I’ve been involved in Community Bible Study {CBS} this year and last Wednesday was our final meeting. It has been a wonderful year. My mother-in-law has been in CBS for many, many years and has told me the last few years how much I would love it… so this year was my year to jump in. I was blessed with an amazing group of ladies in my core group and an amazing leader. Each year they conclude with what they call “share day” which is basically an open mic opportunity for people to share what the Lord has taught them over the last 9 to 10 months. So as the time approached I couldn’t help but think about what an amazing year it has been being in the Word and in fellowship with other women from the community {from all different churches & denominations}. I am consistently inconsistent when it comes to a lot of things and meditating on and studying the Bible is one of them. I need accountability. I need direction. And this year CBS was JUST what I needed.
I didn’t share at “share day” because those things make my palms sweat, my heart beat fast, my voice quiver and I’d probably take one look at our teaching director {who is leaving this year} and cry a river. I would have no good reason to cry a river, and it wouldn’t be just a sad river, although I am sad she’s leaving, it would be a river that would pour out in gratitude for a year of fellowship and wonderful Bible study and honest, humble, and transparent teaching by our director. If you’re looking for solid Biblical teaching you should see if there is a CBS class in your area. Or if you are interested in listening to solid Biblical teaching on Genesis over the summer {that I’ve had the honor and pleasure to study under this year} ALL of Amy’s lectures are on iTunes for free. You can search itTunes: Amy Edge podcasts. They’re free and categorized by chapter & date. Amy is an incredibly gifted speaker, each week it was as though the Lord had given her a peek into my life and her message spoke directly to my heart.
So, I thought long and hard about what I learned this last year I wondered how I could possibly summarize all of Genesis {the first book in the Bible} and all that the Lord taught me through Genesis. I will be honest: there is HARD stuff in Genesis. When I say hard I mean things that take faith to believe, some things that I still have a hard time believing, things that make you say, “Really, Lord?!”, things that make you want to scream, things that make you want to cry, things that make you want to stomp your feet, things that make you uncomfortable… Creation. Sin. Death. Sexual Immorality. Murder. Rebellion. Corruption. Testing. And in the end… do you know what I walk away with: God is sovereign. God is faithful. God alone. God will work his plan, in spite of us. We cannot get in His way. Our fleshly plans cannot thwart the plans of God. Genesis is full of Godly people who SIN and fall short and yet are still used by the grace of God to bring his plan to fruition. Genesis really is a perfect picture of God’s sovereignty and His redeeming love.
Over the last week I’ve been going through my CBS workbooks, reviewing what I’ve learned {and learning that I don’t remember very well}. As I went through I took one truth {an application or Biblical truth} from each lesson and made a list to remind myself of what I learned this year. Since you all are my innocent bystanders, I thought I’d share here. Brace yourself. There were a LOT of lessons… but I hope you can glean from what I learned this year. So here is what I took away {literally, some of these are direct quotes from my lesson books, some from my own notes}, one bullet for each week, 30 weeks worth of lessons summed up in 30 short sentences …
- Intro to Genesis: God acts in grace, urging the rebels home against all their inclinations.
- The trinity’s involvement in creation cannot be disputed, nor will it be fully understood this side of eternity.
- God deals with His fallen creatures in grace, wooing them back to Himself in Godly sorrow & repentance.
- Godliness involves putting our hope in Christ.
- More important than secular blessing of plenty our heritage might bring us, is the spiritual blessing of being in a place where we can know God & seek to grow in our faith.
- While men challenge divine authority and show themselves worthy of judgment, God moves ahead with His own plans.
- Though Abram begins hesitantly & fails periodically, he grows in faith & obedience.
- If God is urging you to do something outside your comfort zone think long and hard before you say “no”… He may want to accomplish something spectacular for His glory.
- The Lord makes himself most real– makes His presence felt– during times of great testing.
- God is good. God forgives. God is patient.
- Intercessors must approach God as Abraham did, with reverence, boldness, and persistence.
- Our actions must be consistent with our faith– unless we invite God back into our culture, we will continue our downward spiral.
- We are imperfect, flawed people living in an imperfect world, so there will be tears, but even through the tears, we can ask the Lord to give us joy– and bless us with laughter. {Like Sarah when she finally conceived}
- God does not test us for the purpose of making us fail but rather for the purpose of seeing us succeed. Because faith is like a muscle and it must be used to grow strong. {A test is not a temptation. A test is from God, a temptation is from the flesh.}
- Sarah was a woman of faith and supportive of her husband’s aims {with exception of Hagar} and she was beautiful… Let’s not confuse our culture’s shallow idea of celebrity beauty with the kind of attractiveness that Godly character produces.
- When God answers a specific prayer so quickly and exactly {referring to Abraham’s servant finding a wife, Rebekah, for Isaac}, sharing that fact with other believer’s builds both their faith and ours.
- Referring to Sarah & Abraham… they had faithfully — though not flawlessly– served the Lord in their generation.
- Many strive above all for lots of money. Many people have sold out, they have forfeited the spiritual birthright of God-given joy, peace, strength in time of tragedy , and intimacy with Jesus Christ in order to conform to the culture that surrounds them. They would rather be popular than godly.
- Do your best to raise children who love God.
- One of the most amazing things about God is his ability to use anything and everything- even bad circumstances and our wrong choices- to bring about His own good & perfect will.
- God blesses and uses people even when His blessings are unearned and undeserved.
- God wants us to stop scheming and start trusting– stop living by our own wits and start living by His wisdom.
- We should be reliable and dependable; we should not be lazy or irresponsible. God will hold us accountable for how we use our time and our talent.
- Our losses take time to heal, and many scars stay with us, but Christ has both the power to redeem our circumstances and the commitment to carry us through each day of the healing process.
- {In reference to God using Tamar in spite of sexual sin} What a liberating surprise to realize once again that we do not have to be perfect to be used by God to achieve His purpose!
- If you are facing a difficult adjustment {think of Joseph} and ask God to give you the faith to handle it with grace as he did. The answer for Joseph was to trust God and the answer for us is the same.
- We can study His Word to us and obey it so that our actions please Him, and we are conformed to the image of Christ instead of being conformed to the world.
- Never doubt that people can truly change.
- God is at work at work behind the scenes in your life, providentially preparing you for His purposes!
- Greatness has nothing to do with possessions or position– not in God’s eyes. We are pilgrims passing through.
- A chance to die to ourselves will bring life.
Hello, is anyone still here? 
Hopefully you can take something away from all of that! I am already looking forward to next year {we will be studying Luke– let me know if you want more info on our local class!!} and I am so thankful that I have a group of ladies to meet with this summer to hold me accountable… like I said, without accountability I’m nearly useless!
This week has been very busy and very exciting… hoping to put my thoughts and pictures in another post soon!
