Tune and Prepare!

The family tree Jesus’ family tree is firmly rooted in the history of the house of Abraham and later Israel, linking him to Abraham, through whom God promised to bless all nations, and to David, whose dynasty was promised to endure forever. As the Son of Abraham, Jesus is identified as the One through whom all nations on earth are to be blessed - not merely a tribal deity, but the universal Savior for all humanity. The first-century The first-century Jewish world into which Jesus was born was a complex tapestry of religious fervor, political tension, and spiritual longing. Understanding this context illuminates both the challenge Jesus faced and the revolutionary nature of his ministry. In the first century, religious life in Israel was dominated by several competing groups, each with distinct beliefs and practices. The Jewish people lived under Roman occupation, administered through puppet rulers like the Herodian dynasty and Roman governors such as Pontius Pilate. This ...

One of the very first sermons that I was asked to preach when I was still a seminarian in 1972 at Whitliff Hall just up the road here was in St. Eb's church in Oxford on Trinity Sunday which was a great privilege and quite scary and the text was Isaiah 6. Isaiah 6, very well-known reading for Trinity Sunday when Isaiah in the temple sees the angels serenating God and singing, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory." And then Isaiah is scared and says, "Woe is me. What's going to happen?" And the angel comes and touches his lips with a hot coal and says, "Actually, your iniquity is taken away." And then there's a voice saying, "Who shall I send and who will go for us?" And Isaiah says, ".. here am I. Send me." Now, normally on Trinity Sunday, and I already knew this because of growing up going to church, that reading would stop at that point. ...

Abraham sacrificed virtually everything in Isaac that was important to him. It was then that he came very close to the Eternal God who sacrificed His only son, only heir for us. When we offer our treasures for God and make sacrifices for others that require total devotion, we move out of the confines of our religion and come close to the redeeming God. unknown

Ābrahám gyakorlatilag mindent feláldozott Izsákban, ami fontos volt számára. Ekkor került nagyon közel az Örökkévaló Istenhez aki feláldozta értünk egyetlen fiát, egyetlen örökösét. Amikor felajánljuk kincseinket Istennek, és olyan áldozatokat hozunk másokért, amelyek teljes odaadást igényelnek, akkor kilépünk vallásunk korlátai közül, és közel kerülünk a megváltó Istenhez ismeretlen

By David Guzik {enduringword.com} on May 26, 2024 (Abraham) said, “Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?” Genesis 15:8 Jesus spoke of faith that could move mountains (based on Matthew 17:20), but often our doubts seem to create those mountains. Trusting God and His promises is a constant challenge, faced by everyone who has ever tried to chase away doubt. Sometimes doubt comes from unbelief – an attitude that doubts God will keep His word or can keep His promises. Other times doubt is connected to faith that is growing and maturing; a doubt that recognizes that there is no weakness or wavering in God, but we are weak in our ability to trust. This was the kind of doubt that led a desperate father to say to Jesus, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) God promised Abram a son and he waited ten (10!) years. Abram was successful in business and every other enterprise, but he thought “what good is all that without the fulfillment of God’s promis...

By David Guzik – Enduring Word I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Genesis 12:2-3 God told a Mesopotamian man from an idol-worshipping family to leave his land and his family, and to receive a wonderful promise. God promised Abram a land, a nation, and a blessing. Abram only partially obeyed. First, he traveled half-way to the place God told him to go, and he brought his father and nephew with him, though God had told him to leave his family. Yet in God’s grace and goodness, He worked with Abram’s partial obedience and eventually Abram came to the land of Canaan – the land God promised him. Abram would become a giant of faith, even being the father of the believing (Galatians 3:7-9); yet he did not start as a hero of faith. We see Abram as an example of growin...

rethink ...that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.. Gal. 3:14 The promise of the Spirit is equated with the blessing of Abraham, even though the Old Testament passage does not mention the Spirit. Since the “blessing of Abraham” came in the form of a “promise,” this word is the one Paul uses throughout the argument of Galatians 3:13-14 to refer to the blessing of the Abrahamic covenant. In a statement crucial to this argument, Paul says the fulfillment of this promised blessing for the Gentiles is in their having experienced the Spirit as a living and dynamic reality. The blessing of Abraham, therefore, is not simply “justification by faith.” Rather, it refers to the life of the future now available to Jew and Gentile alike, achieved through the death of Christ but applied through the dynamic ministry of the Spirit—and all of this by faith.’ The full article is here

by todaydevotional.com Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Eternal God. Genesis 21:33 Abimelek, a local ruler, wanted to make a treaty with Abraham because, as he said, “God is with you in everything you do.” Abimelek played it safe and became an ally of Abraham rather than an enemy. At first glance, this may seem a minor incident in Abraham’s life, but at Beersheba we see that Abraham calls on the LORD as El Olam, “the Everlasting God” or “Eternal God.” The Hebrew word olam means “for a long time, always, forever.” El Olam thus reveals God as “the Everlasting God,” without beginning or end. Why would Abraham use the name El Olam here? Note that before encountering Abimelek, Sarah had given birth to Isaac, the son God had promised. Abraham saw that God was faithful to his promises from many years earlier. As a reminder that “the Everlasting God” keeps his promises, Abraham planted a tamarisk tree, a...