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Abraham

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Bible Studies

I Know Why You are Afraid and How to Overcome It

by Tom Terry
written by Tom Terry

I know what you are afraid of. I’ve been there myself. I understand what it means to have spiritual fear. Maybe you’e never heard it put that way before, but you know what those fears are. They range from simply sharing Jesus with a person you’ve just met to suffering for your faith. Living in the modern world, in a culture dominated by so-called modern sensibilities we sometimes define what is appropriate or prudent in our spiritual life by the circumstances around us and how we feel. If we feel nervous, or intimidated, or unsure of ourselves we shrink back from doing that which the Bible encourages us to do. Here, let me give you an example.

Sharing your faith with your family. Have you ever talked about Jesus with your parents or siblings? Who are you to tell your parents about their sin and need for Jesus? Has that ever run across your mind? Sure it has. What if it causes a tear or break in your relationship? I know you’ve thought of that too. Just how far do you have to go with your Christianity in order to be a real Christian anyway?

One passage of scripture has given me great encouragement when facing spiritual fears. It’s not a passage you may have ever thought of, so I’d like to unpack it for you to help you discover that the Gospel of Jesus is not something that you ever need to feel fear to express or defend—no matter who or what you are faced with. So let me do three things. First I want to share a fear I had to face down. Then I want to share with you 12 spiritual fears (trust me, you’re in the list). Then I want to show you from the book of Acts how you can wipe those fears away.

I had been accused of a crime. In Mongolia, where I lived at the time, it was a serious accusation that carried penalties of up to 10 years in prison depending upon how the law was used. I was called in to the police office for interrogation and then to the prosecutor’s office. It was serious. Certain foreign friends were encouraging me to flee the country. I was on foreign territory. The police were corrupt and we wondered if they were bought or harassed into going after me. My accuser was a former employee, disgruntled, with a no compromise attitude. She falsely accused me. But it wouldn’t be the first time a false accusation in Mongolia resulted in a prison sentence. I was afraid of what might happen.

I was faced with a choice. I could avoid the whole situation by leaving the country before things got too hot (there are no extradition treaties between Mongolia and the U.S., so if I left it was doubtful I’d be sent back). Or I could take the risk and face the charges, making my case for my innocence. Needless to say, I was afraid of what might happen. There was a choice to make. Then one day it hit me, if one of my Mongolian employees had been falsely accused of a crime they wouldn’t be able to just up and leave and escape the whole situation. They would have to face it down. Was I any better or any different? Certainly not. By looking at what my Mongolian friends would have to go through I gained the courage to stay and make my case. I would take the risk, not knowing what false charges and corruption might lead to. So I made my case, using true and rational words, compared to the lies that someone wanted to imprison me with. Thankfully, the authorities recognized that the charges were demonstrably false and dismissed the charges and nothing more than the lies they were. 

True and rational words. 

What does this have to do with spiritual fears? Fear is fear, no matter what it is about. Fear is paralyzing. Fear is poison. Fear robs us of the truth and keeps us imprisoned in a false state of mind and even false expressions of life. To live in fear is to live in a lie. I was not going to live in someone else’s lie. I would face my fear and speak the truth. Thankfully, in that situation, truth won the day.

I’ve made a list of 12 things that Christians fear. You are in that list. Everyone is. These are things concerning our belief in Jesus and expressions of our faith that many Christians, especially modern-day Christians, fear to take part in. When we refuse to overcome these things (and refusing to overcome them is the right expression), we live in the midst of a lie. We let Satan rule the day with his false accusations. We even accuse ourselves and the lies perpetuate and continue, trapping us even further.

Find yourself in this list.

•              Fear of sharing your faith

•              Fear of sharing your faith with your family

•              Fear of sharing your testimony

•              Fear of acknowledging you are a Christian

•              Fear of standing by moral values

•              Fear of admitting you believe in the Bible’s stories, like the flood, Joshua’s long day, the virgin birth, etc.

•              Fear of teaching

•              Fear of ministering to the homeless, prisoners, or less fortunate

•              Fear of going into ministry

•              Fear of meeting new people

•              Fear of a specific ministry, to women, to children, to men, etc. 

