The 12 studies in these notes are suitable for use by home groups and by individuals. They have been "tested" by Ashford Congregational Church No. 1 Home Group and by my dear wife.

Some of the longer studies may need to be split into two parts to allow enough time for discussion and investigation of the passages.

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We were sitting in our back garden, combining enjoyment of the last of the Summer sun with the last home group meeting of the 2007/8 season. The group summarily rejected all my suggestions for what to study during in 2008/9. Then somebody said, "I want to study Genesis". Somebody else, who hadn't been a Christian that long said, "I've never read Genesis", so that was that sorted.

Except that when I looked for some Bible study material to use, there was nothing suitable. A certain (usually) good supplier of Bible study notes published a set which actually stopped at Genesis chapter 11: How depressing is that? All the bad news, decline and apparent foiling of God's sovereign purposes. So, these notes ride the Genesis roller-coaster from the top, down to the bottom, then up the other side, as God's purposes begin to fruit. We don't just do the bad news; we do the good too. We do God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. We take in the Sunday school bits, the scary bits and the sordid bits (albeit quickly). Furthermore, we take in much of the typology and undeniable pointers to Christ, combining Reformed systematic theology with biblical theology. The notes are highly applied, hopefully challenging, and make sure that the reader grasps the main themes in Genesis ...

BTW: I think I should, in all gratitude, also point out that these notes were prepared entirely using free software: Fedora Linux, OpenOffice.org 3 (originally), LibreOffice 6, The Gimp and many others.

Here is the table on contents for the whole Bible study course:

• PART I - THE WAY DOWN

  • 1. 1:1-2:3 God, Creation and Us
  • 2. 2:4-2:25 God Provides; Man Images
  • 3. 3:1-6:8 Sin, Death and Judgement
  • 4. 6:9-9-29 Noah: A Fresh Start
  • 5. 10:1-11:26 Nimrod, Humanism and God's Sovereignty

• PART II - THE WAY UP

  • 6. 12:1-14:24; Ch. 18,19 Abram and Lot
  • 7. 15:1-17:27; 18:1-15; Ch. 21:1-20 Abraham, Sarah and Ishmael
  • 8. 20; 21:22-34; 22:1-19; 23:1-20; 25:1-18 Abraham Tested: Threats to God's Promises
  • 9. 24; 25:19-27:40 Isaac, Jacob and Esau: God's Blessings and God's Sovereignty
  • 10. 27:41-35:15 Jacob: Blessed, Preserved, Chastised, Converted
  • 11. 35:16-45:24; 49:1-28; 50:15-21 Joseph: His Brothers, and God's Sovereignty
  • 12. 37:12-36; 45:25-50:26 Joseph, Jesus and the Resurrection

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