Foundation of Faith
February SOAP: Faith in Action

1. SCRIPTURES: Heb 11:1-6

2. OBSERVATION
- Faith is a tangible substance needed to sustain a hope for something to happen
- Faith is shown when we believe things unseen though it's there
- Faith is understanding that all visible things are created by an invisible God
- Faith is pleasing God in worship who is unseen
- Faith is walking faithfully with God who is unseen
- Faith in action WILL BE REWARDED BY GOD

3. APPLICATION
- The display of faith in God is a daily affair. We lived in a seen world governed by an unseen God.
- To make daily decisions under the submission to an unseen God is faith in action
- Therefore, it takes seeking God and understanding God by His Word to put our faith into action

4. PRAYER
- Lord, through living out my faith in You, I will become a testimony of Your existence (Heb 11:2). By this, some may be drawn to You. Amen!

Themes in Genesis
January SOAP: Unfinished

1. SCRIPTURES: Gen 49:29-33

2. OBSERVATION
- Jacob was in his dying moment
- He gathered all his sons and gave instructions to bury him in that plot of land his grandfather Abraham bought in the promised Canaan
- Jacob's generation still didn't get to enter the Promised land

3. APPLICATION
- God's promise to Abraham that his descendents would inherit Canaan took a process to fulfill.
- Likewise, God's plans for us may take a while to be fulfilled.
- God's people were shaped in their journey to the Promised land Canaan. Their faith was tested. Their understanding of God increased. Their encounters with God was enriching
- God is not only interested in the end. Perhaps the means to the end may be more important for shaping us than the end itself
- God is UNFINISHED with us.

4. PRAYER
- Lord, I'm an UNFINISHED product.
- Help me not to only focused on the end but to see you in the journey to the end.
- Help me to appreciate the lessons you are teaching me in the process... Amen!

Themes in Genesis
January SOAP: Forgiveness acts

1. SCRIPTURES: Gen 45

2. OBSERVATION
- Joseph was overwhelmed with emotion when he finally understood his suffering was allowed by God for a much greater good to preserve his family
- His understanding caused him to forgive
- His act of forgiveness brought a lot of good to him and his family. He invoked a plan of reconciliation
- Joseph's father was dying to see his son after all these years

3. APPLICATION
- When we have no understanding of the suffering we are going through, we walk trusting a loving God
- Life revolves around relationships. we either build them or destroy them. God is into the building business though. So partner with Him

4. PRAYER
Lord, release the power of forgiveness here on earth. Cause thousands of relationships to heal in the process. Amen!

Themes in Genesis
January SOAP: God is still there with you

1. SCRIPTURES: Gen 41

2. OBSERVATION
- Through a drastic turn of events, Joseph was brought from imprisonment to importance in Egypt
- Throughout these turn of events, Joseph was very clear who orchestrated it and who is the Source of bringing him from slavery to significance. It's God (v16)
- God had not forgotten Joseph though circumstance of his suffering in obscurity might suggest otherwise
- God had a plan for Joseph to bring him into his destiny

3. APPLICATION
- God is always with us despite circumstances that suggest otherwise
- Every challenge is in God's plan to shape us to who God wants us to be and bring us to where God wants us to go

4. PRAYER
God, give hope to those who are in their obscure seasons of their life. Let them know that You are still with them

Themes in Genesis
January SOAP: Life is a beautiful struggle

1. SCRIPTURES: Gen 32:22-32

2. OBSERVATION
- Jacob seemed to wrestle with a man all night long which this man equated that Jacob had struggled with God
- Jacob's struggle was to get a blessing from the man which he got because of his tenacity
- Jacob's hip was injured in this struggle. A reminder of his encounter

3. APPLICATION
- Sometimes struggles are beautiful because they show our dependence on God and they show God's goodness through it all
- Our understanding of God gets deepened too when God reveals himself through our struggles in life

