Category Archives: Jesus
Obey Immediately
Genesis 17:23 “Abraham immediately took his son Ishmael and all of the slaves born in his household or bought with his money—every single male within his household—and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins on that very day, just as God had told him to do.” (The Voice)
Acts 10:34-35 “…Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” (ESV). Read the rest of this entry
Challenge It!
Numbers 27:8 “And give the following instructions to the people of Israel: If a man dies and has no son, then give his inheritance to his daughters.”
Matthew 12:12 “Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” (ESV). Read the rest of this entry
Embrace Then Challenge
Matthew 12:11 “He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? (ESV)
What Jesus is saying, in other words, is if you can have and show mercy to a sheep, how much more this man of great value. Read the rest of this entry
Slow Down
Luke 7:46-47 “You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”
Our first lesson from the story in Matthew 12:9-14 (please read again) is Embrace Compassion. Read the rest of this entry
Seen
Matthew 12:9-10 “Then Jesus went over to their synagogue, where he noticed a man with a deformed hand. The Pharisees asked Jesus, “Does the law permit a person to work by healing on the Sabbath?” (They were hoping he would say yes, so they could bring charges against him.)”
God will notice you. Heaven will pay attention to you in the Mighty Name of Jesus. There were a lot of people, but as soon as Jesus got there, He noticed the man. Read the rest of this entry
Love Freely
1 John 4:20-21 “If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.”
Abraham’s life teaches us that to embrace the horizon and take hold of everything that God has for us this year and beyond, we have to Live Thankfully, Seek Wisdom, Believe Boldly, and Sacrifice Accordingly. Read the rest of this entry
Requisite Sacrifice
Genesis 12:7 “Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him.”
Hebrews 11:17-19 “It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.” Abraham was not playing games. Abraham was not holding up the knife and saying, “God, can you see? Going, going, going, stop me, stop me.” Read the rest of this entry
The Art
Genesis 22:6 “So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together”
Isaac, being properly schooled in the art of sacrifice and worship. Or probably just by observation, asking questions, and his father explaining knew the art of sacrifice. Read the rest of this entry
The Altar
Genesis 22:1-2 “Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called. “Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.” “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go… and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
For Abraham to take that first step out of his father’s house, it was a sacrifice. For him to go in the direction that God was leading him was a sacrifice. Read the rest of this entry
Sacrifice Accordingly
Genesis 12:4-5 “So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed… Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth—his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran—and headed for the land of Canaan.”
For many of you reading this, Heaven is challenging you to go back to simply believing. Life can get so complicated, and a lot of us have forgotten the art of just simply believing God. Read the rest of this entry
