September 25, 2016 - Esua Sells Birthright

TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! PSALM 133:1

Do you have siblings (brothers and sister)? If yes, do you always get along with them?  I doubt it.  Siblings may love each other but they usually don't get along all the time!  This week, we are talking about a set of siblings in the Bible that didn't get along very well at all.

Last week, we learned about how Abraham found his son, Isaac, a wife named Rebekah.  Isaac and Rebekah loved each other very much and eventually had children; a set of

twins named Esau (meaning hairy) and Jacob (meaning trickster or heel grabber). These two may have been twins but they were very different from each other.  Esau, the slightly older brother, was a strong, hairy, manly hunter.  Jacob, on the other hand, was a smoothed skin and was more a farmer than a hunter. 

In those days, the oldest son in the family inherited something special called the birthright.  A birthright meant that you got twice as much inheritance as any of your siblings and you eventually became the new head of the family.  Esau, being the firstborn, was one day going to inherit the birthright from his father.  However, Jacob had a plan to get it for himself.

One day, Esau went out on a hunting trip.  Jacob knew that

Esau would be very hungry when he got home so he cooked

up a big pot of lentil stew.  When Esau came back he smelled the stew and it made him even hungrier.
"Give me some of your stew, Jacob." Esau said.  "I'll trade you some of my stew if you give me your birthright." Jacob replied.  Esau thought about this and realized that a birthright was no good to him if he starved to death so he agreed to the trade.  

Do you think this was a good trade?  The birthright was a gift that God designed to be given to the firstborn.  Do you think God was happy the Esau gave it away so easily?  What are some gifts God has given you?  Would you ever trade or give them away for anything?  Think about it...

September 18, 2016 - Isaac Marries Rebekah

TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

He who finds a wife finds a great good; he has won the favor of the Lord. 

Proverbs 18:22

Mawridgde...Mawridge is what bwings us togevah today.  Yes, this week we discussed a marriage that happened a long time ago with Abraham's son, Isaac. We know from last week that Isaac's mother, Sarah, was 90 years old when Isaac was born.  When Isaac was 37 years old, Sarah passed away at the age of 127. 

Isaac's father, Abraham, knew that his son needed to be comforted.  He decided that it was time for Isaac to get married.  However, Abraham did not want Isaac to marry a Canaanite woman.  He decided to send his servant back to his homeland to find Isaac a wife from his own people. 

So the servant, along with some other servants and 10 camels, made the long journey to the Chaldeans.  The servant began to wonder how he would know which girl to choose so he decided to ask God. He asked God to send the woman that He chose for

Isaac to him. He would know it was her if she gave him a drink from the well and then watered all of his camels (and camels can drink a lot!).

As he waited by the well, a beautiful girl came by named Rebekah.  The servant asked her to get him a drink. She said, "I will draw water for your camels also,

until they have finished drinking."  (Genesis 22:19)  She then went back and forth to the well until all the camels had all the water they wanted.  Seeing this, the servant knew that this was the girl that God has chosen as a wife for Isaac.  After this, the servant gave Rebekah two gold bracelets and (no joke) put a gold ring in her nose! 

Rebekah then invited the servant back to stay with her family.  There he met her brother, Laban, and told her family about how God had led him to Rebekah and why Abraham had sent him.  This made the family happy but the final decision was Rebekah’s.  She agreed to go with the servant and become the wife of Isaac. Rebekah

then traveled back to Canaan with the servant to meet her new family and future husband.  Once there, she met and married Isaac.  Having Rebekah as his wife comforted Isaac after his mother died. Today, God still wants us to find a husband or wife that He chooses for us.  Marrying the right spouse who loves God will make all the difference when we want to live for Him.  Also, Just like with Isaac and Rebekah, a husband and wife are to be there to comfort and encourage each other in the hard times as well as in the good times.

