Tag: Discipleship

Reflections on Genesis 3-5

On By BrianIn OT Reflections6 Comments

Genesis 3 is the saddest story ever penned, as mankind rebels against their Creator. Notice:

  • Satan tempts Eve to question God’s goodness and honesty. When are you tempted to question God’s goodness and the truth of His Word?
  • Eve chooses to seek satisfaction (“good for food…delight to the eyes”) in forbidden fruit rather than in her Creator and the good things he gave her. What forbidden fruit tempts you?
  • Rather than give glory to God, Eve chooses to seek her own glory (“you will be like God”). Whose glory are you seeking?
  • Sin brings misery, not satisfaction. Their perfect relationship with God is broken (they hide from God and are cast out of the Garden). Their perfect relationship with each other is broken (Adam blames Eve; later Cain kills Abel). Pain enters God’s creation (childbearing will be painful). Work which was a joy now becomes toilsome, as creation is cursed with decay and thistles. Separated from the tree of life, Adam and Eve will die, as will their descendants (note the terrible repetition in chapter 5 – “…and he died”). When tempted by sin, remember the consequences.
  • And yet in this sad story of our fall into sin, there is a small seed of hope in 3:15. Satan will bruise the heel of the woman’s offspring on a cross many years later. There on that cross, this man will defeat Satan by bruising his head. The penalty for sin will be paid, so that mankind might yet walk with God!

Application Questions

On By BrianIn Bible Journey1 Comment

After meditating on God’s Word, I often find God pointing to one or two ways that I need to apply the passage to my life.  These applications just “jump” out at me.

But what if an application doesn’t jump out?  Or what if we want to consider further possible applications?  Here are some good questions to help us apply God’s Word to our lives:

  • Is there a promise to claim?
  • Is there a truth to believe?
  • Is there a false way of thinking (from our culture) that I need to reject?
  • Is there a desire to embrace?
  • Is there a corrupt desire (from our culture) that I need to reject?
  • Is there a sin I need to confess and repent of?
  • Is there a command I need to obey?
  • Is there a good example I should follow?
  • Is there a sinful example that I should learn from and avoid?
  • How should this passage affect how I relate to God?
  • How should this passage affect how I relate to people?

Reflections on Genesis 1-2

On By BrianIn OT Reflections

In Genesis 1-2, we are immediately introduced to God as the Creator of all things. In his role as Creator, we see:

  • His Power – He simply spoke and it came to be. His power extends over all of his creation. There is nothing that can come against you that God cannot handle.
  • His Wisdom – He ordered all things perfectly. If God can perfectly order all of creation, can you not trust him to wisely order your life?
  • His Beauty – Having created such a beautiful world, what must God Himself be like? What joy to spend our lives and all of eternity getting to know Him better!
  • His Provision – He provided the plants for food, a garden to live in, and a companion to enjoy. How many ways has he provided for you? Give thanks!
  • His Authority – He made man and then commanded him. As our Creator, he has the right to command; we have the responsibility to obey.
  • His Assignment – He gave man a task – to cultivate the earth and use it for his needs. God did not make you to be idle, but to serve him by working as he gives you strength.
  • His Relational Nature – God says, “Let us make man in our image.” That “us” is the first hint of the Trinity – that God is one God in three persons enjoying eternal relationship with each other. When God created people, he entered into a relationship with them too. God is relational, and he made us in his image to be relational too. Our relationship with God and others is central to what it means to be human. How are you cultivating those relationships?

Genesis 1-5: Temptation

On By BrianIn OT Studies

Here are some questions to explore the theme of temptation in Genesis 1-5:

Describe the temptation in Genesis 3; compare to I John 2:15-17. What similarities do you find in your own temptations?

Describe the temptation in Genesis 4. When are you tempted in a similar way?

What did Cain need to do? Compare to I Corinthians 10:13.

How can we overcome temptation according to Matthew 4:1-11, 6:13, Galatians 5:16-23, and Titus 2:11-14? In one word?

Where did temptation come from in Genesis 3? In Genesis 4?

Compare the ways that Adam and Eve, Cain, and Lamech each respond to their sin. Is there a downward trend?

