Genesis 11 - Ezra 10 - Matthew 10- Acts 10

Genesis 11

- Abram (later Abraham) was 10 generations removed from Noah

- Abram and Israelites were descended from Shem.

- Everyone spoke the same language until God "confused" their language after they had began building the Tower of Babel. They thought in their pride that they could build a structure to reach heaven.

- Why does God talk saying "us" and "we"? (I think it's God talking with Jesus and the Holy Spirit)

- Why does God care if they build a tower or can do anything?

- Tehrah fathered three sons but Haran died, so Tehrah moved Abram and Nahor to the land of the Canaanites in the city of Haran (Was this city named after Tehrah's dead son?)

- Sarai, Abram's wife could not have children.



Ezra 10

- This chapter is confusing to me because the Israelites appear to be agreeing to "put away" their foreign wives and children from those wives.

- Ezra spent the night fasting, praying, and mourning over the sins of this broken commandment (Ezra took sin very seriously because it was against God- People supported Ezra and told him to be "strong and do it."

- The people saw the intense rain as a result of their intermarrying.

- Every type of person committed this sin while in exile; priests, singer, and average people.

- Did God approve of these divorces since He had said through Jesus that the people should not divorce except for marital unfaithfulness?

- One of Jesus ancestors Boaz (who had married Ruth) married a foreign woman and God blessed this marriage.



Matthew 10

-12 Disciples (Simon(Peter), James, Andrew, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James, Thaddaeus, Simon, and Judas)

- Jesus gave the Disciples power to cast out demons and heal diseases and sent them out with a long list of warnings, basically saying that they WILL suffer for His name's sake, but that this will be its own reward in heaven.

- We should have the same kind of forward, heavenward thinking in what we do today.

- Jesus told them to accept food and lodging, but not to take payment.

- They have nothing to fear, because the same God who protects the sparrows and knows every hair on your head is in control. Man can do nothing to you that God can't protect you from.

- People need to love Jesus more than anyone/anything else; wives, children, friends, relatives. This is our commanded order of relationships on this earth. God must come first in our lives and in all we do.

- Were the Disciples filled with the Holy Spirit now or after Christ had died and rose again as it states in Acts?

- How and with what were they empowered?



Acts 10

- Cornelius was a God fearing man and a centurion at Caeseria not to be confused with the centurion from Matthew 8 who was from Capernaum.
- An angel visited Cornelius in a dream and he was terrified. The angel told Cornelius to send for Peter in Joppa.
- A "voice" said to Peter and let down a "sheet" containing animals and Peter refused to eat calling the animals "common" and "unclean". The voice said not to call anything unclean. Peter refused 3 times.
- Peter was "inwardly perplexed" but then the Spirit told him to go and meet Cornelius' people by the gate. Peter went without questioning the Spirit.
- Peter stated that it was unlawful for a Jew to associate with non Jews (as was stated in Ezra 10 today, where in Ezra told the Jews to leave their non Jewish wives and children because it was a life of sin against God). God was expanding His sovereign saving plan, extending grace to all people who would believe in His Son.
- God was showing Peter and the apostles that no people are viewed as "unclean" by God, only as those in need of the saving message of Jesus Christ's life,death, and resurrection.
- Cornelius' response to the angel was immediate where as Peter denied the "voice's" message three times. This is interesting since Peter was a man of God.
- It's interesting that Peter starts the Gospel message at His baptism with John.
- Was Jesus able to use the power of the Holy Spirit before this?
- Did Jesus wait to use this power until after He was baptized?
- ALL who heard the Gospel at Cornelius' house were saved. This must have sent a strong, reassuring message to the Jewish Christians that God wanted to save more than just the Jews through His Son Jesus.