•              Fear of suffering or enduring hardship for your faith

         You are in that list. I am in that list. There are things that I still fear from time to time that I struggle to overcome. But my overcoming of those fears is made a bit easier by a little passage of scripture from the book of Acts. Chances are, it’s a passage you’ve never considered memorizing. You’ve probably read past it a dozen times or more and it’s never stuck out to you. But it is a powerful truth that can help set you free from the fear of expressing your Christianity openly in virtually any situation.

         In Acts 26 as the Apostle Paul was offering his defense to Festus and King Agrippa about the false charges laid against him, Paul tells the king about a vision he had from Heaven where Jesus spoke to him, converting him, making him a Christian. Stop there. Have you ever had a vision? Have you ever seen Jesus or an angel in a dream? Chances are you might feel a little nervous about sharing it with others as you might be considered a loon, yes? But look at the scripture. Paul shares his wild story. It’s so wild to Festus that he interrupts Paul and says these words, “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind” (Acts 26:24). Modern vernacular: “Dude, you’re crazy. You’re a loon.” But Paul answers Festus with words so right on target and so profound they should help us wipe away any fears we may have of expressing our faith and serving God. 

         “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words” (Acts 26:25).

         Zoom in on that. “True and rational words.” Paul’s vision. Paul’s experience with Christ. Declaring that eternal life only comes through Jesus. Proclaiming the Gospel to men and women during his defense that can ruin his life. The resurrection from the dead. True and rational words. 

         Isn’t that the problem with our fears? When we get right down to it, to the very core of our fears, we sometimes think that what we have to say will not appear true or rational. We worry about what people will think of us. In fact, that’s the center of most fears we face: what will others think? Paul blows that away with true and rational words.

         The testimony of Jesus is not some crazy story. Elsewhere Paul, speaking to the authorities said, “Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?” (Acts 26:8). For Paul the Gospel was simple common sense. Telling people about Jesus was common sense. It wasn’t radical from his perspective. It was real. It was reality. It was just the way things are. It was normal life. Why should Paul be afraid to talk about normal life?

         Look again at your list of fears. What do you want to share with your neighbor or your family? True and rational words. When you are persecuted for standing up for your moral convictions what are you standing up for? True and rational words. When you are ridiculed or considered a fanatic for believing in Joshua’s long day, Noah’s flood, or the virgin birth, what are you standing on? True and rational words. When you fear to witness or teach others what can help you overcome your fears? True and rational words.

         The Gospel of Jesus really is foolishness to those who reject its true and rational message (I Corinthians 1:27-28). But Paul tells us the message of Christ is only foolish to those whose hearts and minds have not been enlightened by the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 1:18). We live in a different reality, one of true and rational words about Jesus, the scriptures, and God’s plan and principles for man.

         Think through your fears this way: What do I want to share with my friends? True and rational words. What do I want to teach to others? True and rational words. What do I want to reach out to the less fortunate with? True and rational words. Once you and I come to full grips with the nature of what the Gospel really is, how then can we fail to take our stand on the truth about Jesus, the scripture, and the testimony God has given us? Therefore, take your fears by the scruff of the neck and boot them out the door. Believing and standing your ground on true and rational words is your first step to overcoming your spiritual fears.

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Bible Studies

Hagar’s Story

by Julia Blum
written by Julia Blum

 Today, we will speak about one of the most overlooked chapters in the book of Genesis – Chapter 16.

This is the chapter when Sarah’s Egyptian slave Hagar became pregnant with Abraham’s child; Sarah started to “afflict” her and Hagar decided to flee from her mistress. She fled to the wilderness. At first, she was completely alone, then suddenly somebody was walking and talking with her. Meeting someone in the desert was unusual enough, but the stranger’s very first words proved that this wasn’t an occasional meeting, and the speaker was not a random sojourner.

And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?”[1]

When we read the Bible in English translation, the capital letters make it very easy; they show clearly when and where the Lord speaks. There are no capital letters in Hebrew, so we need to recognize and distinguish God’s voice by what He is saying, not by capital letters. Our actual lives are much closer to the Hebrew text: There are no capital letters here; we need to recognize God’s voice or God’s actions without additional hints and tips. Hagar did recognize the speaker and therefore she told Him the plain truth: “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”[2]

Unexpected Response

The Angel of the Lord said to her, “return to your mistress and submit yourself under her hand.”[3] There is some amazing wordplay here that is completely lost in translation. In Hebrew, the verb translated “submit” comes from the same root as the word “afflicted” in verse 6: Sarai afflicted her. In English, it is impossible to form both of these words from one root, but in Hebrew, it is the same root, though in different forms: active and passive. This makes the original meaning even stronger, as if the Lord is saying to Hagar: “Return to your mistress and be afflicted.”

