Welcome to “Learning and Living the God-centered life”

Carmel Baptist Church

www.learningandlivingtheword.com

November 30, 2008

Recommended devotion during the week

4 verbs to consider in the ministry of the Lord Jesus

1. Took

2. Blessed

3. Broke

4. Gave

Feeding of the 5000

Mark 6:41

Luke 9:16

Feeding of the 4000

Mark 8:6

4 verbs to consider in the ministry of the Lord Jesus

1. Took

2. Blessed

3. Broke

4. Gave

The Lord’s Supper

Matthew 26:26

Road to Emmaus

Luke 24:30

The tense of the first 3 verbs is in the aorist, which represents a point in time.

But the word gave occurs in the IMPERFECT tense

While studying the verbs here is what I observed

Feeding of the 5000

Mark 6:52

Feeding of the 4000

Mark 8:17

The verb hardened is in the perfect tense and passive voice

Again this is for us to apply as we come to the very word of God on a daily basis. We admit that we can't understand a thing without the revelation by the Spirit. If God hardens the heart then we will not gain insight from our devotion time.

Do you see that this makes God’s grace the emphasis and not our works? We must come humbly before Him and request that He allow us to see, what He can hide from us, if He so chooses.

Remember Luke 24:16 - their eyes were prevented?

Principle #6 - Layout for the Old Testament is “5-12-5-5-12”

5 books - Genesis through Deuteronomy (The Pentateuch)

12 books - Joshua through Ester (Historical)

5 books - Psalm through Song of Solomon (Poetical)

5 books - Isaiah through Daniel (Major prophets)

12 books - Hosea through Malachi (Minor prophets)

Principle #7 - The historical books cover storyline of OT

Creation to 400 B.C.

The poetical and prophetic books fit into their proper place within the storyline of the Old Testament

G E L N D J J R 1 2 1 2 1 2 E N E Samuel Kings Chronicles

Job Psalms Proverbs

Ecclesiastes

Song of Solomon

Prophets (Isaiah-Malachi)

Old Testament Historical Storyline

Principle #8 - The OT storyline has 9 major categories

1. Creation

2. Patriarchs

3. Exodus

4. Conquest

5. Judges

6. Kingdom

7. Exile

8. Return

9. Silence

GenesisGenesis Chapters 1-11 (4 major events) and Genesis 12-50 (4 major relationships)

In Genesis 1-2 God created the earth and He culminates that in creating both male and female in His image.

Notice the phrase “it was good”Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 24, 31 but then in Genesis 2:18 we read “it was not good.” And we ask what was not good? It was not good that man be alone, so God made for him a helper.The word helper is the Hebrew word “ezer.” As you do a word study on this word it is the same word used as God is helper to Israel.

Application: Men is that how we see our wives in their help to us?

In Chapter 3 we have the fall into sin, and the snowball of sin at this point starts to grow.It starts from the fact that God tells Adam that he can eat from any tree but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And when Adam and Eve disobey this is the first time that God’s word has ever been broken.

Then in Chapter 4 Cain kills his brother Abel. Check out Chapter 4 verse 7 - “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

Application: we must always be in the process of killing sin or it will be in the process of killing us.

In Chapter 5 we read of the genealogies and it reads “and he died, and he died…” Remember that God had said to Adam and in the day that you eat of it you will surely die and we see that here.Check out the number of times “and he died” occurs in this chapter.Death is to remind us of the consequence of sin.

Chapter 6 sin has gotten so bad that God is sorry that He ever made man and decides to start all over. He calls Noah and tells him to take his family build an ark and God is now going to judge the whole earth. (Reference Genesis 6:5-6)

So in Genesis 6-9 we see the flood and results

And in Genesis Chapter 9 God addresses Noah and gives him essentially the same commands that He gave to Adam and Eve in Chapter 2. God tells him to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”

But the people instead of doing what God said decided to come together and build a city to their own glory. In chapter 11 verse 4 and they said “let us make a name for ourselves.” And so they constructed the Tower of Babel.

So God confuses their languages and they start to be scattered and fill the earth. And so the people are now separated from God.

