Showing posts with label Abraham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Abraham. Show all posts

March 21, 2013

Journey to see God: Hear God's Voice


God's Voice is today's message. 


Psalm 29:3 The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters.
4 The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
5 The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.
7 The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire.
8 The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness….

Romans 10

New International Version (NIV)
10 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.”But the righteousness that is by faith says: Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
16 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. 18 But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:
Their voice has gone out into all the earth,    their words to the ends of the world.”
19 Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,
“I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;
    I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”
20 And Isaiah boldly says,
“I was found by those who did not seek me;
    I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”
21 But concerning Israel he says,
“All day long I have held out my hands
    to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

March 13, 2013

Journey to see God: God's Accounting -faith counts


God's accounting is different from man's accounting. 

In the heaven's accounts book, FAITH is accounted as, RIGHTEOUSNESS!


Romans 4

English Standard Version (ESV)

Abraham Justified by Faith

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
    and whose sins are covered;
blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

The Promise Realized Through Faith

13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believedwho gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

_______________
Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Hebrews 11:3
By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
Hebrews 10:19
The Full Assurance of Faith ] Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,
Hebrews 10:22
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Hebrews 10:38
but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
Hebrews 10:39
But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
Hebrews 11:1
By Faith ] Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 12:1
Jesus, Founder and Perfecter of Our Faith ] Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Hebrews 12:2
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 13:7
Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
Romans 14:22
The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.
Romans 14:23
But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

January 13, 2013

Journey to see God: See God’s reality in Abraham’s life


Abraham’s journey -one hundred years of faith living!
In this journey to see God through Abraham, the watchman and friends see how the Lord appeared to Abraham whom He called His friend. Note that the Lord actually took the initiative and conversed with Abraham a number of times. Abraham was a watchman and intercessor. He could understand spiritual matters and he believed in God and every words spoken by God. He had no Bible or even the Laws of Moses to guide him at that time. But he listened carefully to what the Lord spoke to him, and he remembered the conversations, acted on them and continued his journey by faith into the unseen future.
What did God do? God honored His own words.
GOD’S CALLING OF ABRAHAM & PROMISES (by faith Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home; he went without knowing where he was going. Hebrews 11:8. Romans 4:16-22)

  1. Genesis 12:1 [ Promises to Abram ] Now the Lord had said to Abram:“Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.
  2. Genesis 12:7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
  3. Genesis 12:4 So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
  4. Genesis 12:8 And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
  5. Genesis 13:4 to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
  6. Genesis 13:14 And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward;
  7. Genesis 13:18 Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord.
  8. Genesis 14:22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth,
  9. Genesis 15:1 [ The Lord’s Covenant Promise to Abram ] Some time later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.”
  10. Genesis 15:2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
  11. Genesis 15:4 Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.”
  12. Genesis 15:5 Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”
  13. Genesis 15:6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. (Romans 4:3)
  14. Genesis 15:7 Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”
  15. Genesis 15:13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years.
  16. Genesis 15:18 So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River
  17. Genesis 17:1 [ Abram Is Named Abraham ] When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life.
BIRTH OF ISAAC (child of the promise, born by the power of the Spirit. Galatians 4:28-29; Romans 9:8)

  1. Genesis 18:1 [ The Son of Promise ] Then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day.
  2. Genesis 18:13 And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’
  3. Genesis 18:14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”
  4. Genesis 21:1 [ Isaac Is Born ] And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken.
OFFER ISAAC (compare to God giving His only Son, John 3:16)

22:1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.
11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” 12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide;[b] as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
15 Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— 17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
INTERCESSION BY ABRAHAM  (James 2:23And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.)
  1. Genesis 18:17 And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, 
  2. Genesis 18:19 For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.”
  3. Genesis 18:20 And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave,
  4. Genesis 18:22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord.
  5. Genesis 18:26 So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”
  6. Genesis 18:27 Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord:
  7. Genesis 18:30 Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?”So He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
  8. Genesis 18:31 And he said, “Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?”So He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.”
  9. Genesis 18:32 Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?”And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.”
  10. Genesis 18:33 So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.
SARAH (ABRAHAM’S WIFE: an incident of walking by flesh and not by faith and the consequence)
  1. Genesis 16:2 So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.
  2. Genesis 16:5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.”
HAGAR (EGYPTIAN MAID received God’s message and the mercy of God)
  1. Genesis 16:7 Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.
  2. Genesis 16:9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.”
  3. Genesis 16:10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.”
  4. Genesis 16:11 And the Angel of the Lord said to her:“Behold, you are with child, And you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, Because the Lord has heard your affliction.
  5. Genesis 16:13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?”
SERVANT OF ABRAHAM (completed his mission to TAKE WIFE FOR ISAAC faithfully because he believed in Abraham’s God, Who remained faithful to His promises. The servant encountered and testified God’s reality!
  1. Genesis 24:27 And he said, “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren.”
  2. Genesis 24:31 And he said, “Come in, O blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels.”
  3. Genesis 24:40 But he said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I walk, will send His angel with you and prosper your way; and you shall take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s house.
  4. Genesis 24:42 “And this day I came to the well and said, ‘O Lord God of my master Abraham, if You will now prosper the way in which I go,
  5. Genesis 24:50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The thing comes from the Lord; we cannot speak to you either bad or good.
  6. Genesis 24:56 And he said to them, “Do not hinder me, since the Lord has prospered my way; send me away so that I may go to my master.”__________________________________

