We are continuing to grow as we studied Galatians 2:11-21 (you can listen to the message here: http://sermon.net/deniliojgorena/sermonid/1199843122). In it Paul describes a conflict between he and Peter the apostle concerning the unity between Jewish and Gentile Christians. Peter apparently would eat and fellowship with Gentiles until some Jewish brethren came from Jerusalem. At their coming, Peter began to distance himself from the Gentile brethren and was falling into the trap of being a part of the “party of the circumcision.” Paul fronted Peter and spoke of how the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for both Jews and Greeks. The way he stated it in Romans 1:16, the Gospel is “for the Jew first, and also to the Gentiles.” In other words, there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles when it comes to salvation in Jesus Christ. Both are sinners, both need the Savior, and both are translated from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of Light.
We also dealt with the introduction to the Book of Exodus. After finishing Genesis last week, my thoughts simply took me to the next book to begin a series. The series through Genesis was simply working our way through it verse-by-verse and chapter-by chapter. We will continue to preach this way through the Book of Exodus. The introduction to Exodus basically told us who wrote the Book, what was the purpose and theme of the Book, and how Christ is typed in the Book. The study itself will be beneficial as we discover that the Exodus account itself only covers a few chapters in the Book (cf. 13-15). The rest of the Book deals with how God sets us a theocracy over His people Israel.
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: 
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.
D.J. Gorena 