Read: Ephesians 2:1-10
“On the one hand we confess that salvation is by
grace alone. It must be by grace alone because before we are saved, we
are dead in sin and trespasses. When God saves someone, he brings a
spiritual dead person to spiritual life. We are completely passive at that
point. And yet in our experience we are active. We become aware of
our need of the forgiveness and renewal and what Jesus has earned for
us. We hear the gospel and we respond to it in faith and repentance.”
Read: Genesis 47:27 - 48:22
“No one who comes to Jesus for forgiveness and renewal will be turned away. The same God who says that “he has mercy on whomever he wills and hardens whomever he wills” also says just a few verses later in Romans 10:12-13, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” The same “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.””
Read: Psalm 96
“Our greatest good and joy and satisfaction is experienced in glorifying God while the greatest harm for us is not to glorify God. We were made to find our greatest good in seeing and appreciating and worshipping and adoring God. The greatest blessing that we can know is to be filled with love and adoration for God. And the greatest curse that we can know is to be without love and adoration for God.”
Read: Genesis 47:13-26
“The message of the Bible is never – you can do it if you try hard enough. God never says to us, “You can do whatever you set your mind to.” But he does say, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” And he does say “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.””
“The Reformers taught that Scripture was the highest authority on whatever it addressed. That meant that everything that the church taught must be shown to be taught in the Scriptures. It meant that church teaching always had to pass the test of faithfulness to the Word of God. It meant that if anyone could show where church teaching was not in harmony with the Bible that teaching must be rejected. And it meant that church leaders could not bind the consciences of church members in areas where the Bible was silent.”
Read: Genesis 46:8 - 47:12
“This evening we will consider this genealogy that we find in Genesis 46:8-27 and then the part of the story in which Jacob and his family end up in Goshen. Goshen was a part of the land of Egypt. The theological theme in both of these sections has to do with how God was making the offspring of Abraham into a great nation.”
Read: Genesis 46:1-7
