Lesson 9- Kings Saul, David, and Solomon

Remember when Joshua died, God allowed Israel to be defeated by her enemies. He did not appoint a new leader because Israel disobeyed God. It was not until Israel repented and God appointed a new temporary leader called a judge. However, when the judge died, Israel would disobey God again and again be defeated. This happened 15 times. Most of the countries around Israel were ruled by kings. This caused Israel to want a king too, even though God was their king. God decided to give Israel a king named Saul. Unfortunately, Saul did not obey God and chose another king to replace him. God chose David while he was still a young boy and while Saul was still king. David ministered to King Saul for a long time but eventually Saul continued to be disobedient and he could not control his anger. Sin cause Saul to be destroyed.

            I wish I could go into more detail about this long story between King Saul and David, but for now, you need to know that King David is often considered the greatest king of Israel because he did everything that pleased God. He did sin and made mistakes. However, he always repented and obeyed God again. If you look at the book of Psalms, many of these songs were written by David and accompanied by stringed instruments.

            David’s son, Solomon became the next king. God promised Solomon anything he wanted. Solomon asked God for wisdom. This pleased God so much that in addition to wisdom, He gave Solomon riches and honor- more than any other king has ever seen before! Solomon is famous for building the first temple for God that would replace the tent tabernacle that Moses had built. The tent tabernacle was used for 400 years, but now they would worship in temple made of the best stone, jewel, and wood. Sadly- Solomon eventually disobeyed God. He had more than 700 wives. Some of these wives worshipped idols which led Solomon to stop worshipping God. Remember when Israel married women from the enemy that worshipped idols when Joshua was leader? The same thing happened here. As a result, God promised to tear the kingdom away from Solomon. Israel split into two kingdoms- Israel and Judah.

            See the chart on this page. The green represents Judah with the red line representing Jesus’s family line. The brown represents Israel. Judah and 20 kings and Israel had 19. Unfortunately, most of these kings were bad. Eventually Israel was conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BC. Judah was conquered by Babylon in 586 BC, about 136 years after Israel was destroyed. The city of Jerusalem and the beautiful temple that Solomon built was also destroyed. This all happened because Israel and Judah both disobeyed God.

            Join us next week as we study the prophets that rose up after the kings were destroyed. We are almost done with the Old Testament!

Lesson 8 part 2

You remember what we talked about? Surrendering to God and letting Him take control of our lives? This means He fights our battles. He can resist the temptation to sin again and again, only if we let Him take control of us through the Holy Spirit. We cannot do this but He can if we let Him do this in us.

The judge Gideon is one great example. Look at the chart on our website and read that before reading this. It will help you understand the story. Israel had disobeyed God and allowed the Midianites to destroy Israel. Israel cried out to God for help. God heard their prayer and sent Gideon,  a new leader. Gideon was not well known. In fact, his tribe was the weakest tribe in Manasseh. He was the youngest, and we assume, the weakest of his family. When God called Gideon to lead Israel to defeat the huge army of the Midanites, Gideon did not believe it. He asked God: “If here is dew only on the sheepskin (or wool), while all of the ground is dry, I will know that you will use me to save Israel as you said”. So God did this exactly as he asked. Still, Gideon did not believe God was calling Him. He asked God to make the wool dry and the ground wet. God did again as he requested. You see, God was showing that even though Gideon was the weakest of all Israel- it was God’s strength that would help Gideon defeat the huge army of the enemy, not Gideon himself.

            So, Gideon decided he needed a huge army to defeat the enemy. He gathered 32,000 men. God told Gideon that his army was too big. Why? God wanted Israel to become humble and understand God is powerful, not Israel. God told Gideon to tell anyone who was scared to return home. 22,000 men returned home. Now Gideon has an army of 10,000. God told Gideon again- that army is still too big. God had Gideon perform a test on the men. Gideon led the men to water. The men who drank the water with their tongues like dogs were sent home. The men who drank the water with their hands could drink and see the enemy at the same time. God kept these men. Only 300 men drank the water with their hands. Now Gideon’s army is only 300 men!

