Genesis 26 – Isaac repeats some of the mistakes of Abraham

• Genesis 26:34-35 – Esau marries foreign wives.

Genesis 27 – Jacob tricks Isaac and Esau

• Genesis 27:1-4 – Isaac asks Esau to bring him his favorite food so he can bless him.
• Genesis 27:5-17 – Rebekah and Jacob trick Isaac to get the blessing.
• Genesis 27:18-29 – Isaac blesses Jacob.
• Genesis 27:30-46 – Isaac is angry with Jacob.

Genesis 28 – Jacob’s ladder

• Genesis 28:1-3 – Isaac blessed Jacob and tells him to go find a wife from Laban in Paddan-aram. Do not take a wife from Canaan.
• Genesis 28:6-8 – Esau takes a wife from Ishmael to spite his father.
• Genesis 28:10-20 – God makes the covenant with Jacob and blesses him. Jacob realizes the “Lord is in this place and I did not know it.” Really?
• Genesis 28:21-22 – Jacob seems to put a condition on God’s journey (“then the Lord shall be my God”).

Genesis 29 – Jacob gets snookered

• Genesis 29:1-12 – Jacob meets Rachel. Notice the contrast between the approach of the servant of Abraham and Jacob.
• Genesis 29:13-20 – Jacob sets his own price, saying he will serve Laban for seven years. Jacob is not motivated to go back because he is afraid of Esau.
• Genesis 29:21-30 – Laban tricks Jacob. Did Laban really care about the marriage order of his daughters? How did Jacob not know it was Leah? Where was Rachel? What should Jacob have done instead? Laban sets the new price.
• Genesis 29:31-35 – The results are a truly dysfunctional family, but God uses Jacob and Laban’s bad decisions to progress His plan and keep His promises.

Genesis 30 – A dysfunctional family

• Genesis 30:1-24 – Jacob’s wives fight over him. Jacob has to deal with his family drama. Rachel’s irony of saying she will die without children, but then dying while giving birth.
• Genesis 30:25-36 – Jacob wants to leave but Laban sets a new price. Laban recognizes that God is behind Jacob. Jacob uses the word “I” a lot. Jacob makes a deal with Laban.

Genesis 31 – Jacob goes back to Canaan

• Genesis 31:1-19 – Jacob realizes that Laban is starting to figure out he is losing livestock. Jacob stops using the word “I” so much.

Genesis 32 – God prevails over Jacob

• Genesis 32:9-12 – Jacob humbles himself to God and prays.
• Genesis 32:13-23 – Jacob prepares a massive gift for Esau and changes the way he originally intended on meeting Esau.
• Genesis 32:24-32 – Jacob wrestles with God. God renames Jacob to Israel.

Introduction

• John 3:16

Characteristics of the local church

Acts 11

• Acts 11:21 – They turned to the Lord. Compare Acts 26:17-18; I Thessalonians 1:9. Turning to God involves serving Him (and repenting).
• Acts 11:23 – Barnabas saw the grace of God – how the church was growing and prospering.
• Acts 11:28 – This famine is recorded in history.
• Acts 11:29 – Relief was sent specifically to the needy brethren – not to all people in the region.

Acts 12

• These events took place roughly 44 AD, about 14 years after the events of Acts 2.
• Acts 12:1-2 – Two martyrs are mentioned by name in the first twelve chapters of Acts: Stephen and James. We don’t know how many more Christians were killed by Paul before his conversion.
• Acts 12:3 – Herod imprisoned Christians to please others. We must be careful not to do wrong just to please others.
• Acts 12:11 – Compare Psalms 126.
• Acts 12:13 – Compare Peter’s state in John 18. God has truly brought Peter out of prison. He is a changed man now.
• Acts 12:17 – Catholics sometimes argue that this “other place” is Rome where Peter became the first Pope. But Peter is again in Jerusalem in Acts 15:7 and we have no evidence in the New Testament of Peter taking any sort of position like this. Peter might have left to an undisclosed location as a strategic move because he knew the persecution was pointed at him at this point, so he left to take it away from the other Christians.

Keep the proper reverence for God.

• I Corinthians 4:1
• I Corinthians 1:14-15 – Paul is trying to get them out of the party spirit.
• I Corinthians 1:25
• I Corinthians 1:31; 2:4-5
• I Corinthians 3:19
• I Corinthians 4:19-20 – God has the real power! See I Corinthians 1:18. The power is the gospel.
• I Corinthians 2:1

Be willing to accept admonishment.

• I Corinthians 4:6-8 – Watch out for arrogance! Paul and Apollos submitted to these things, so they should also.
• I Corinthians 8:1 – Don’t let knowledge make you arrogant.
• I Corinthians 4:14, 18, 21 – Paul loved them enough to admonish them.
• II Corinthians 2:6-9
• We must be willing to accept admonishment and accept others back when they repent from sin.

Endure headships for Christ.

• I Corinthians 4:9-21

Genesis 23 – Sarah dies

• Tribute to Sarah. Sarah dies and Abraham buys a burial place. I Peter 3:6; Hebrews 11:11. Sarah was a big deal!

Genesis 24 – Isaac marries

• Genesis 24:1-9 – Abraham asks his servant to get a bride for Isaac from Mesopotamia but not to take Isaac there. Trust God to show you.
• Genesis 24:10-14 – The servant prays for God to direct him.
• Genesis 24:15-27 – The servant asks the first woman he sees, who happens to be beautiful but proves to be a servant. The servant bows and worships.
• Genesis 24:28-61 – The servant repeats what happened at the well to show that God was behind it. Laban and Bethuel cannot argue. The servant wants to go back to Isaac as soon as possible. Rebekah agrees to go.
• Genesis 24:62-67 – Isaac was going out to meditate and meets Rebekah, who covers herself. She became his wife and he loved her.

Genesis 25 – Abraham dies, Jacob and Esau are born

• Genesis 25:1-6 – Abraham has other sons with other women. (Was this right for Abraham to do?) Abraham sends them away to the east.
• Genesis 25:6-11 – Abraham dies and Isaac and Ishmael bury him in the cave he bought to bury Sarah.
• Genesis 25:11-18 – Descendants of Ishmael. Muslims claim they are descendants of Ishmael, thus also children of Abraham.
• Genesis 25:19-21 – Isaac prayed for his wife to be pregnant.
• Genesis 25:22-23 – Her pregnancy was difficult, so she prayed to God. God chose who would be blessed. See Romans 9:11.
• Genesis 25:24-28 – Jacob (supplanter, cheater) and Esau (hairy) were born. Parental partiality caused problems.
• Genesis 25:29-34 – Jacob cheats Esau out of his birthright, but Esau allows himself to be cheated. Esau didn’t view his birthright as important enough (see Hebrews 12:15). As Christians, how many times do we fail to value our birthright of salvation by continuing to sin?

Genesis 26 – Isaac repeats some of the mistakes of Abraham

• Genesis 26:1-6 – There was a famine in the land. God tells Abraham not to go to Egypt but to stay in Canaan and He would bless him.
• Genesis 26:7-11 – Isaac repeats the same mistake that Abraham made to the same guy!