January 1, 2013

Journey to see God: So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him

The message today at this beginning of another human calendar year (period to mark a season of time and events), is "OBEDIENCE'
The case of Abraham, father of faith, is a classic case of human obedience by faith in action. Faith is not mere words. Faith can be seen. God is only pleased with faith. He sees faith in action.
Indeed, every born again Christian is called as Abraham was called: to depart from his familiar and comfort zone, even from himself (self-preservation) to venture into an unknown journey, a journey into the unknown. Why do we do that? Why do we commit ourselves to heed the same call? The watchman believes that this is a pure work of grace and mercy by the Lord. We respond to His call not because we are super-human in terms of spiritual sensitivity or inclination. We respond to the unseen God and believe in His word because the Spirit of the holy God touch us through the holy word in His holy Book (the Bible).
Faith means Obedience. We have no power to obey in our flesh. But the Spirit of the Lord has given us His power to do so. 
Genesis 12:1-9 (NKJV) Promises to Abram
12 Now the Lord had said to Abram:
Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
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.”
So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh.[a] And the Canaanites were then in the land.
Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.[b]
Footnotes:
  1. Genesis 12:6 Hebrew Alon Moreh
  2. Genesis 12:9 Hebrew Negev 
A celebration and song in faith to the covenant keeping God. 
1 Chronicles 16 David’s Song of Thanksgiving
On that day David first delivered this psalm into the hand of Asaph and his brethren, to thank the Lord:

Oh, give thanks to the Lord!
Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples!
Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
Talk of all His wondrous works!
10 Glory in His holy name;
Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!
11 Seek the Lord and His strength;
Seek His face evermore!
12 Remember His marvelous works which He has done,
His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,
13 O seed of Israel His servant,
You children of Jacob, His chosen ones!

14 He is the Lord our God;
His judgments are in all the earth.
15 Remember His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,
16 The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His oath to Isaac,
17 And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,
To Israel for an everlasting covenant,
18 Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
As the allotment of your inheritance,”

19 When you were few in number,
Indeed very few, and strangers in it.

20 When they went from one nation to another,
And from one kingdom to another people,
21 He permitted no man to do them wrong;
Yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes,
22 Saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones,
And do My prophets no harm.”[a]

23 Sing to the Lord, all the earth;
Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
24 Declare His glory among the nations,
His wonders among all peoples.

25 For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised;
He is also to be feared above all gods.
26 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
But the Lord made the heavens.
27 Honor and majesty are before Him;
Strength and gladness are in His place.

28 Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
Give to the Lord glory and strength.
29 Give to the Lord the glory due His name;
Bring an offering, and come before Him.
Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!
30 Tremble before Him, all the earth.
The world also is firmly established,
It shall not be moved.

31 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;
And let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
32 Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;
Let the field rejoice, and all that is in it.
33 Then the trees of the woods shall rejoice before the Lord,
For He is coming to judge the earth.[b]

34 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.[c]
35 And say, “Save us, O God of our salvation;
Gather us together, and deliver us from the Gentiles,
To give thanks to Your holy name,
To triumph in Your praise.”

36 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
From everlasting to everlasting![d]
And all the people said, “Amen!” and praised the Lord.

November 20, 2012

THE MESSAGE TODAY: How to be curse free?

Galatians 3

English Standard Version (ESV)

By Faith, or by Works of the Law?

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by[a] the flesh? Did you suffer[b] so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify[c] the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them. 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”[d] 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit[e] through faith.

The Law and the Promise

15 To give a human example, brothers:[f] even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave[g] nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
Footnotes:
  1. Galatians 3:3 Or now ending with
  2. Galatians 3:4 Or experience
  3. Galatians 3:8 Or count righteous; also verses 11, 24
  4. Galatians 3:11 Or The one who by faith is righteous will live
  5. Galatians 3:14 Greek receive the promise of the Spirit
  6. Galatians 3:15 Or brothers and sisters
  7. Galatians 3:28 Greek bondservant

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