Gideon then gave each man a trumpet and a jar with a torch inside it. He did not give them swords or spears. Just a jar and a trumpet. They surrounded the huge enemy camp just after midnight. They then broke the jars together at the same time and sounded the trumpets. The enemy thought there was a huge army inside the camp! They begin to kill each other thinking the enemy was upon them and they began to run away because they were scared! You see, it was not 300 men who defeated the enemy. It was God who defeated the enemy. In the same way, it is not you who will resist sin- it is God in you through the Holy Spirit. God humbled Israel by picking the weakest man to lead Israel and then humbled them more by choosing only 300 men to fight the huge number of the enemy. Sin is like that enemy. We cannot possible defeat it, only Jesus can.

I want to end this with a challenge. If you find yourself sinning but cannot stop, ask God not only to change you but to take control of your mind and heart. Surrender everything to Jesus and allow His Holy Spirit to take control. Do this, not once, not twice, but every day. Ask God to help you understand the Bible if you have trouble reading it. Ask God to send you to a church family that can help encourage and support you as you learn to rely on God more. Stop relying on yourself. Rely on God. That is what it means to be humble.

Lesson 8 Part 1

Today we will learn about the book of Judges in the Bible. In the last lesson, we learned how Joshua led Israel to defeat enemies in Canaan. God commanded Israel not to leave any of the enemies alive or to marry any women from their enemies. The reason for this command was because their enemies and their women worshipped Idols- not God. Israel disobeyed God and let some of their enemies live. They also married some of their women. This had a huge negative influence on Israel because they also allowed them to continue to worship their idols. After Joshua died, God did not appoint a new leader to lead Israel. Instead, for the next 300 years, Israel would disobey God, repent, and God would appoint a temporary Judge to lead Israel and defeat their enemies. Under the temporary judge, they would experience peace. When the judge died, they would disobey God again. God would again let Israel be defeated by their enemies. After some time, they would repent and ask God to forgive them again. God would then appoint a new temporary judge to lead Israel and defeat their enemies. This pattern- disobey God, experience defeat, repent, experience peace, then disobey God again continued for the next 300 years. Altogether, there were 15 judges during this time. This pattern is often seen in the lives of many Christians- we obey God, then disobey, then return back to God. God always forgives and is merciful. It also proves that humans are always full of sin. This pattern though, is unnecessary. Why? Jesus becomes our permanent leader, not just a temporary leader. He gives us the Holy Spirit who guides us out of the pattern of sin, repent, and sin again. The Holy Spirit gives us the tools we need to follow God IF we surrender our lives to HIM daily- not just on Sundays. We will continue to make mistakes and learn from them, but the pattern of repeating the same sin over and over again is not what God called us to do. He called us to a life of daily repentance and surrender to the Holy Spirit. If we do not surrender our lives, our desires, and our sin to Him on a daily basis then we will only be following Jesus some of the time. This is not what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Jesus calls us to a daily relationship with Him, out of the pattern of sin and set apart from this world. He calls us to show the world that it is Jesus who changes us and makes it possible to follow him forever, and not just for a short time. How do we surrender? We can start by making time to talk with God in prayer and to read what He is telling us in the Bible, daily. By making this is a practice in your life and training yourself to do this,  then God will in turn teach you how to become more humble, more holy, and more like Jesus everyday. It will not be easy and it will definitely be hard. But nothing worth doing will ever be easy. This lesson will be continued in the next one as we learn about a special judge named Gideon.