Please take a moment to think of this response. Imagine yourself in the midst of very trying circumstances and then all of a sudden, you receive an epiphany: You meet the One who can actually do anything, can change everything. Wouldn’t you expect Him to help you to change your circumstances? Hagar didn’t ask for this meeting and didn’t seek it; since it did happen, however, couldn’t He at least have helped her a bit? Why does He send her back to the very affliction she is fleeing from? He didn’t promise any good changes; He didn’t say that Sarah would be more merciful and compassionate, or that Hagar’s life would become much easier. He didn’t say any of that. He just said: “Return to your mistress and submit yourself under her hand.”

When we study this Hebrew root (‘anah – ענה ) in Scripture, the first impression is that the word is always used in a negative sense, designating only bad actions:

And when Shechem the son of Hamor . . . saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.[4]

Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them.[5]

Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.[6]

And yet, it goes without saying that if the Angel of the Lord used this very word in His command to Hagar, it cannot always be negative. Indeed, we find very different occurrences of the same word referring to God’s deeds:

“And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you…   that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”[7]

From this Scripture we see that if and when God is the One who is causing the affliction, the purpose of His action is “to humble and test“.  Thus, it was not about Hagar and Sarah, or what Sarah was doing to Hagar—it was about God and Hagar and what God was doing within Hagar through Sarah. God commanded Hagar to return to her mistress and submit under her hand because He wanted to humble and test her! Thanks to this Hebrew word, we now understand that the Lord Himself is dealing with Hagar’s heart, and it is not under Sarah’s hand that she must submit – it is under the Lord’s hand!

You might remember that later on, Hagar had the second epiphany. The Angel of God spoke to her in the wilderness for a second time when she was with Ishmael.  And while we learn much about her when comparing those two scenes, the greatest blessing for me personally comes in seeing how God touched and changed her life in two completely different ways. He knew that the girl in Genesis 16, more than anything else, needed a change of heart. Certainly, she thought her circumstances were very difficult, and they were. Certainly, she thought she was going through terrible hardship, and she was. However, more than anything else she needed to be changed from within, and God knew it! The storms and endless torment of her soul, the love and the hatred, the accusations and the guilt, the bitterness and the pity, all intertwined and twisted, caused her constant pain, so more than anything else she needed peace in her heart! Therefore, when the Angel appeared before Hagar in Genesis 16, God gave her this peace. He changed her heart, but He didn’t change her circumstances. Moreover, He sent her back to her “cruel and unjust” mistress (or so Sarah seemed to her at the time!) and to the very same circumstances, knowing that her transformed heart would allow her to endure peacefully the same affliction that she had run from. He didn’t change her circumstances – but He changed her heart!

Back or After?

Hagar returns, however, before she turns back she does something absolutely unique, something no-one else in the Bible does—she gives the Lord a name! We do have several examples in Scripture where a place was named according to what God did there:

So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide.[8]

And Moses built an altar and called its name, The-Lord-Is-My-Banner.[9]

Hagar, however, doesn’t just name a place. She does something altogether different from what Abraham or Moses did: She gives the name not only to the place (the place gets the name as well: Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi), but to the Lord Himself, and this is absolutely unique in all Scripture:

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?”[10]

English translations attempt to present as comprehensible the original Hebrew sentence, which is highly enigmatic and incomprehensible. If we translate it literally, Hagar is asking: “Here (or until here) have I also seen the back of the One who sees me?” This strange original expression would literally mean: ‘I saw after the one who sees me,’ or ‘I saw the back of the one who sees me’.

This “after” or “back” part is omitted altogether in most English translations and that is completely understandable, since the exact meaning of this word is not clear. And even though it may seem to you of little significance exactly what Hagar says here in Hebrew – surprisingly, it might shed light on another Biblical story that you would all know quite well!

