Sunday Review, September 30, 2012

Galatians 2:1-10 was an exciting passage of Scripture as Paul continued to give testimony of how God had not only led him to salvation, but also led him to travel back to Jerusalem to speak the Gospel. The purpose of his traveling to Jerusalem was not for extra training in the Gospel, but rather to show how his Gospel was the same as the apostles Gospel: Jesus Christ died according to the Scriptures, was buried, and rose again according to the Scriptures (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4). The apostles were preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Jews while Paul was preaching the Gospel to Gentiles and had been for 14 years. (You can listen to the audio here: http://deniliojgorena.sermon.net/da/1199837461/play.)

We also completed our series in the Book of Genesis by preaching through Genesis 49-50: Blessings & Two Deaths. Israel (the covenant name of Jacob) was dying but before his death, he had all of his sons come into the room and he foretold what type of lives they would have as he blessed them. He died and the story continues with Joseph and his brothers. They were concerned that he would take revenge on them for selling him into slavery. Rather, Joseph took care of his brothers and their families and brought no harm to them. Joseph died and the Israelites multiplied greatly in Egypt.

Sunday Review, September 23, 2012

Galatians 1:11-24

What a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ! On Sunday morning we preached a message entitled A Testimony of God’s Grace from Galatians 1:11-24 (you can hear the message, minus the first 2 1/2 minutes…computer glitch, right here:  http://sermon.net/deniliojgorena/sermonid/1199829922 the audio starts at 2:31 seconds). Paul’s point of sharing his testimony at this point is to show them that even the Gospel of Jesus Christ that he believed was not received by him by another human being. Rather, what he received is from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself! If you want to know the truth, then you have to see the Truth for who He is!

Sunday evening was a great time as we were in Genesis 48. Joseph brings his two sons — Ephraim and Manasseh — to be blessed by Jacob, his father. When he brings them in, Jacob (also known as Israel, his covenant name) places his right hand on Ephraim and his left hand on Manasseh. The problem is that Manasseh is the elder of the two brothers while Ephraim is the younger. The blessing was to be on Manasseh, not Ephraim! Joseph tried to switch his father’s hands and put them on the right son, but to no avail. Jacob told Joseph that this is the way it is supposed to be: the older will serve the younger. In other words, the greater will serve the smaller.

In both messages we see that God has a specific plan that He is following and it is HIS PLAN, not man’s!

Jacob blessing Ephraim and Manasseh