BBS lesson 7

In the last lesson, God lead Israel to Mt. Sinai and God gave them the ten commandments and instructions on how to build the tabernacle. In this lesson, God leads Israel to the Promised Land known as Canaan. In the Basic Bible Study, we learn that some of the Israelites doubted God and asked Moses to send spies into the land before entering. 12 spies were chosen. When the spies came back, they reported that the land was good but that the giants who lived in the land would be impossible to defeat. 10 of the spies felt Israel would not be able to conquer the land. 2 of spies, Joshua and Caleb, believed that God would give them victory over the land and encouraged Israel. Unfortunately, Israel chose to believe the 10 spies who were afraid. They did not believe God when He said He would give them victory. Because of this, God punished Israel. Anyone 20 years old or older would never be able to enter the land of Canaan. Israel would be forced to march in the wilderness for 40 years and those that were afraid to go into Canaan would all die. Their children would be ones to enter Canaan and obey God after the 40 years were over. You can read about this story in Deuteronomy chapter 1. In Chapter 29:5, we learn that during the 40 years the Israelites clothes and shoes did not wear out! God also provided them food and water!  You see, even though God punished them, He showed them love.  

Look at the chart on this page. In the first picture, you will see the route they took during the 40 years. After the 40 years were over, Moses died and Joshua took command of Israel. God then stopped the water in the Jordan River and allowed Israel to cross over dry land as they marched to the city of Jericho. You will see this in the second picture. Read Joshua 3-4 for more on this story. God orders Israel to march around the walls of Jericho for 7 days. On the 7th day, God ordered them to march 7 times and on the 7th time to blow trumpets and shout. As a result, the walls of Jericho fell down and they conquered the city easily! God then gave Israel the ability to conquer the rest of Canaan as you can see in the third picture. Each of the 12 tribes, except Israel was given a portion of the land to claim as their own. The tribe of Levi was the tribe of priests- they would receive gifts offered as sacrifices to God from each of the tribes.

When God gave them victory over Canaan, He asked them to not to let anyone from the enemy to live and not to marry any of their women. This is because they worshipped false gods. Sadly, Israel disobeyed God and let some of the enemy live and even married some of their women. When the women they married worshipped false gods, Israel began to worship their false gods. We will talk about this in the next lesson. For now, remember that Jesus’s family line continues through Israel and more specifically, through the tribe of Judah. This is where Jerusalem will later be founded.

BBS lesson 6- Exodus

In the Basic Bible study created by Deaf Missions, there are a few things to understand before we begin the lesson on Exodus. The word Exodus means to leave something or to depart something. In this case, Israel will leave Egypt after having been slaves there for a long time. God will lead them to the Promised Land, called Canaan. God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He would give this land to their children. Before that happens, God will lead them to a special mountain called Mt. Sinai. It is at this mountain that God will give Moses the 10 commandments and instructions on how to build a very important place: the Tabernacle.  After this, God will lead them to the Promised Land.  

At the end of Genesis, Jacob’s family had only 70 people. His family grew to become a large nation called Israel. Now at the beginning of the book Exodus, they are a huge number of people. The large number of people scares the Egyptian Pharaoh. Egypt is afraid that Israel would overwhelm Egypt, so they made Israelites into slaves. In addition, Pharaoh ordered that all male boys that are born should be killed. At this time, Moses is born and his mother keeps his birth a secret. To make a long, but fascinating story short, an Egyptian princess later adopts Moses. When he is 40 years old, he becomes angry at an Egyptian slave master who is treating Israel badly and kills him. Moses runs away to the land of Midian, marries a wife there and has a family. Another 40 years pass and Moses encounters a burning bush that will not stop burning on Mt. Sinai. Curious, Moses approaches this bush and hears God speak to him. God chose Moses to go back to Israel, along with his brother Aaron, to tell the Egyptian Pharaoh to let Israel go free. God knew that Pharaoh would say no and God’s plan was to send 10 plagues upon Egypt, for each of the 10 times Pharaoh says no.