And in Genesis 12 we see God calls Abram from Ur of the Chaldese and we have the “I will’s” I will make you a great nationI will bless youI will make your name great (compare this to the people trying to make a name for themselves)I will bless those who bless you

Eventually Abraham had Issac and Issac had Jacob and then Jacob had 12 sons and his favorite son was Joseph. He gave him the coat of many colors and then shortly after that Joseph had two dreams that he shared with his brothers.

Joseph’s brothers sale him into slavery and Joseph through a 17 year period of time ends up as the second in command to Pharaoh in Egypt.

There is a severe famine in the land and all of Jacob’s family end up in Egypt under the protection of his son Joseph. And this is where Genesis leaves off as it ends.

Genesis is divided as follows:Chapters 1-11 (Events) Creation Fall Flood Tower

Chapters 12-50 (Relationships) Abraham Issac Jacob Joseph

ExodusThe book of Genesis ends with the people in Egypt and in our next book Exodus the Pharaoh now in command has forgotten Joseph and all he did for them. His main concern is the growth of the Israelites and they may come against him and overthrow his kingdom. So he decided to make it very, very hard on the people. And so the people cried out to God and He heard their cry and brought them a deliverer by the name of Moses.

Remember how reluctant Moses was but eventually Moses came around. When Moses is confronted by God he can hardly speak but check out what is written about Moses in Acts 7:22 - “Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds. And notice in Exodus 3:14 when Moses asks what should he tell the people God said tell them that I AM.

God uses Moses through the 10 plagues (Exodus 9:14-16) that culminate with the Passover. The Israelites were to take an unblemished lamb and slay the lamb and put the blood on the doorposts of the house. And on that night God would send the death angel and the first born of every house would be killed. It would only be those homes in which blood was on the doorposts which would cause the death angel to Passover the house. This is a wonderful pointer to the Lord Jesus Christ and how His blood save those who are in Him.

Illustration: Two families from Israel that night within their homes. Family A have little faith and are very scared when they hear the death angel passing through Egypt. And Family B is of great faith and are confident that they will be safe. Which of the families in this case is safe from God’s punishment.Both are, because God is not looking at their faith but at the blood on the doorpost of the home.

At the conclusion of the last plague Pharaoh tells them to leave and Moses leads the people out of Egypt.

The people eventually would come to and cross through the Red Sea. (1 Corinthians 10:1-11) Pharaoh and his army followed and they were killed. And the Israelites end up at Mt. Sinai.

In Exodus 19 we see God entering into a covenant with His people and in Chapter 20 God gives Moses the Ten Commandments. We also see in Exodus that God commands Moses to build a tabernacle to be with them in the wilderness and this is where God would dwell with His people. (John 1:14) The word became flesh and dwelt (tabernacled) with us.

The people receive the instructions, they build the tabernacle and at the end of Exodus 40:34-35, the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. (Exodus 40:34-35)

As the book of Exodus ends the people are at Mt. Sinai.LeviticusLeviticus takes place at Mt. Sinai and over the course of approximately one month, God gives instructions; How people were to approach God (sacrificial system and priesthood) How the people were to live before God (holiness and separate themselves)

The people were to eat certain kinds of food while staying away from other types of food.They were to worship God in a certain way.Have you noticed that in Leviticus God is very clear on telling the people what they can do in regard to food, clothing, the Sabbath day and other things. In other words He is not unclear of fuzzy regarding these Biblical truths. Why is that? Because God is a God of absolute truth, and that is in fact His nature. Truth is not relative but rather it is absolute.

NumbersThe book of Numbers picks up at Mt. Sinai and the people are going to head toward the promised land.Each of the men over 20 that qualify for war are numbered. They organize around the tabernacle as they go through the wildernessIn Numbers 10 they set out and keep moving until they hit the region known as Kadesh-BarneaAnd just south of the land they send in 12 spies (1 from each tribe), to check out the landWhen they come back they report that the land is just as God had told them. And they have two men holding a cluster of grapes on a single pole.But the problem is the people over there are giants and the Israelites would appear as grasshoppers compared to themSo they take a vote and 10 vote no and 2 vote yes. But the 10 are able to convince the others that they should not go into the land.