4. PRAYER
"You give and take away, You give and take away. My heart will choose to say. Lord blessed be Your Name"

Themes in Genesis
January SOAP: Family Tragedy

1. SCRIPTURES: Gen 27

2. OBSERVATION
- Isaac was about to die and according to tradition would bless the oldest son (Esau)
- Isaac's wife Rebekah devised a deceitful plan to get Jacob to get the blessing instead
- Jacob 'cooperated' with his mom and the plan succeeded
- Isaac found out that he was tricked.
- His son Esau went hysterical too when he found out his blessing was stolen
- Revenge and hatred was in Esau's mind toward Jacob his younger brother
- Rebekah was already mad at Isaac for being unfaithful by having all the other wives
- This could well be the resentment and hurt inside Rebekah that caused her to deceive Isaac
- Her deceitfulness was a trait passed on to Jacob

3. APPLICATION
- Our lives are shaped and influenced by either those people who have loved us or hurt us
- And usually these people are the closest to us like our own family members
- Families are either built by love or destroyed by hurt
- It seems that family traits are passed to the children - Rebekah's deceitfulness to Jacob and Isaac's anger issue to Esau

4. PRAYER
Lord, build families upon the foundation of love. Let this be the main strategy. Mend brokenness. Restore families that have been destroyed by the Grace and power of Your love

Themes in Genesis
January SOAP: Pause and Praise

1. SCRIPTURES: Gen 12-13

2. OBSERVATION
- Abraham paused at different juncture in his faith journey with God to praise and remember Him. (v7,8)
- Abraham returned to that place of remembrance and worshiped there again (13:4)

3. APPLICATION
- To pause and praise is to train oneself to be aware of God's leading and work in our lives
- The deliberate act of taking time to pause and praise slows our hectic life down to listen to the voice of God

4. PRAYER
Lord, let me take deliberate time to slow down, pause and praise You. Amen!

Themes in Genesis
January SOAP: What you treasure

1. SCRIPTURES: Gen 43; 46:1-4

2. OBSERVATION
- Jacob was so reluctant to let Benjamin his son go to Egypt
- He was afraid of losing this son if he allowed Benjamin to go
- His thinking is that he had lost his precious son Joseph (son of his precious wife Rachel). He didn't want to lose the 2nd son, birthed from Rachel as well
- Upon getting a vision from God that his son Joseph was alive and he would see him again, he gathered all that he had to meet him in Egypt even at the risk of his old age.

3. APPLICATION
- You wouldn't want to give up what's precious to you.
- Conversely you would do all you can to get what's precious to you.
- Think about what's precious to you. Does it include your family members?

4. PRAYER
Lord, may I include my family as those whom I will not give up and those whom I will pursue. Amen!

Themes in Genesis
January SOAP: Living in the Promised Land

1. SCRIPTURES: Gen 23

2. OBSERVATION
- Sarah was dead and Abraham looked for a burial site in the Promised Canaan land
- Abraham insisted on purchasing a piece of land even when the Hittites said he could use their land
- Abraham acknowledged that he was a foreigner in this land but still chose to bury his dead there, suggesting he was convinced that this land was his land as promised by God
- He did all he could to own this promised land. It was a small start to inheriting what was his through God

3. APPLICATION
- Think Big, Start Small.
- When we walk in the belief that God will fulfill His promise to us, our actions follow through as if we have already own it. That's faith

4. PRAYER
- Lord, lead me a step at a time into what is promised for me for 2013! Amen

Themes in Genesis
January SOAP: Moral Compass Gone Wrong

1. SCRIPTURES: Gen 19

2. OBSERVATION
- Lot lived in a very immoral city Sodom that bred extreme sexual practices such as homosexuality and loose sex
- Lot was pressured to facilitate a certain homosexual activity but offer loose sex instead. (Rationale seemed to be loose sex is of a lesser degree of immorality than homosexuality)
- Lot's moral compass was already spoiled living in Sodom for so long
- God told Lot to flee for the land of evil (Sodom) will be destroyed
- God's mercy and grace was shown when He warned Lot to flee from all these evil. His life was spared

3. APPLICATION
- Living too long in a sinful environment weakens and will eventually destroy our moral compass
- God is calling us to flee and not stay, adjust and be comfortable in the world of compromise

4. PRAYER