The last plague is the most important. God kills all the firstborn males including animals in Egypt. He tells Israel to kill a 1 year old, perfect lamb and to paint the lamb’s blood on their doorposts. In this way, God would pass over their houses and no one from Israel would die, only those in Egypt. Every year after that, Israel would be required to celebrate a festival called Passover, which would remind them of how God used a lamb to not only protect Israel, but to also set them free. After that night, all of Egypt became terrified of God and let Israel go free. God then lead Israel to the Red Sea. If you look at the chart, you can see that God could have easily led them between the bodies of water towards Mt. Sinai. God had a different plan. The Egyptians saw that Israel was stuck at the Red Sea and could go no further, so they gave chases, intending to make them slaves again. Instead, God used Moses to part the Red Sea so that Israel could cross over on dry land to the other side. When the Egyptians saw this, they chased Israel but God let the Red Sea wash over them. All of the Egyptians drowned.

Finally, they arrived at Mt. Sinai. It is here that God gave Israel the 10 commandants and instructions on how to build the Tabernacle. The tabernacle was the place that God would speak to the High Priest of Israel. Later in the New Testament, we learn that Jesus becomes our new High Priest. The tabernacle built on Earth was only a small example of the Heavenly tabernacle. This Heavenly tabernacle is the one that Jesus entered for us when He died on the cross and resurrected. Jesus’s death and resurrection also happened during the Jewish holiday Passover. You see, Jesus became the perfect lamb, the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Jesus’s blood frees us from our sins in the same way that the Passover lamb’s blood freed Israel from Egypt.

In the next lesson, we will learn how God leads Israel to Canaan, the promised land!

BBS- lesson 5

Welcome to lesson 5. There is a lot to unpack in this lesson. We are literally blazing through the remaining 45 chapters of Genesis in this lesson alone. It feels like an impossible task, but with God all things are possible.! The people from Deaf Missions who created this Basic Bible Study have done superb job in condensing the lesson and creating the charts for us in each lesson. They really manage to help up us see the story visually and simply.

Let us begin. In Lesson 4 we learned that Abraham and Sarah had a son named Isaac. Before they had Isaac, Sarah believed that the only way Abraham could have a son was if he slept with her servant maid. This servant was named Hagar. She become Abraham’s second wife, and through her, Ishmael was born. God told Abraham that Ishmael was not the child He promised, but that Isaac was the child through whom His promises would be fulfilled. Ishmael later became a great nation as well, but they did not follow God. See the chart and note that Jesus’s family line begins with Noah, then Abraham, and continues through Isaac.

Isaac had twin fraternal boys with his wife Rebekah. The oldest is Esau and the youngest is Jacob. There is a wonderfully rich story related to these brothers. Please read Genesis chapters 27-36 for more on this story. You can also watch my sermons from February 17 and 24 in 2019 located in the Sermon Archive section of this website for more about this story. What is important to know is that God had chosen that the youngest boy, Jacob, would become the greatest. God planned for Jesus to come from Jacob’s family. Look at the chart. Note that Jesus’s family line continues through Jacob’s son, Judah.

Jacob has twelve sons who later become the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob’s favorite son was Joseph. In fact, Jacob gave Joseph a special gift: a multicolored coat. This caused his other brothers to become jealous of Joseph. Joseph also had dreams from God that his brothers, father, and mother would eventually bow down to him. This angered his family. His brothers decided they wanted to kill him, but at the last minute, decided to sell him as a slave to Ishmaelite traders headed to Egypt. Eventually, Joseph will become the prince of Egypt, second only to the King or Pharaoh. God gave Joseph the plan to store food to prepare for a 7 year famine that would impact the world. Once the famine hit, people all around the world came to buy food from Egypt. They eventually ran out of money and sold all of their livestock. When they ran out of livestock, they willingly became slaves to Egypt. When Jacob’s family went to buy food from Egypt, his brothers bowed down to him just like in his dreams! Joseph recognized them and eventually forgave his brothers. He convinced his father and the rest of his family to move to Egypt so he could take care of them there. For more on this story, see my sermons on March 3, 10, and 17 of 2019. You can also click here to see 9 videos I made concerning the story of Joseph. https://vimeo.com/manage/albums/5800322

Joseph has two sons, named Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob adopts these two sons as his own. For the next 400 years, Jacob’s family will live in Egypt and become the nation of Israel. Eventually, from the tribe of Levi, Moses will be born and he will free Israel from Egypt. We will discuss this in Lesson 6.