In a very famous scene from Exodus 33, when Moses asks God to show him His glory, God answers:

 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”[11]

Translated, these texts sound very different, and a reader would not see any connection. But in the Hebrew text we discover that amazingly, God says the same word that Hagar said in Genesis 16!  Yes, the Hebrew here uses the same word that Hagar used. True, when we are reading it in our modern Tanach, even in Hebrew, the accents (vowels) are inserted and they make two different words from the same Hebrew letters: the same consonants are read as “my back” in Moses’ case and as “after” in the case of Hagar. However, the original text contained no vowels, so I do believe that Hagar is trying to express the same experience that Moses later had! We have to admit that we don’t know what God meant by saying: “You shall see My back.” We have no idea whatsoever what God’s back might be However, if it is the same word that Hagar used, maybe God’s words to Moses also should be understood as: “you shall see after me”. And the meaning, in this case, would be much clearer: even though no-one can adequately describe what is happening in a heart during an encounter with God, because God alone knows the deepest secrets and wounds of the heart – yet we all know how everything is changed in one’s heart and life after an encounter with God! In both cases, with Moses and Hagar, things changed dramatically after the epiphany – and maybe, that is what God is saying to Moses: “It’s not the Divine Encounter that reveals My glory – because a man doesn’t get to see My glory here on earth – but the consequences of My intervention, the transformation after the Encounter, will reveal My glory!”

 Much, much more can be said about Hagar, as well as about Abraham and Sarah in this complex story, but due to the limitations of the current format (blog post), I have to omit here many fascinating details and Hebrew insights. If you are interested to learn more, I invite you to read my book “Abraham had two sons”, you can get the book here.   

The insights you read on these pages, are typical of what we share with our students during DHB (Discovering the Hebrew Bible) or WTP (Weekly Torah Portion)  classes. If these articles whet your appetite for discovering the hidden treasures of the Hebrew Bible, or studying  in depth Parashat Shavua, along with New Testament insights, I would be happy to provide more information (and also a teacher’s discount for new students) regarding eTeacher courses (juliab@eteachergroup.com) .

 

[1] Genesis 16:8

[2] Ibid.

[3] Genesis 16:9

[4] Genesis 34:2

[5]  Exodus 1:11

[6]  Exodus 22:22

[7] Deuteronomy 8:2,3

[8] Genesis 22:14

[9] Exodus 17:15

[10] Genesis 16:13

[11] Exodus 33:20-23

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Bible Studies

Encountering God’s Promise

by Tony Evans
written by Tony Evans

Message 3 – Encountering God’s Promise

SUGGESTED PASSAGE: Genesis 22:1-18
Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”  Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.  Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”  Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”

Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba.

MESSAGE GOAL:

The goal of this message on Encountering God’s Promise is to help you experience an authentic encounter with God and His promises through the tests of life He puts you through.

INTRODUCTION:

If the truth be told, there are times in our Christian experience when we don’t feel like God keeps His promises. There are times when it looks like God said one thing and the opposite is taking place. It is during those times when all of us, to varying degrees, question how real this thing is. When it comes to God’s promises, we know He can’t lie, but sometimes you lied to you because what He says and what you are seeing do not match. Sometimes it looks like God is bailing out on us. It’s like the pilot of a small plane that began having engine problems. There was only one parachute on the plane. So, the pilot put it on, and before he jumped out of the plans he said to his passengers, “Don’t panic. I’m just going to get some help!” Sometimes it seems like the one in charge has bailed out on you and on His promises. I want to take you today to a passage of Scripture that is going to stretch you if you’re not familiar with it. And even if you are, it’s going to perhaps take you to a place of deeper understanding God and His seemingly confusing promises to you.

SERMON POINTS:

1. WHEN GOD WANTS TO GIVE YOU AN ENCOUNTER WITH HIMSELF, IT WILL TYPICALLY INVOLVE A TEST.

• God wants to know if what you “Amened” on Sunday is real in your life on Monday, because He wants to see and hear more than your raised hands and words.

• Tests come in many shapes and sizes, and they are often related to a promise, to find out if you will put your faith in God’s promises into action.

2. YOUR TEST WILL OFTEN INVOLVE A SCENARIO THAT IS CONTRADICTORY—THAT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE.

• God may be asking you to do something that seems to go against everything that seems right and normal to you, and everything in you is fighting against obeying Him.

• When God calls you to do something you don’t want to do, go ahead and do it because the longer you delay your obedience, the more often you have to take the same test.

• We often give God partial obedience and then wonder why He hasn’t done anything for us.

• To experience a truly life-changing encounter with God, you have to finish what He told you to do in your test because God believes in re-testing when necessary!