What are the consequences of sin in chapters 3, 4, & 5?

Reading the Bible in 4 Years

On By BrianIn Bible Journey

This week our church begins a new Sunday School series with the plan to read and discuss our way through the entire Bible in four years.  Each week we will focus on 4-6 chapters.  Questions we will be asking each week include:

  • What observations do you make about this passage?
  • What do you learn about God?
  • What do you learn about people, sin, and our need of a Savior?
  • How does this passage point us to Jesus and salvation?
  • How do I need to apply this passage to my life?

In addition to those questions, we will be focusing on one theme from each week’s passage which I will post here each Monday.  And I have written two reflections for each week that I will also be posting here.

If you don’t have a Bible reading plan, I invite you to join us.  The schedule for the next four weeks:

January 4-10: Genesis 1-5
January 11-17: Genesis 6-11
January 18-24: Genesis 12-17
January 25-31: Genesis 18-23

New Year’s Collection

On By BrianIn Holidays, PASSION Collections

It is time to ponder some new year’s resolutions!  Here are some good posts as you reflect upon your life this past year, and how God might be leading you to grow in 2016:

Ten Questions to Ask at the Start of a New Year – Donald Whitney

One Big Tip to Make Your Resolutions Stick – Tim Challies

Striving for a More Intentional Life of Prayer – Erik Raymond

The Church Comes First – Nick Batzig

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

You Just Need To Obey – Steve Lawson (Ligonier)
For all true followers of Christ, obedience is never peripheral. At the heart of what it means to be a disciple of our Lord is living in loving devotion to God. But if such love is real, the acid test is obedience.

What Your Complaining Says About God – Philip Graham Ryken (Crossway)
It is really important to recognize that all of our complaining is ultimately directed against God, whether we mention him specifically in our complaints or not. All of our complaining goes to him; he is the great God. He is the one who exercises his sovereignty over whatever happens. So all of our complaints go right to the top.

Patience Is Not Optional for the Christian – Albert Mohler (Ligonier)
Patience is not optional for the Christian. The apostle Paul repeatedly commanded Christians to demonstrate patience to each other. In fact, this is a critical test of Christian authenticity. True Christian character, the very evidence of regeneration, is seen in authentic patience.

A Powerful Practice for Prayer – Tim Challies
There is one practice I find myself working on these days more than any other, and I think it may be the most important of them all. It is a simple one: Never resist the least urge to pray.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!

A Prayer

On By BrianIn Books of the Bible

Father, you have opened our blinded eyes that we might see you and know you, but too often our eyes are sleepy when it comes to your spiritual blessings. So open our eyes that we might grasp the ramifications of your great salvation for us. Open our eyes that we might live out the blessings that we have in Christ. May your Spirit enlighten the eyes of our hearts with wisdom to understand and live out the revelation of the gospel that you have given to us.

Open our eyes to know you in an intimate, experiential, life-impacting way. To grow in our personal relationship with you. To commune with you more and more – listening to you as you speak to us in your Word, and responding to you in prayer. Open our eyes to know you better.

Open our eyes to know in an intimate, experiential, life-impacting way the hope of your calling to us. To grasp the incredible inheritance that you have for your children. To cling to the hope of our own resurrection that we might dwell with you forever and ever. And to live in response to this hope in the midst of the struggles of life. Open our eyes to this great hope.

Open our eyes to know in an intimate, experiential, life-impacting way the riches of your inheritance in us. To grasp the wonder of being your own people, your own inheritance. To cling to the reality of your delight in us, desire for us, love for us, care for us – not because we are so great, but because of your incredible love. And to live each day in response to your amazing love for us no matter what others may think of us. Open our eyes to your great love.

Open our eyes to know in an intimate, experiential, life-impacting way the greatness of your power toward us. To grasp the immeasurable greatness of your power, your great might working in us. To cling to this same power toward us that raised Jesus from the dead and placed him above every other power. And to live each day in response to your mighty power toward us which is greater than anything that can come against us. Open our eyes to your great power.

Open our eyes to know you, to know this hope, to know this love, to know this power in an intimate, experiential, life-impacting way. Open our eyes, O God, open our eyes.

(Inspired by Ephesians 1:16-20)