BBS- Lesson 4

After the flood dried up, Noah left the boat and made a sacrifice to God. Noah had 3 sons named Shem, Ham , and Japheth. Ham’s son was named Canaan. One day, in Genesis chapter 9, Noah became drunk from drinking the wine he made from his vineyards. He fell asleep, naked in his tent. Ham found him and gossiped about Noah to his brothers. Shem and Japheth decided to respect their father by taking a blanket, walk backwards so they could not see their father naked, and covered him with the blanket. This lead to Noah cursing the son of Ham, Canaan for what Ham did to him. As we will later see in the Old Testament, Canaan will be conquered by Israel, God’s people.

In the Basic Bible Study, we learn that everyone lived together and spoke one language. They became proud and wanted to touch the Heavens by building a tower (Genesis 11:4). This tower is often called the Tower of Babel. In Genesis 11:7, the Lord says “Come, let us go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they will not be able to understand each other.” This was so that they would not be able to finish the tower. God humbled the people and scattered them across the Earth.

Eventually, Shem’s great grandson Terah gives birth to Abraham. Abraham’s brother has a son named Lot, who will later travel with Abraham. In Genesis 12:1-3, God calls Abraham to leave his home in the city of Ur and travel to Canaan. Abraham has no idea why God called him to travel there or what to expect when he arrived. Even so, Abraham obeyed God. God also promised that He would make Abraham into a great nation (Genesis 12:2)!In his travels, when he stopped, he made an altar and made a sacrifice to God. Remember, these sacrifices are important! God instructed his people to sacrifice to Him because of their sin! Lot traveled with Abraham but eventually; the land was too small for Lot’s flock and Abraham’s flock to continue to travel together. Abraham let Lot choose where to go live. Lot chose to live by the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. In Genesis 18, we see that God destroyed these cities because of their wickedness.

Many years later, Abraham and his wife were very old but did not have any children. Even so, God promised to give them a child. God promises Abraham that he will have many children, an impossible number to count just as it is impossible to count the number of stars in the sky (Genesis 15: 5). When Abraham is 100 and Sarah is 90, they have their first son together, named Isaac. When Isaac is still a small boy, God calls Abraham to sacrifice his one and only son. This is a test of Abraham’s faith. In Genesis 22, we see that just before Abraham sacrifices his son, God stops him and replaces his son with an adult lamb (ram) as a sacrifice instead. This sacrifice is the same as what Jesus does for us in the New Testament. Jesus takes our place on the cross for our sins. God then promises to Abraham in Genesis 22:18 “And in your seed all the nations of the Earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” Who is this seed? Paul talks about this seed in Galatians 3:16 in the New Testament: “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, And to seeds as referring to many, but rather to one, ‘And to your seed’ that is Christ”. You see God promised to Abraham that Jesus would be his descendant. Through Jesus all the world would be blessed!

BBS- Lesson 3

At the end of Lessons 2, we see that Abel sacrificed a first born lamb, the best of his flock to God in Genesis chapter 4. God accepted this sacrifice but did not accept Cain’s sacrifice. His sacrifice did not include a blood offering- a life for a life for our sin. Cain was then forced to leave his family after murdering his brother. Cain’s children did not follow God. Adam and Eve had another child named Seth in chapter 5. Seth’s children did follow God. In the Basic Bible Study, we learn that Cain’s children are often called “sons of man”. Seth’s children are often called “sons of God”. Seth’s children for the most part worshipped God. Eventually only one was left- Noah. In chapter 6, we learn that everyone else on the Earth was full of sin and evil. They disobeyed God. Noah was the only one left who obeyed God. Because of this God limited the human lifespan to 120 years. He then ordered Noah to build a boat for him and his family (his wife and his sons along with their wives- 8 people total). God was going to destroy everyone on the Earth with a flood. Why? Because all they wanted to do was sin and follow evil.

