Genesis 13 - Nehemiah 2- Matthew 12 - Acts 12

Genesis 13
- Abram left Egypt very rich (because of the gifts Pharaoh had give him when he had lied about his wife being his sister)
- Abram went back to Ai, where he first set up an alter to the LORD.
- Lot and Abram had been blessed with so many livestock in Egypt that the land could not support them both so Abram let Lot choose where he wanted to settle. (This shows that Abram trusted that the LORD would provide for him regardless of his location....amazing!).
- Lot chose to settle to the East near the Jordan because it looked like the best land. Abram happily took the land to the west.
- Men of Sodom (were already very wicked though Christ had said in Matthew that if He had preached to them, they would have repented of their sins)
- God again promised Abram and his offspring ALL the land that he could see in every direction. This is an amazing promise!
- Abram's response was to build an alter to God.

Nehemiah 2
- How does the Nehemiah timeline fit in with the Ezra timeline?
- Some thoughts on the timeline. King Cyrus was the original Persian king to send Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. The Jews rebuilt the altar first (which apparently took them a year, then started rebuilding the Temple (but the people of the land tried to foil their plans until King Darius (who I think was after King Artaxerxes))
- Nehemiah had gone with this first group to Jerusalem.
- King Artaxerxes had ordered the rebuilding halted after finding the Israelites to be troublesome
- It says in Ezra 4:24 that rebuilding didn't start again until the 2nd year of King Darius.
- Nehemiah says the rebuilding started during the 20th year of King Artaxerxes.
- Why do these two accounts not seem to line up? Am I missing something?
- Nehemiah looks sad before the king which apparently has never happened before, meaning Nehemiah always looked joyful at work and did not complain (I wish I could say this is true for me)
- Nehemiah prayed to God (a quick second long prayer) before answering the king's question of why he was sad and what he was requesting of the king. This has always amazed me. Nehemiah's prayed in the blink of an eye, but this shows his awareness of a need for God's help.
- Nehemiah knew God had blessed his desires and plans.
- The king sent decrees and troops with Nehemiah (again showing God's provision) as well as orders for building materials from local people.
- Nehemiah went to Jerusalem alone at night to survey the damage and told no one of his plans to rebuild the city until the following day. His account with the king showed everyone that God was blessing his desires and everyone was excited to get started even though the local people were not happy to see Jerusalem being rebuilt.
- Nehemiah told those who were opposing him that God would strengthen them and make their plans prosper. Again, Nehemiah was not taking any of the credit.

Matthew 12
- Jesus was picking grains to eat on the Sabbath and healed a man on the Sabbath. The Pharisees wanted to trap him, but he said that they would help a sheep that had fallen into a pit on the Sabbath, so Jesus would heal men. He said to them that it is lawful to do "good" on the Sabbath.
- This action made the Pharisees mad and they started to look for ways to kill Him.
- Jesus left there, healed many, and told them not to tell anyone what He was doing for them thus fulfilling Isaiah. In this portion of Scripture it said that the Messiah would bring the "Gentiles hope". This happened in Acts through Paul and also with Peter and the Centurion.
- Jesus tells the people that He cannot drive out evil Spirits by the devil.
- (v. 22-32) - What does Jesus mean by blaspheming against the Spirit versus against the Son?
-Again Jesus tells the people that a "tree is judged by its fruit" meaning people are. What people say shows what is in the heart, so by your words and thus your heart motive you will be judged.
- (v.38) - People asked for a sign. Jesus said that was wrong, but he said the only sign that would be given was the sign of Jonah (like Johan who was in the whale for 3 days, Christ would be in the earth 3 days) and He also told the people indirectly that He was greater than Jonah and Solomon.
- (v.43 -45) - A Spirit driven out can come back with worse spirits
- How can this be prevented? What can stop them from doing this?
-Why didn't Jesus acknowledge His mother Mary and brothers arrival in this passage? What point was He trying to make?

Acts 12
- King Herod killed James brother of John and imprisoned Peter.
- Why didn't Herod kill Peter immediately too?
- Why did God let Herod kill James?
- An angel of the Lord saved Peter from prison, unfastening his chains and letting him out of the gate.
- The disciples didn't believe Rhoda, the servant girl when she said she saw Peter. They thought it must be Peter's angel she saw.
- Why does this mean? Were they seeing guardian angels around people at this time?
- Why didn't this "angel sighting" surprise them?
- People were getting food from Herod and were saying that he was a "god not a man" and at this very moment an angel of the Lord struck him down. God showed His power in killing a boastful king in the very height of his arrogance and pride.
- Barnabas and Saul return to Jerusalem with John.