Week 2: January 12 – 18, 2020
Sunday, January 12: Genesis 16-18; Mark 6
Monday, January 13: Genesis 19-20; Psalm 1; Mark 7
Tuesday, January 14: Genesis 21-23; Psalm 107; Mark 8
Wednesday, January 15: Genesis 24-25; Psalm 4; Mark 9
Thursday, January 16: Genesis 26-27; Mark 10

Sunday, January 12:  Genesis 16-18; Mark 6

Genesis 16: To where and why did Hagar leave?  What did the angel tell her and what was she instructed to do?

Genesis 17:  Why did God change Abram’s name to Abraham? What was the covenant that God made with Abraham, and what was the sign of the covenant?

Genesis 18: Who do you think the visitors were?  What did they tell Abraham and why and how did he negotiate (haggle) with God?

Mark 6:  Why did the people take offense at Jesus in verse 3?  Why couldn’t Jesus do miracles in Nazareth? 

Journal Prompt:  Read Mark 6:5-6.  Write about your prayers and your faith?

Genesis 16: Hagar became pregnant (Sarai told her to sleep with Abram so he would have a child – she was tired of waiting on God.), and she despised Sarai, who then mistreated Hagar who fled to the desert.  The angel told her to return and submit to Sarai, and that her son was to be called Ishmael (God hears).  Ishmael would have many descendants, but the angel also told her that Ishmael would live in hostility with his brothers.

Genesis 17: God told Abram, which means ‘exalted father’ (an interesting name given that he was 86 years old), that his new name would be Abraham – which means father of many. (According to the footnotes in my Bible – v. 4)  God promised that Abraham would be fruitful and nations and kings would come from him (v. 6).  The sign of the covenant was circumcision for all males – to be done at 8 days old.  Abraham circumcised himself, Ishmael and all the males in his household.

Genesis 18: The visitors were messengers from God.  They told Abraham Sarah would have a son.  God also revealed to Abraham that Sodom and Gomorrah would be destroyed because of their sinfulness.  Abraham asked him to spare the cities if he could find 50, then 45, then 40, then 30, then 20, then 10 righteous people in the city. We will find that there were not that many righteous people in the city.

Mark 6: People in Nazareth couldn’t get over the fact that Jesus was so wise, which is bizarre because he must have lived there for the past thirty years, and undoubtedly he must have displayed some attributes that people would have taken notice of, but maybe this was all a part of God’s plan.  He couldn’t do miracles because the people didn’t believe He could be the Messiah.  It’s obvious that faith has a lot to do with Jesus’ works.