NumbersThe 2 that voted yes would be the only 2 over the age of 20 from original group that would enter the land and that was Joshua and Caleb.They said God says that this is our land, He is with us and we are to possess that which He has given us to occupySo God punishes the people for their unbelief and disobedience by giving them 1 year in the wilderness for every day they were in the land which was 40 days.He also said that the over 20 population would all die in the wilderness and the promise He made would go to their children. At the end of Numbers the new generation is posed on the east side of the Jordan river to now enter into the land.

DeuteronomyMoses had committed a sin in Numbers 20 where he struck the rock instead of speaking to it. And because of that God told Moses that he would not be able to enter into the land.

So Moses addresses this young generation that has grown up and now is posed to go into and take possession of the land. Moses gives them the following instructions: He looked into the past and reminded them of God’s faithfulness to them despite all the sins of their fathers. He encouraged them in the present and said they were fixing to enter the land that God had promised and they were to love Him with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. Then he looked into the future and gave them a prophetic word about their disobedience and how they would be scattered among the nations but once again God would be faithful and bring them back.And in Deuteronomy 34 we have the death of Moses recorded.

JoshuaThe mantle of leadership is now passed from Moses to JoshuaRight when they get into the land the first battle is that of Jericho. The Lord commands the greatest warrior to be strong and courageous. And not because of what Joshua will do but rather based on what God will do. Can you imagine how Joshua processed this information from God? They were to march around the city once a day and then on the 7th day they were to go around 6 times, blow the trumphets and the walls would fall down and they would capture the city.

Then Israel after a great God given victory decides to do things on their own and go over to AI. In doing so they are soundly defeated but God in His mercy gives them a second chance.

The book of Joshua is about success in taking and dividing the land among the 12 tribes. It is a book of great victory.

JudgesIn Deuteronomy Chapter 7 God says to the people:

1. Destroy all the Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites,Perrizites, Hivites and Jebusites2. Don’t intermarry with any of their women3. Don’t ever worship their gods

So what do we see in the early part of Judges? They don’t destroy the Canaanites, they do marry their women and they wind up worshipping their gods.

There is great success in the book of Joshua and there is great failure in the book of Judges

This is a book of cycles which goes as follows:SinServitudeSupplicationSalvation (God hears their prayers and answers with a judge)

The most prominent phrase in the book of Judges is “Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD”Judges 2:11Judges 3:7, 3:11Judges 4:1Judges 6:1Judges 10:6Judges 13:1

And each time the people did evil the LORD sent a nation to punish them. But the people would cry out and God would bring judges like Jephthah, Gideon, Samson, and Ehud.They would defeat Israel’s enemies and there would be peace in the land for awhile until that judge died.

This was about a 300 year period of time in which there was a loosely held together federation of tribes.And since there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

RuthThe book of Ruth takes place during the time of the Judges. It is a wonderful bright shining light in a time of great darkness. In this story we have a Moabite (Gentile) who gives her life to the LORD.And what we see is a woman of great faith and obedience.Ruth eventually marries Boaz who is her kinsman redeemer and they have a son who is Obed the grandfather of king David. Ruth is one of the 4 women mentioned in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus in Matthew.

1 SamuelThe book of 1 Samuel is a transition time from the period of the judges to a time of the kings.

In 1 Samuel Chapter 8 the people begin to cry out for a king. Samuel is upset but God tells him that the people are not rejecting Samuel but they are rejecting God. God gives a message for Samuel to deliver to the people where at the conclusion they say “give us a king.”And in Chapter 9 God has Samuel to anoint Saul as Israel’s first king.He is not a great king but brings stability and peace and rules for 40 years

2 SamuelThis is about the reign of King David, who reigned for a period of 40 years. But ever after adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband Uriah, was known as a man after God’s own heart.

1 KingsIn 1 Kings 1-11 we have the kingship of Solomon who was David’s son. He rules for 40 years and then in 1 Kings Chapter 12 the kingdom splits.931 B.C. – The Kingdom Splits

Northern Kingdom – Samaria (10 tribes) Southern Kingdom – Judah (2 tribes)

2 Kings2 Kings Chapter 17 – 722 B.C the Assyrians come into world power and conquer the northern kingdom.

2 Kings Chapter 22 – 605, 597 and 586 B.C the Babylonians are now the world power and they capture the southern kingdom of Judah.It is here that Israel will be held captive for a period of 70 years as told to them by Jeremiah