Judah left his brothers and.....

Derek provided a summary of what we focused on over the last two weeks:

(1) In the reconcilation between Jacob and Esau, we see the human tendency to doubt God's promises in light of overwhelming evidence to why we should not. 

(2) In the story of Joseph, we first examined the problem of deception and our very natural inclination towards it.  Dr. Perrin very brilliantly discussed hypocrisy in his sermon on Sunday and how we are not Christians because we are perfect, but precisely because we are not.  Second, Christ's solution to the problem of sin is to radically remove ourselves from situations that lead to it.  The problem of course is how to do so.  A butterfly flew by and with my very little lack of attention span, I feel like we did not finish this properly.  So, I would encourage you to think about the places where this needs to be addressed.  Certainly, since we are human, we will screw up more than succeed.  But it is a command of Christ and one that I hope to take very seriously.

This Sunday we will look at Genesis 38 and the story of Judah.  Perhaps you will condiser a few things before our lesson:  (1) Why does this story come between the events of Joseph's life?  (2) What can we learn from this opening sentence "At that time, Judah left his brothers....."  Look forward to seeing everyone on Sunday; and don't hesitate to bring hot Krispy Kreme donuts if you so desire!!!!

Back to the Beginning

This Sunday we will resume our Study of Genesis.  You may recall we concluded the last year with the story of Jacob & Esau.  Have you identified what your bowl of stew is???  We will plan to recap this story and move into a discussion on how God's sovereignty was evident in Jacob's life.  Paul references this story in Romans 9:13.  What is your reaction to the conclusion, "and so Esau despised his birthright."  Don't you want to say, "wait, wait, wait.... but Jacob was a deceiver and he tricked Esau!"  In preparation for this Sunday, please read Romans 9:10-18.  You may want to also take a look at this article and consider some thoughts to discuss:  http://www.reformationtheology.com/2009/01/jacob_i_loved_but_esau_i_hated.php

The story of God's creation is everywhere; click the video to the right to see Ilya Bryzgalov's views on the matter.  "Different personality.... different ideas.... " Thanks to Derek for finding the video!