the birthright) to me?" Like a few teenagers I know, he thought he was about to die of starvation. Moses then says in vs. 34 that Esau's actions show that he actually despised his rights as the firstborn.

So what is a birthright? As the first born Esau would have gotten a double or greater portion of the inheritance. He would also have become the leader of the family, bearing the authority of his father Isaac. Finally there was a third inheritance that was unique to this family, The Covenant of Abraham. As firstborn he would have been the one to inherit the covenant promises, he would have been the one through whom God fulfilled his promises. This was the birthright he despised. Was this the reason God prophesied Jacob's leadership in the family in vs. 23?

And the LORD said to her: "Two nations [are] in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your body; [One] people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger."

Gen 25:23

The Author of Hebrews describes Esau as a "profane" man.

...lest there [be] any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. Heb 12:16

"Profane" is an awesome word that we just don't use anymore. It has a few meanings but one basic idea that ties them together. If something was profane then it was not allowed into the Temple. It didn't have to be something something completely blasphemous either... like an Idol, it could be common things too - like bacon (totally unauthorized in the presence of God back then.) Esau's problem was that he valued satisfying his flesh over his birthright, which included his relationship with God, this is what made him "profane"

We can be profane too when we choose anything, fleshly or common, that gets in between our relationship with the Lord. I want to encourage you to spend some time with the Lord this week and see if there is any "profane" thing that is causing you to despise, neglect or think nothing of your birthright as a Christian. Just ask Him to show you anything that might be out of place and be willing to deal openly with our Father if He has anything to say.

oh... and stay away from red lentil stew... the lentil and sausage soup at Carrabbas is way better anyway.

Calvinism study notes

Ok, just a quick post to put up the notes for those who wanted to read more after Wednesday's study. We are taking a few weeks to talk about Calvinism and Arminianism in response to Jesus statements in John 10:26-28.

Our Goal is not to prove or disprove Calvinism but to give information so we can be Berean, read God’s word and make up our minds for ourselves as we pray thru the scriptures. Too many of us form our opinions based on what men say without looking into it. I want to help you to be prepared to give an answer for what you believe – from scripture, not just opinion. Finally I wanted to give scripture to show why Calvinists believe what they believe. Calvinists are NOT heretics. The convictions they hold on too are based on some very convincing scriptures that need to be dealt with.

Perhaps through this approach we can bring unity thru understanding of what our brothers believe; this is an "in house argument" that is NOT worth dividing over.

Calvinism study notes

What's in your dirt?

Last Sunday we looked at how Isaac and Rebekah's dealt with her closed womb. We quickly saw that her physical barrenness had a parallel to our spiritual barrenness. Like Isaac, our husband Jesus not only prays for us but shows us thru His teaching how to get thru the "dry times" in our lives. Here is the link to last Sunday's teaching:

Gen 25: 19-21

I would also like to recommend this fantastic teaching on the current recession from Dr. John Piper:

Please remember to pray for Denise and Nate to have safe travel and a great visit while they are in Fayetteville this weekend.

God Bless!