September 11, 2016 - God Keeps His Promise to Abraham

TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE
Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
Luke 18:27

What is a promise? Have you ever made a promise? Has anyone ever made you a promise?  Have they broken that promise?  It hurts when someone breaks a promise to us, doesn't it?  Do we ever have to worry about God breaking His promises to us?  What if the promise God made seems impossible?  It then can become hard to trust.

God had made a promise to Abraham that he would have a son and that through his descendants, the whole Earth would be blessed.  The problem was that Abraham was 75 years old when he received the promise and his wife was 65.  If that wasn't bad enough, they waited 24 years and God still hadn't given them the son He promised! Abraham was then 99 years old and he and his wife Sarah had not had a child. would you find it hard to trust God then? Abraham and Sarah did...

One day, three strangers were passing by Abraham's tent.

 Somehow, Abraham knew that these were angels from God. Some think that one of them was Jesus!  Abraham convinced the men to stay and he fed them while Sarah stayed inside the tent and listened.  One of the men then told Abraham that by the same time the next year, he and Sarah would have a son.  Sarah, who was now 89 years old, thought that the idea of having a child at their age was so silly that she couldn't help but laugh.  The man

then asked her, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”  (Genesis 18:13-14) Sarah, embarrassed at being caught, denied laughing but the man said, "Yes, you did laugh."  Not long after, the three strangers left.  

A year later, true to His word, God gave Abraham and Sarah

a son.  Abraham named him Isaac which means "laughter." Abraham was so happy to have a son that he had a great feast to celebrate. Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old when Isaac was born. Abraham loved his son Isaac very much.

One day, God came to Abraham to test him.  He said to Abraham,  “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” (Genesis 22:2) 

Now Abraham knew that God had promised that, through Isaac, God would give Abraham many descendants so Isaac could not die before he had any children of his own.  Abraham believed God so he thought, "If God tells me to kill Isaac, then God will have to bring Isaac back to life to keep his promise!" (ref. Hebrews 11:19) 

So the next morning, Abraham took Isaac, two servants, and a donkey to carry the wood and set off on a three day journey to where God sent him.  When the place was in sight, Abraham and Isaac went ahead and left the servants and the donkey behind telling them that they would be back after they worship God. 

Isaac who was carrying the wood, looked at his father and asked, “The fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham simply assured him that God would provide the lamb. Isaac didn't know that he would be the one sacrificed that day. 

After they got to the site and built the altar, Abraham tied

Isaac up and placed him on it.  He pulled out his knifed and prepared to sacrifice him but the Angel of the Lord said from Heaven, “Abraham! Abraham! Do not lay a hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” (Genesis 22:11-12) 

So, Abraham passed God's test and God kept his promise to Abraham.  Afterwards they all went home to live...for a while.  Abraham and Sarah were both very old when Isaac was born.  When Isaac was 37, his mother Sarah passed away.  Abraham both a cave

in Hebron and the field that went with it in to bury Sarah in.  It was the first land that Abraham owned in the land God had promised to him and his descendants.

September 4, 2016 - Abram Obeys God

TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as

righteousness. 

Genesis 15:6

What are you willing to do for God?  How far would you be willing to go? It’s a hard question to answer when you know what’s expected of you but what if you didn’t? What if God asked you to go through a door when you had no idea what was waiting on the other side? Most of us would like to say that we would do anything God asked of us but it’s a little harder when it really happens.

This is exactly what happened to a man named Abram a

long time ago.  He had moved with his father and family from his home country of Ur of the Chaldeans to a place called Haran.  There Abram’s father died.  Abram had planned to settle in Haran in his father’s household until God intervened.  God told Abram to leave his father’s household and travel somewhere else.  He was to take his family and go to a land that God said He would show Abram. 

What would you do?  Would you leave your extended family and friends and move your own family and everything you have even though you have no idea where you’re going? Would you have that much faith in God?  Abram did.  Abram believed that God would keep his promises.  What promises?  Read it for yourself.

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

² “I will make you into a great nation,    and I will bless you;I will make your name great,    and you will be a blessing.³ I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;and all peoples on earth    will be blessed through you.

