James 1:9-15 We discuss sincere praise regardless of circumstance and God's form of social justice. We also highlighted the difference between tempting and testing.

Genesis 24:42-53 We examine the remainder of Abraham's servant's speech before they have a meal - both worship and negotiation? We noted the strange treatment of Bethuel in the text.

James 1:1-8 We identify who is writing, to whom he is writing, and when. We discuss what it is to have joy in tribulation and asking for wisdom without doubting.

Genesis 24:34-41 We examine the first part of Abraham's servant's speech before they have a meal.

We look briefly at Laban inviting in Abraham's servant (and his men).

We spend most of our time discussing Jesus' statement regarding His second coming and how it would be like the days of Noah - some are taken, some are left behind, but which is which?

We examine Rebekah's behavior toward Abraham's servant and we discuss the servant's hesitancy to consider his prayer answered!

We also finish up our shallow dive into Paul and his Judaism.

David gave another brief talk on Apologetics - is religion only a product of culture?

We examine Abraham's servant's preparations, his strategic planning and preparation, and his prayer to God. We saw how all of those worked together in our introduction to Rebekah.

We also continue our look at Paul and his relationship with Judaism as the leaders in Jerusalem claim that he 'live[s] in observance of the law'.

We examine the details of Abraham sending his most trusted servant on a mission to find a wife for his son, Isaac.

We also looked at Paul's circumcision of Timothy - why and the consequences and meaning.

We also had a member of our group provide an intro to apologetics.

Though this talk was not a part of Men's Bible Study, it is included here in case there is any interest or curiosity. This talk was given as one session of the 'Committed' classes at RLC. The presentation and character attribute list can be found here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mMt9VDO57NAjhsP85GPHKOav5SoGzumW/view?usp=sharing

We look at the death and burial of Sarah - including Abraham's negotiation for the Cave at Machpelah.

We also examined the council at Jerusalem in Acts 15 and asked ourselves under what circumstances having that meeting would actually make sense.

We looked at the result of Abraham's willingness to trust God - even to the point of offering his son as a sacrifice. Abraham had kept his part of the covenant (walk before me and be blameless) and God recommitted to fulfilling his promises.

We also looked at some new testament scripture that shows that Paul recognized the ongoing validity of 'the law'. (More to come...)

We examined how this story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son was actually intended to show that God is not like other gods and does not want human sacrifice.

We also studied what Paul meant when he said he 'became' a Jew, a proselyte, a Gentile, weak, etc...