Men's Bible Study - RLC

Revelation - We examined the first 'letter' to the assemblies, the letter to Ephesus in 2:1-7.

Revelation - We look closely at 'the seven Spirits' who are before the throne. They will play an important part in the upcoming story. Genesis 32:24-32 - We examine Jacob's encounter with a man (angel? God?) - with whom Jacob wrestles until dawn.

Revelation - We look at John's intentional connections back to Daniel's apocalypse (and why John was making them) and some important points concerning angels. Genesis 32:10-23 - We examine Jacob's prayer and Jacob's approach to his brother Esau - waves of gifts.

Revelation - Intro to the book, the genre, the historical context, interpretive approach, etc... (Part 3) Genesis 32:1-9 - Jacob now prepares for meeting Esau. He encounters God, sends messengers to Esau, gets word Esau appears to be prepared for war, splits his camp, and goes to God in prayer.

Revelation - Intro to the book, the genre, the historical context, etc... (Part 2) Genesis 31:43-55 - Laban and Jacob cut a covenant to do each other no harm. Laban disappears from the story after this, but the relationship ends in peace.

Revelation  - Intro to the book, the genre, the historical context, etc... Genesis 31:33-42  - We continue the saga of Jacob's departure from Laban with a look at the showdown over the stolen idols. It seemed there was plenty of right and wrong to go around.

Genesis 31:11-32 - We continue the saga of Jacob's departure from Laban and his seeming 'race' across the land. We've got people behaving badly and lots of hurt because of it. We even question if Jacob inadvertently spelled Rachel's doom.

Genesis 30:29-31:10 - We continued our study of Jacob and his relationship with Laban. Things are getting worse between them. It appears that God has been preparing Jacob and Laban for Jacob's return to the promised land.

Genesis 30:10-28 - We continue to look at Jacob's children that are being born and the disintegrating family dynamic that continues to brew - now including Laban. In fact, Jacob wants to leave and Laban wants him to stay - why each one wants what he wants is the interesting part...

Genesis 29:28-30:9 - Jacob finally has Rachel for a wife (along with Leah) and we examine the family dynamics during the birth of the first six sons. (Jacob even obtained an extra "wife".)

Genesis 29:9-27 - We continue looking at Jacob's introduction to his family in Haran, Jacob's bargain for Rachel, and Laban's behavior at the conclusion of that agreement.

Genesis 28:13-29:8 - Jacob recognizes that the place of his dream is important - possibly even the temple mount! (tradition). Jacob makes Abraham and Isaac's God his God as God also makes Jacob His chosen continuation of the covenant with Abraham. Additionally, Jacob makes it to Haran.

Genesis 27:42-28:12 - We examined Esau's plan to kill Jacob, Isaac and Rebekah's plan to get Jacob to safety, Esau's recognition that he had been a disappointment, and Jacob's dream of the stairway to heaven.

David examined another apologetics nugget - why should we believe the Bible? Genesis 27:31-41 - We discussed Esau's relentless pursuit of a blessing from his father, Isaac. He ultimately got what he asked for, though it seemed more like cursing - except for one important part.

We enjoyed a great apologetics 'nugget' from David - the hypostatic union. Genesis 27.8-27.30 - We looked carefully at Isaac, Rebekah, and Jacob's behavior in the midst of 'the stealing of the blessing'.

John 5:24 - We looked more deeply at the meaning of the words hear, believe, and judgment. Genesis 26.26-27.7 - We looked at Isaac's treaty with Abimelech, the setup for the 'stealing the blessing' story as being about Esau, and the beginning of the 'stealing the blessing' story.

Genesis 26:15-25 - We follow through some more details of Isaac's life - God's blessing, cultural tensions, moving about - and we see Isaac's personality and trust in God (more like Jacob than Esau). We also witness, what appears to be, Isaac's gradual personal change from serving his father's God to serving his own God (same God, of course).

James 5:13-20 - We finish the book of James with a look at the surprising power of combining righteousness with fervent prayer. Genesis 26:12-14 - We looked briefly at God's continual blessing of Isaac (like Abraham, but in addition to) and noted that the wealth was not measured in gold or diamonds, but in animals and people.

James 5:7-12 - We looked deeper into James' appeal to be patient as we wait for the Lord's return. James' emphasis was on standing fast in the truth and in His promises. Genesis 26:1-11 - We started our study of Isaac's life. We see explicit carry over of the covenant God started with Abraham, new requirements for Isaac, and that Isaac really was a chip off the old block...

James 5:1-6 - We examined James rebuke to the rich and the ties to Abel, Sodom, and Judgment Day. Genesis 25:27-34 - We take a much closer look at Jacob and Esau and question some of the common assumptions and stereotypes of these two men.

James 4:13-17 - We discussed James' idea that God is in control and that we must live accordingly in the moment. James repeats his solution for everything - obey God's will, do what you know to be right. Genesis 25:19-26 - We begin the story of Isaac and Rebekah and the birth of their twin boys. We intend to reexamine the typical view of Jacob - should we view him more favorably than we of...

James 4:7-12 - We discussed James' solution to being driven by desires and passions - being an enemy of God. James calls for submission to God's will and obedience to all of the instruction He gives through the scriptures. Genesis 25:9-18 - We learn more of Abraham's life and death and more about Ishmael's clan.

James 4:1-6 - We discussed how our own passions and desires lead us to hostility toward God. We also examined what God's jealousy toward us is. Genesis 25:8 - we never actually made here (again)

James 3:13-18 - We discussed James' contrast between wisdom demonstrated in works (i.e. following His instructions) and jealousy and ambition (unintuitive opposites). Wisdom leads to peace, false wisdom does not. Genesis 25:1-8 - We discuss some summary information about Abraham's (and Isaac's) life.

James 3:1-12 - We talked about the power of the tongue - for both good and evil. We also discussed how James highlights our role and responsibility in our relationship with God. Genesis 25 - We didn't get here (again).