God made a covenant with Abraham, a promise that his descendants would be the people of God, occupy the land of Canaan, and become a blessing to all the world. The promise continued through Abraham’s son Isaac, Isaac’s son Jacob, and Jacob’s son Joseph. But Joseph’s brothers hated him, so they sold him into slavery…
Read MoreThe God Who’s With You
God made a covenant with Abraham, a promise that his descendants would be the people of God, occupy the land of Canaan, and become a blessing to all the world. Abraham had a son named Isaac, and the promise continued through Isaac. Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau, and even though Esau was the…
Read MoreThe Promise Continues
Continuing our walk through Genesis, we see that Abraham’s son Isaac grows up and marries a woman named Rebekah, and Isaac and Rebekah have twin sons, Jacob and Esau. When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak,…
Read MoreThe Faith of Abraham
Abram has received an incredible promise from God, that he would be the father of a great nation that will be a blessing to the whole world. God has promised that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. God has even gone so far as to sign the covenant he’s…
Read MoreThe Great Promise Keeper
After reading the first eleven chapters of Genesis, you might begin to wonder if God will give up on the human race. After a perfect creation in chapters one and two, you read about the first sin in Genesis 3 and the first murder in Genesis 4. In Genesis 6, we see that sin is…
Read MoreSin at First Bite
Adam and Eve had it made. They were living in a paradise, and they could do anything they wanted — except one thing. And just like us, instead of being thankful for all they had, they focused on the one thing they couldn’t have: And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely…
Read MoreCreated In His Image
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in…
Read MoreIn the Beginning
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1) The first sentence of the Bible may be the single most controversial and important sentence ever written. It at least sits near the top of the list. It’s controversial because there are people who don’t believe it. “It isn’t science,” they say. “The…
Read MorePrayers for Afghanistan
Unless you’ve been off the planet over the last week or so, you know that U. S. armed forces have been withdrawn from Afghanistan. People can have legitimate discussions over whether we should have withdrawn or whether we should have even been there in the first place, but no one can seriously argue that the…
Read MoreBlessed are the Persecuted
Now we come to the end of our look at the Beatitudes, and here’s how Jesus wraps up these “blessings” before continuing with his great Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you…
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