Genesis 12 - Nehemiah 1 - Matthew 11 - Acts 11

Genesis 12
- The LORD told Abram to leave his home country and he did.
- God also starts to reveal His redemptive plan by telling Abram that "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (v.3) (God does not say just Jewish people will be blessed, but "all" will be blessed which is later revealed through Jesus work on the cross)
- Abram, Sarai, and Lot traveled through Canaan and the LORD told Abram that He would give this land to Abram's offspring, but not yet. So they traveled on.
- Abram build an alter to the LORD, showing his trust in God.
- There was a famine and Abram went into Egypt in search of food.
- He told his wife Sarai to pretend to be his sister because she was beautiful and Abram feared someone would kill him to get to her.
- Pharaoh takes Sarai as his wife, and Pharaoh give Abram lots of animals and servants as a gift.
- Then God curses Pharaoh who finds out that Abram is really Sarai's husband, so Pharaoh kicks them out of Egypt.
- Why didn't Pharaoh take back his animals and servants?
- Why did Abram trust God to provide him so much good and blessing to his descendants (when he didn't have any children) but not trust God to keep him safe in Egypt?
- Why didn't God punish Abram for his lack of faith?

Nehemiah 1
- Nehemiah became one of my favorite books of the Bible the first time I read through the Bible because of his passion for God and his ability to pray to God for everything.
- Nehemiah longed to hear how Jerusalem was doing and when he heard that the walls and gate had been destroyed he wept, mourned, fasted and prayed "for days". This was not just a quick prayer, but a heart felt, passionate prayer.
- He refers to himself as God's servant and confesses his sins first along with the sins of his people. He refers to the people as "we". He doesn't consider himself above sin or holier than others who have sinned worse.
- Nehemiah remembers God's character as being steadfast in love, great and awesome.
- Nehemiah remembered God's promise to the Israelites during Moses' time to scatter them when they were disobedient but to bring them back when they repented from their wrong ways.
- Nehemiah knew God's Word, yet had still been breaking it until now
- Why did hearing of Jerusalem's demised state all of a sudden bring conviction on Nehemiah of his sins?
- Nehemiah prayed for success with this man, meaning the king because Nehemiah was the king's cup bearer.

Matthew 11
- John the baptist sent some men to ask Jesus if He was "the one to come or whether they should be looking for another".
- Why does John second guess that Jesus is the Messiah when he knew it the day he baptized Jesus?
- Jesus points out that John was a prophet who people went into the wilderness to see, but even more than that John was the prophet who fulfilled the OT prophecy. Jesus refers to John as Elijah.
- What was Elijah supposed to come back and do according to the OT?
- Jesus asks the people what they are looking for in the Messiah because John ate and drank nothing and people said he was demon possessed and they called Jesus a drunkard, a glutton, and a friend of sinners because he ate and drank with the people.
- Jesus drank. I know there is much that has been said about drinking; whether it's good or bad, but Jesus did it. In a later scripture Jesus says that you should not get drunk on much wine. There in seems to be the difference. John though honored God by not drinking so that seems to be righteous as well. All of this 2 days after my study of Genesis where Noah got drunk and passed out.
- Jesus calls out curses on the cities who did not repent and turn from their sins after Jesus visited them. He said that if He had done these works in other cities, even Sodom (which was an OT city that was so bad God destroyed it).
- If this was so, why didn't Jesus go to the places where his ministry would be more accepted and fruitful?
- (v.28) - "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." - This is the promise of trust in Jesus. Only He can truly help people find rest and peace in their lives. It's not by our works, but by our trusting in Him that we can find peace.
- He indirectly here refers to God being his Father and Jesus being the Son of God, but does not yet directly state that.

Acts 11
- The "circumcision party" criticized Peter for preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles until he recounted the story of the vision of the sheet. They were silent for a moment and then rejoiced that the Gentiles too were to be counted as God's people. This was a major shift in thinking which started in the times of Abraham.
- Stephen's group preached the Word to the Jews and many believed.
- Barnabas went to Antioch and too preached the Word of God. He met up with Saul (later Paul) and they preached there for a year. This was the first time Jesus' followers became known as "Christians".
- Agabus, a disciple, foretold of a great famine over the whole world (which later took place in the time of Claudius) and they began organizing relief for believers. They trusted God for all things, but also took practical steps to prepare.