• When God’s test doesn’t make sense, you need a bigger view of God and what He wants to do in your life.

• One way to get this bigger view is to remember what God did for you yesterday as you deal with the new test He is sending you today.

3. THE REASON GOD PUTS YOU IN A TRIAL THAT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE IS THAT HE WANTS TO FEEL YOUR LOVE, NOT JUST HEAR YOU TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU LOVE HIM.

• God feels your love for Him when, in obedience, you choose Him over something or somebody you already love, as Abraham did.

• You will see the resolution of your test and see God’s promise come to fruition when your obedience occurs.

• The Lord is called Jehovah Jireh in Genesis 22:14, meaning “The Lord who provides.” But before God provides, He wants to see our obedience.

• If you don’t give God something to see, you may not see what He can provide.

4. GOD’S PROMISES ARE CONFIRMED BY HIS OATH.

• It’s important to understand that there is often a lapse of time between the giving of God’s promise and its fulfillment.

• This time gap occurs because God is getting His promise ready for you, and getting you ready for His promise.

• You have a part to play in how long this preparation period lasts, based on your obedience.

• God is a promise-keeper, not a promise-breaker, and when He makes an oath, He has the power to pull off the promise all by Himself.

• It is not for you to try and understand how God is going to keep His promise. All you’ve got to do is finish your obedience until He is ready to take it over Himself.

5. ABRAHAM’S STORY IS IN SCRIPTURE BECAUSE GOD WANTS TO USE SOMETHING TODAY BASED ON THE PRINCIPLE HE HAS TAUGHT US FROM YESTERDAY.

• God uses tests to bring about His promises through His oath.

• You need to make sure you are passing God’s test so you can see God’s promises fulfilled in your life.

SERMON ILLUSTRATIONS:

QUIZZES AND BIG TESTS

When we were in school, the teacher did not take our word for it that we understood what was being taught. Instead, the teacher gave you tests to see if you really got the material. Those tests usually came in two forms. One would be a quiz, or maybe a pop quiz. Those were small tests along the way. But then there were the big tests—the mid-term and the final. Those big tests usually counted the most toward your final grade. Genesis 22 was one of the big tests for Abraham.

PUT A FORK IN IT

Good cooks know that a turkey or a roast in the oven can look brown on the outside. But you can’t take that as gospel because the meat may still be partially uncooked on the inside. So the cook sticks a fork in the dish because the cook knows it can look good externally and still be raw inside. God knows His people can look good externally on Sunday morning, but He has to stick the fork of a test in there to see if we’re well-done and ready to go.

BACKGROUND BIBLICAL HISTORY AND CULTURE:

The place where Abraham offered Isaac is called Mount Moriah, which is the temple mount in Jerusalem where the two temples of Israel were built and where the Muslim Dome of the Rock stands today. The temple mount is the most sacred site in Judaism, and Muslims consider it holy too because the Qur’an teaches that Abraham offered Ishmael there, not Isaac.

QUOTES BY DR. TONY EVANS:

“Everybody feels like going to church when you’re blessed. Everybody feels like worshiping God when God is meeting all your needs, and He’s going to take care of everything. The money is flowing, the health is good and life is working. Then you want to worship. But how do you worship when your world is falling apart?”

“When God puts you in a contradiction, you can’t explain how it’s going to work out. When God wants you to give you an encounter with Himself, all you can say is, ‘I don’t know what to do.’ God has to provide something. God has to come through with something.”

“Many of us could be delaying seeing the provision of the ram, the solution to our test, because we are delaying fulfilling our obedience.”

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Devotionals

When God Calls, Get Ready!

by Tom Terry
written by Tom Terry

A while back I took a large number of professional and personality assessments to help me hone in on what my greatest strengths and desires are so that I can know what kind of ministry assignments I should pursue. I wanted to know what I can do that fits me best. Perhaps you want the same thing?

During one assessment my coach explained to me, “Tom, you are all about belief. Everything you do you do because you believe in God’s will for your life and you pursue it. For you, nothing happens by chance.” When she spoke that to me I was in hearty agreement. But sitting in the back of my mind was another reality. What if I’m called to do something I don’t want to do? Would God do that? How would my nature of belief be affected? In fact, contrary to the popular notion that God doesn’t call us to do something we are not equipped for, I find in scripture that God often calls men and women to do things that, normally, they have no business doing. But God is God. He is sovereign. He can do that. So let me provide a few examples from my own study and show that when God calls us he often calls us to do things that hurt us, cause us anxiety, and perplex us. But he’s God. He can do that. And if we obey him we will be the better for it. Here’s goes.

