Genesis 38:8 And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. There are several verses and stories around this theme. It seems like maybe it doesn’t fit into anything that we can understand. Apparently the issue is to build your brother’s name. Do […]
Archives for September 2015
Sunday in Review: 9-29-13
Sunday morning progressed normally for Vision Baptist Church. The morning started with Sunday School, after which the church assembled into the auditorium for the main service. The service went well and Pastor Gardner preached a very encouraging message on, Living in Light of His Coming. In which he exhorted us to not worry about the […]
20 pieces of silver
Genesis 37:28 Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt. Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery. They get the price of an ordinary slave. They simply want to be […]
Money getting in the way of family
Genesis 36:6 And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob. 7 For their […]
Updating the promise
Genesis 35:10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel. 11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be […]
Stinking testimony
Genesis 34:30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. […]
Not quite
Genesis 33:16 So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. 17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. Esau meets Jacob. They seem to make peace. Esau wants to travel with him back towards home. […]
Lord inspired limping
Genesis 32:31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. Jacob will limp the rest of his life. He wrestled with the Lord. The Lord won but Jacob won also. Jacob was broken which is what made him whole. I want to defend my wholeness. I […]
God leading and directing
Genesis 31:3 And the LORD said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee. Jacob has gotten a wife and also very rich. God has been very good to him. Even in a foreign land and a long ways from family he was not […]
God gives the fruit of the womb
Genesis 30:2 And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? Rachel wants to have children. She has cried out to her husband basically demanding a child. Jacob responds by saying that he is not God. There is a […]
Sunday in Review: 9/20/15
This Sunday we, at Vision Baptist Church, were able to see 195 people in Sunday School, and 265 in the main service. God is continuing to bless our efforts to reach the community surrounding us. The service went very well, Steve Morgan was able to fill in for Steven Cofield in leading the singing. It […]
Love lightens the load
Genesis 29:20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her. Jacob has to work 7 years in order to marry Rachel. He works those 7 years and they seem but a few days to him because of who he was […]
How can I hurt my parents?
Genesis 28:8 And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father; How can I hurt my parents? That seems to be the question that Esau is asking. He feels gipped. His mom has cheated him out of his birthright. His dad wouldn’t give him another blessing. His brother has cheated him. […]
Divided Home
Genesis 27:13 And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them. Isaac is about to die. He calls Esau, his oldest son, to go and get him some venison and then be blessed. This is the big day in a man’s life. […]
Building altars to the One true God
Genesis 26:25 And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac’s servants digged a well. Isaac is in the land of the Canaanites! He is building an altar to God. The men know him and respect him. Isaac is friends with the […]
Asking God to give you a child
Genesis 25:21 And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. So often God’s people want children and are unable to have them. We can seek medical help for sure and may need to do so! But before we do […]
Expecting God’s direction
Genesis 24:40 And he said unto me, The LORD, before whom I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way; and thou shalt take a wife for my son of my kindred, and of my father’s house: Abraham knew that God was directing his paths and blessing him. He, with confidence, told […]
A man of influence
Genesis 23:6 Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead. The people of Canaan recognize Abraham as a mighty prince among them. They knew him. They knew […]
Sunday in Review: Missions Conference
The final service of our missions conference “The Regions Beyond” was this Sunday morning. There were 259 people in attendance, and after a weekend of hearing about the need for the gospel around the world, Bro. Dean Hamby preached a great message out of the gospel of Luke about the value of just one life. […]
Counting other things more important than God
Genesis 22:12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. God wants to be loved and respected more than anything else on the planet. He calls […]
The testimony of God in the land of the Philistines
Genesis 21:22 And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest: Abraham is living in the land of the Philistines. They see him. They know him. They can tell that God is with […]
God withheld him from sinning!
Genesis 20:6 And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. This is such an encouraging verse. God withheld him from sinning. He stopped him from […]
What is my testimony in my family?
Genesis 19:14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. Lot gets news that God will destroy the city. That […]
All blessed by the Jews
Genesis 18:18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? God has made promises to Abraham. Now they are just part of the understanding. God is doing great things. He is about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Does He tell […]
Promised land
Genesis 17:8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. God gave Abraham great promises right from the beginning. He promised him and his children after him. His promise […]
Sometimes you shouldn’t listen to your wife
Genesis 16:2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. Sarai has been an incredible wife. She was ready to suffer and die […]
Prophecy
Genesis 15:13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; Some people have a problem with Bible prophecy. They question its validity. But as you read the Bible […]
Keeping your word to God even when it costs you
Genesis 14:22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, Abram has won a victory of great proportions. He is rich with all that has been taken. The king of Sodom tells Abram to just take […]
Parent Corner: The Lords Supper is no ordinary supper.
Parent Corner: The Lords Supper is no ordinary supper. The Parent Corner is one of the ways we endeavor to help keep you informed in the lessons and material being taught to the teenagers of our church. Here is the lesson taught to our high school students on the first Sunday of September. I Corinthians 11:17-34 […]
Wicked before the Lord
Genesis 13:13 But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly. The men of Sodom were wicked before Lot got there. Lot chose to live in Sodom. He looked that way, liked what he saw, and began moving in that direction. Lot didn’t consider what God thought of Sodom. It was […]
God protected Sarai
Genesis 12:17 And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife. I love this part of the story. Abraham was such a selfish pig. He thought only of himself. If it meant keeping him alive and whole he was willing to see his wife and sister hurt. Sarai […]
Where languages came from
Genesis 11:9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. Man was trying to make a name for himself. He really wanted to prove that he could […]
We all come from one family
Genesis 10:32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood. There is but one race on the planet, that is the human race. We all come from the same family. God goes into detail in […]
No more world wide floods
Genesis 9:16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. There was a world wide flood. It destroyed the entire earth. It covered the highest point on the […]