Noah was 600 when he and his family entered the Ark. God ordered Noah to take 2 pairs of every unclean animal. He ordered him to take 7 pairs of clean animals and birds, for future sacrifices and to eat. When God closed the door to the boat, it started to rain and underground water burst forth. It did this for 40 days and nights. The water covered the entire Earth for 150 days. After Noah became 601 years old, God ordered Noah to exit the boat. The flood was all dried up. Noah immediately built an altar to God and made a sacrifice. This required a blood sacrifice of an animal. God accepted this sacrifice, just like He accepted Abel’s sacrifice. He then put a rainbow in the clouds to mark a new promise or covenant. He would never again destroy the entire Earth with a flood!

Pay special attention to the Abel’s sacrifice of the animal in Genesis 4. Noah also made a similar sacrifice. You see, our sin leads to death. The only way our sin can be forgiven is if someone dies for us. In the Old Testament, God ordered His people to sacrifice animals in place of our sin. The animal’s blood or life was not perfect. This was only an example pointing to a greater sacrifice that would happen in the future. Jesus who is perfect became our perfect sacrifice on the cross. We do not need to sacrifice animals anymore because Jesus’s blood and life is perfect. He sacrificed Himself on the cross for our sin. Anyone who believes in Jesus will live forever with Him in His kingdom.

BBS- Lesson 2

In lesson 3, the Basic Bible Study from Deaf Missions focuses on the story of Adam and Eve, and then Cain and Abel. Look at the chart on this page. There are two important trees: The tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. God told them not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil or they would die (Genesis 2:9, 15-17). Satan then came into the story as a serpent. He began to trick or manipulate Eve into eating from that tree. He lied to Eve saying “You will not die’ the serpent replied to the woman. ‘God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5). As a result, they believed Satan’s lie and ate from this tree. This results in Sin that separated them from a relationship with God (Genesis 3:6-24). God then punished them, starting with the Serpent.

1.     The snake will crawl on his belly and eat dust.

2.     The woman will have pain in childbirth, and the husband will rule the family.

3.     Man will have to work hard and sweat to make the soil produce anything.

4.     All people will have a physical death. (Genesis 3:19b)

These punishments continue today. However, notice in Genesis 3:15 that God tells Satan, the serpent, “And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring, He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel”. The woman’s offspring in this verse is Jesus! Jesus will defeat Satan and crush his head! Satan will try to hurt Jesus on the cross. God planned to send Jesus to save us from our sins from the very beginning!

After giving Adam and Eve their punishments, God kills an animal and covers them with animal skin. This shows that He still loves them. He then sends them out of Eden- not because He is angry, but because He wants to protect them from eating the Tree of Life. If they eat from the Tree of Life while still separated from God by sin, then they will be stuck in sin forever with no chance of being saved by Jesus in the future!

As Adam and Eve have children, it becomes obvious that God instructed them on how to make a sacrifice or offering to God. Abel followed God’s instructions by offering the first born of his sheep, the best of the flock, to God on the altar. Cain offered some of the crop he grew- which did not please God. As we will learn later in the Bible, God requires a blood sacrifice for our sins- a life for a life. However, the blood or the life of an animal is not perfect enough to forgive us our sins forever. Only Jesus’s blood and life is perfect enough to cover our sins. This is why we see the animal sacrificed at the altar to God in the Old Testament. The animal sacrifice is only an example of what Jesus will do! His sacrifice on the cross covers our sin once and for all time!