Noah was called to prepare for the destruction of every living thing (Genesis 6:17). I bet that was outside his comfort zone.

Abraham was called to abandon everything he knew and everything that was familiar (Genesis 12:1). I bet he struggled with that.

Sarah was called to do the impossible; have a baby at 90-years of age (Genesis 18:10). I bet that hurt.

Abraham was called to send away his oldest son, Ishmael, into the desert with only a little food and water. He didn’t want to do it (Genesis 21:9-12). I bet he was an emotional wreck.

Jacob was called to return to the promised land, where he was sure he would encounter the brother who wanted to murder him (Genesis 31:3). He was scared to death and put his whole family and his servants in risk of their lives (Genesis 32:6-11). But he went anyway.

Moses was called to lead Israel out of slavery. He was afraid and asked the Lord to send someone else (Exodus 4:13). But he still had to go.

David was called to be a king (I Samuel 16:12-13). He didn’t know the first thing about being a king. But God trained him over time.

Solomon, upon taking the throne, asked God for wisdom because by his own admission, he had no idea what he was doing (I Kings 3:3-9).

Jeremiah was commanded to have no wife and no children, something he likely hoped for, maybe was even planning. But God took away his dream of having a family (Jeremiah 16:1-2). I bet that was the hardest thing he had to live with.

Esther was called to save her people by appearing before a king who might have her killed (Esther 4:11, 5:1-2). She went before him anyway.

Jonah was called to preach to Nineveh, a country and people group he despised and hated. He ran the other way, but God forced him to turn back (Jonah 1-4).

Jesus was called to the cross, but he asked his Father, “If there be any other way…” and was crucified anyway (Matthew 26:36-46).

What can we learn from these examples? Allow me to offer five points of application you are not going to like.

  1. With the exception of Jesus, none of these people hoped for or looked for the calling they received, but God called them anyway. When God calls you, you may not like it. But he’s God. He can do that.
  2. When God calls us he calls us outside our comfort zone, into that for which we are ill-prepared, untrained, and not ready. But he’s God. He can do that.
  3. God doesn’t call us to do something we want or to fulfill our dreams. He calls us to do what he wants and to fulfill his dreams. He’s God. He can do that.
  4. If you really want to hear from God and know his will for your life, if you truly want that more than anything, then God will speak. But be ready to sacrifice your dreams and everything that makes you feel comfortable. He may do that. He’s God. He can do that.
  5. You don’t dictate when God speaks. He may call you when you are young, like David (youth), or when you are old, like Moses (80). You can have periods of fasting and prayer, or “practicing the presence,” or diligently seeking God, but the reality is that if God is going to speak to you, he will speak when he’s good and ready and nothing you can do will make him call you any sooner than he intends. He’s God. He can do that.

What is God’s will for your life? Whatever it might be, be ready for God to call you to something outside your realm of experience and ability. In this way, God receives all of the glory. And it’s his glory that we should be pursuing in the first place.

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Sermons

Commitment Issues: Love, Sex and Marriage

by Levi Lusko
written by Levi Lusko

This remarkable sermon is tremendous!

Commitment to God is essential to develop any successful relationship. Joshua challenged Israel, “Choose you this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” The key to understanding Joshua’s message: “Geography impacts history and informs theology.” This sermon is a unique look at the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and how God revealed Himself to them.

www.freshlife.com.

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Devotionals

Encountering God’s Promise

by Tony Evans
written by Tony Evans

God creates contradictory trials as a part of fulfilling His promises to us. In Genesis 22:1-18, God tested Abraham and told him to take his son, Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice – effectively telling Abraham to kill his own son. God’s instruction to Abraham presented various contradictions due to what appeared to be conflicting truths. There was a theological conflict: Isaac was the son of promise (Genesis 21:1-3) and, through him, Abraham was supposed to be a father of many nations (Genesis 17:5). This also presented a Biblical conflict: God condemns murder (Exodus 20:13), yet, He told Moses to kill his son. The contradictions created an emotional and familial conflict as well: Isaac was the only son of Abraham and Sarah; if Abraham killed his son he wouldn’t be protecting Isaac’s physical life or his wife’s emotional well-being. The story of Abraham and Isaac, even with all of its conflicts, presents an opportunity for the believer to learn how to handle contradictory circumstances in their own lives.