(Genesis 12:1-3)

Does this mean that Abram always trusted God and did the

right thing?  No.  In fact, when a famine hit Canaan (the land God led Abram to), Abram worried that his people would starve so he left the land God sent him to and moved to Egypt!  As they got close to Egypt, Abram worried that the Pharaoh (King of Egypt) would kill him and take Sarai, his wife.  You see, Sarai was very beautiful and Abram knew it. 

So Abram came up with a plan.  He told Sarai to tell Pharaoh that she was Abram’s sister, not his wife.  When she did this, Pharaoh took her into his palace and made plans to make her his wife!  He even gave Abram many nice gifts.  Do you think this made God happy? Absolutely not!  God was so angry that he made Pharaoh very sick.  Somehow, Pharaoh figured out that Sarai was

Abram’s wife and this was the reason he was so sick. 

So, Pharaoh said to Abram, “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?  I might have made her my wife because you lied to me!  Take your people and all your stuff and leave Egypt

immediately!”  So Abram and his family had to move back to Canaan where God wanted them in the first place.  They settled in Canaan in the land of Hebron where Abram built an altar and worshipped God. 

Even though Abram made a mistake, he was still a very faithful man. 

The Bible says that when Abram believed God, He counted it as righteousness.  No man has his own righteousness but we can be counted as righteous when we believe in Jesus and accepts His gift of eternal life. 

So, what about you?  Are you willing to do whatever God

tells you to do; go wherever God tells you to go? It probably won’t be easy but we need to believe God will keep His promises to us.  Who knows?  God may lead you on a great adventure!  

August 28, 2016 - Noah's Ark

TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.  

Ephesians 4:11-12

So far this year we have talked about creation, Adam naming the animals, God creating Eve from Adam’s rib, and the fall of man from eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  The Devil seems to have won that round but God said it isn’t over.  He said he would send someone to crush Satan’s head!  Do you think this stopped Satan?  Of course not.

Satan had been hard at work trying to get as many people

to sin against God as he could.  After a while, Satan had been so successful that the earth was full of evil people.  The Bible says that every thought that people had was evil all the time!  God knew that humanity had become too evil to save.  However, there was one man who had found favor with God, a man named Noah.

God told Noah that He planned to destroy the earth with a

worldwide flood but that there was a way for Noah and his family to be safe.  God told Noah to build a huge boat called an “Ark.” (Ark actually means box)   It was to be 50 cubits wide, 30 cubits tall, and 300 cubits long.  A cubit is commonly thought to be about the

length from your elbow to your fingertip or about 1 ½ feet. That means that the Ark was about 75 feet wide, 45 feet

tall, and around 450 to 500 feet long!  It was about as long as 1 ½ football fields!!  Noah was also told to make it three stories and cover it with pitch (a tar like substance) inside and out to make it water proof. 

Noah was to take at least a pair (seven pairs of some) of every animal on the Ark with him and his family.  Noah was 600 years old when he and his three sons; Shem, Ham, and Japheth, entered the Ark with their wives and all

the animals. Nobody was saved from the flood except Noah and his family. 

It rained on the earth for forty days and nights and the water underground burst to the surface flooding everything over the tip of

the highest mountain!  The Earth was completely flooded for almost 200 days!  Finally God sent a wind and the waters began to recede.  The Ark landed on the top of a mountain called Ararat (Possibly in a mountain range in Turkey).  After about 260 days, Noah sands out a raven and then a

dove but both come back because neither could find a place to land.  A week later Noah sent the dove again and it brought back an olive branch meaning that there was dry ground somewhere.

Finally, sent the dove again and it did not return which told Noah that it had found a

place to land.  After about 375 days, Noah, his family, and all the animals finally left the Ark after a little over a year!  Noah built an altar and made a sacrifice to thank God for sparing them and God put a rainbow in the sky as a promise to never destroy the earth with a flood again.