BBS- Lesson 1

Before we dive into the lesson I want you read 3 different verses

Genesis 1:1 says “In the Beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth”

In the New Testament, John 1:1 talks about the same thing.

John 1:1-3 says” In the beginning the Word already existed, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him.

The WORD, in the verse means Jesus! Jesus created the Heavens and the Earth, nothing was created without Him! Not only that, but He is God!

Look at Colossians 1: 15- 16a it says “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God, He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation. For through Him God created everything in the Heavenly realms and on Earth….”

Jesus was there with God before anything was created. This means Jesus and God are the same! Jesus exists forever in the past and forever in the future, just like God! He has no beginning or end!

Now, let us focus on lesson 1 as developed by the Deaf Missions Group. Everything below is from them.

Look at the chart to help you understand the 7 statements below.

1.     The first day God said, “Let there be light!” (Genesis 1:3). God separated the light from the darkness. He named the light “day” and the darkness “night”. Read Genesis 1:4-5

2.     The second day God made a space to separate the water below it from the water above it. He called the space “Sky”. Read Genesis 1:6-8

3.     The third day God made dry land and told the Earth to grow grass, plants, and fruit trees. Read Genesis 1:9-11

4.     The fourth day God made the sun, moon, and stars. Read Genesis 1:14=19

5.     The fifth day God created the animals that live in the water and all kinds of birds. He told the sea animals to have more babies and fill the seas, and He told the birds to have many more babies. Read Genesis 1:20-23

6.     The sixth day God created the land animals and humans. Read Genesis 1:24-26.

a.     Man and woman are the best of God’s creation. Man and woman are the most important of all God’s creation. Why? Because God breathed the breath of life into them. Read Genesis 2:7. They are created in the image (likeness of God) Read Genesis 1:26-27 and Genesis 2:22-23.

b.     God put man and woman in charge of everything He created. Read Genesis 1:28

7.     On the seventh day God stopped creating and making new things. He rested.    “God looked at everything he had made. And he saw that everything was very good” (Genesis 1:1”)

Remember that everything God created was Good! This was before sin entered the picture. Humans were made in God’s image! We are His best creation! In the next lesson, we will learn about how sin separated us from God. Keep in mind- God always had a plan. Jesus was always with God even before everything was created! He knew what was going to happen next and already planned to have Jesus become a sacrifice for us- why? Because He loves us- we are His best creation!

Introduction

Basic Bible Study will start on Feb 13 in the new Global Grounds Coffee cafe at church at 7pm. Childcare provided. Check here to participate with questions and comments.

Before we begin the lessons- let us discuss the entire Bible really quick. Everything taught here can be found on page 8 and 9 of the Basic Bible Study PDF created by Deaf Missions posted in this unit.

There are 3 important truths to remember that the Bible teaches us. 
1. God loves u. 
2. God wants us to obey Him.
3. People who obey God will live with Him forever.

In total- there are 66 books of the Bible. 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament.

In the Old Testament we have:
1. The Law (God's law) 5 books
2. History of God's people (Joshua through Esther) 12 books
3. Poetry and Wisdom (Job through Song of Songs or Solomon) 5 books
4. Major Prophets (Isaiah through Daniel) 5 books
5. Minor Prophets- Hosea through Malachi (12 books)

In the New Testament, we have:

1. Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) 4 books
2. History of the church (Acts) 1 book
3. Paul's Letters (Romans through Philemon) 13 books
4. General letters (Hebrews through Jude) 8 books
5. Prophecy- (Revelation) 1 book

It took more than 1500 years for the Bible to be written. The Old Testament was written in the language Hebrew. The New Testament was written in Greek.

Read the following verses in your Bible or Bible app on your phone:

2 Timothy 3:16
2 Peter 1:21-22

What do these verses say? Comment below!
Do you have questions about the Bible in general? Ask below in the comment section.