GENESIS – An Expositional Overview of the Beginning of God’s Revelation: Chapter THIRTY ONE

Contributing commentaries by pastors Sonny Islas, Albert Lopez and James Fire

Chuck Smith Bible Commentary - Genesis 31

GENESIS 31 – by James Fire

Introduction: It’s a good thing that the LORD doesn’t treat us the way that we, at times, treat others; because we’re not always as fair and faithful to family and friends as we ought to be, but the LORD is ever faithful and far, far more than fair to us.
There are, however, times when we need to learn valuable lessons in relationships, and so the LORD will deal out to us the same sort of treatment that we deal out to those around us. It’s the same idea as judging – the LORD will judge us with the same standard that we judge others by (MATT 7:1-2). Which is why we should always be merciful, kind, gracious and generous towards others, so that we may reflect our LORD’s character for one; and also that we may receive such blessedness ourselves.

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GENESIS – An Expositional Overview of the Beginning of God’s Revelation: Chapter THIRTY

Contributing commentaries by pastors Sonny Islas, Albert Lopez and James Fire

Chuck Smith Bible Commentary - Genesis 30

GENESIS 30 – Sonny Islas - to watch the Facebook video of this teaching, click here.

BIGAMY, RIVALRY, TRICKERY AND SUPERSTITION

Introduction: Another way to title this message is Sin, Sin, sin and Sin.

Before we read Genesis 30, I’d like to back track just a bit. In Genesis 29, we find that one of Jacob’s two wives named Leah was unloved, while Rachel was loved. Because of this sad situation, the LORD (who loved Leah and Rachel equally) opens Leah’s womb while keeping Rachel’s barren in order to comfort Leah. (We learn a lesson here: When those closest to use fail to love us, the LORD’s love never fails.)

Here’s a very interesting fact:

Leah the unloved wife gave birth to Levi and Judah. Moses and John the Baptist come from the Tribe of Levi. King David and The King of kings – Jesus the Messiah comes from the Tribe of Judah. So, Leah the unloved is the great grandmother of the God man!  

Rachel the preferred one, gives birth to Benjamin down the road, some more about him in chapter 35. King Saul and the greatest Apostle, in my estimation, the Apostle Paul comes from the tribe of Benjamin.

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GENESIS – An Expositional Overview of the Beginning of God’s Revelation: Chapter TWENTY NINE

Contributing commentaries by pastors Sonny Islas, Albert Lopez and James Fire

Chuck Smith Bible Commentary - Genesis 29

GENESIS 29 – by James Fire

Introduction: It was Samuel Clemens, more popularly known as the gifted writer and speaker, Mark Twain who said,
“History doesn’t really repeat itself. . . but it does rhyme!”
And so we see here that Jacob is traveling the same familiar ground that Eliezer traveled when he returned to Abraham’s homeland in search for a suitable bride for Isaac. And remember the wonderful type we have there in GENESIS 24 where Abraham – a type of our Father GOD, sends Eliezer, a type of the Holy Spirit to his homeland in search for a suitable bride for his son, Isaac, a type of Christ, son of the Father – and the bride Rebekah is then a type of the church, the bride of Christ. Indeed, the Spirit of the LORD, sent by the Father throughout the world, leads those who become the church of born-again believers to Christ where they find eternal life and are a suitable bride for Christ!

Here Jacob is running away from the consequences of his deeds done that involved deceiving his father, obeying his scheming mother, supplanting his brother Esau (the very name Jacob means “supplanter, heel-catcher [which he did when he was born, catching the heel of Esau!]) in receiving that which GOD had promised already at the birth of these twin sons (GEN 25:23). Now in Chapter 29 we are going to witness some ‘pay back’ in one sense, but in another sense, the fulfillment of the biblical principle of “reaping what we sow” (GAL 6:7).

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BEING A RESTORER, REPAIRER, A TRUE SERVANT and SHEPHERD OVER GOD’s SHEEP

~ By James Fire 

For the Facebook video version of this teaching, follow this link to: TRUE PASTORS are TRUE SERVANTS

ISAIAH 58:6-14 
6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Isaiah’s ministry was a time in Israel’s history when there was a great divide between the Jewish people – the very affluent who could afford ‘summer homes’ along with other residences, and the very poor who could barely afford an existence lived in squalor; their ‘middle class’ instead of composing of the majority of the population, was a minority. The rich and powerful were in charge and guilty of oppressing the unfortunate while at the same time, expressing religious devotion to GOD, what with the rituals in Judaism and fasting.

The LORD here is rebuking such behavior and expressing His desire for the fast of His choosing and true service to our fellow man…

Here in America, our churches are prosperous – we have multi-media by skilled and polished personnel, sophisticated sound systems, plush, air conditioned sanctuaries, myriads of ministries, competitive wage salaries for professional, seminary-trained pastors, high-powered power point presentations centered around feel-good messages – and for all of that, what God’s people are given are philosophies and theology of men, not the bread of life, God’s Word – not the living waters, but muddy water from broken cisterns!
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GENESIS – An Expositional Overview of the Beginning of God’s Revelation: Chapter TWENTY EIGHT

Contributing commentaries by pastors Sonny Islas, Albert Lopez and James Fire

Chuck Smith Bible Commentary - Genesis 28

GENESIS 28 – Sonny Islas STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN BY SONNY ISLAS  

Watch the Facebook video of this teaching as taught at ETERNAL LIVING WORD Church, here!                                                                

                     

GENESIS 28:1-5
And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. ² Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughers of Laban thy mother's brother. ³ And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; ⁴ And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham. ⁵ And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.

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The RETURN of the LANDLORD - by Lambert Dolphin

~~ by Lambert Dolphin

My favorite men's group, the Wednesday Brothers of Thunder, is a leaderless core group which meets weekly for an hour of Bible study and an hour of prayer. We stay leaderless because we expect the Lord Jesus Christ to come and take charge of things, and the fact that He does so has been our experience year after year. God always shows up and surprises us with His insights and the spiritual refreshment of our lives.

The responsibility for coordinating the weekly meeting rotates around the room. So it was recently that my friend Mike McKenna found himself opening to us the eleventh chapter of Luke. Mike, and two other brothers in the group, had grown up in the Roman Catholic Church so they knew the Lord's Prayer (the "Our Father") backwards and forwards. Mike admitted his discomfort in stopping to think through this prayer--he told us (in jest) that the text printed in red was "evidently optional and could be omitted because it made the whole chapter much easier to accept."

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