Abraham’s example demonstrates the perspective we should have when things just aren’t making sense or when things don’t line up with the truth of God’s Word. First, we must be willing to obey God even when we don’t understand Him. Abraham chose to obey God immediately (Genesis 22:3) even when God’s instruction didn’t seem to make sense. In the same way, we have to obey when we lack clarity about God’s purposes, His plans, or the outcome of our obedience. We also have to remember what God has done in the past. Abraham believed God could be trusted to solve the problem he faced. He remembered that God had already proven Himself capable: in Sarah’s old age God made it possible for her to bear a child. Another perspective that will help us in times of crisis is to trust that God transcends our crisis (Genesis 22:8). The problems that God allows, He also has the power to solve. We just have to remember to look toward the spiritual when the physical isn’t making sense. Finally, we must be willing to sacrifice what is dearest to us – the most important things in our lives — to get the promises of God if that is what He asks of us.

God’s provisions and promises are tied to His experience of our commitment to Him. It was only when Abraham had walked in full obedience that God declared, “…now I know” (Genesis 22:12). God has prepared His answers in advance just like the ram was prepared in advance as a replacement for Isaac. The ram was already in the thicket ready to appear at God’s ordained timing. The same is true for us. God is faithful to provide, He is faithful to His Word, and He desires that we are faithful in our obedience to Him.

LET’S GET PERSONAL

  1. What promises of God are you waiting for Him to fulfill in your life?
  2. Have you ever felt like the situation that God allowed or His instructions to you didn’t make any sense? Tell your group about a time when God called you to act on faith despite conflicts.
  3. What acts of faith is God waiting for you to complete in the midst of your contradictory crisis? What thing in your life is God waiting for you to hold up as a burnt offering, ready to give it all?

TAKE THE NEXT STEP

  1. Abraham was faithful to obey completely. In what area of your life have you been partially obedient, instead of fully obedient?
  2. How does this message effect how you will move toward complete obedience in your Christian life?
  3. Want to go deeper? Take a look at the following passages: Gen. 9:6; John 8:56; Heb 6:13-18; 11:17-19; and James 2:21-23

RENEW YOUR MIND

“Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead . . .”
– James 2:17

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Articles

Sarah and Me: Her Story is My Story

by Julie Barrier
written by Julie Barrier

Sarah is my favorite woman in the Bible. Flawed but faithful, she inspires me to finish my race well. Although I stumble and struggle along the way, I know I will enter heaven and hear Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

If Sarah can be included in the Hall of Faithful Heroes, you and I can, too. In Sarah’s story, I see a divine resemblance to my own. Maybe you do, too.

Sarai Journeyed Bravely into the Unknown

Sarai (whose name meant Princess, and was later changed by God to ‘Sarah’ which meant ‘mother of nations’) was the daughter of a wealthy Chaldean tribesman named Terah. She married Abram, her half-brother. This gorgeous Bedouin debutante had no idea she was in for such a wild ride when she married this man!

Sarai left her family, her wealth and position to follow her crazy husband to “a land God would show him.” (1,426 miles)

She willingly obeyed. She was spunky.

I don’t know how I’d respond if my hubby packed a U-Haul, declared he was uprooting me to go to a strange land he knew nothing about… to do God knows what…Oh, wait, he did! It was the best decision of our lives.

My husband, Roger, answered God’s call to preach in an unchurched desert town 1,000 miles away from our friends and family. But Sarai was even more brave. She didn’t even know where the U-Camel was going!

Sarai’s Test of Trust and Submission

The journey to this new home was difficult for Sarai. Searing heat and famine almost destroyed their brood. Abram and his entourage took a detour to pagan Egypt. It was a risky move for any nomad (Genesis 12:10).

Sarai’s next test was to lie for Abram to Pharaoh. She was gorgeous. Abram willingly offered Sarai to the powerful Egyptian ruler because he knew Sarai was beautiful and he feared Pharaoh would want her as his wife. Sarai obeyed Abram, though she shook in her sandals and hid in Pharaoh’s harem.

She trusted God even when her husband didn’t protect her.

By the way, her spouse gave Sarai to King Abimelech later for the same reason (Genesis 20)! Maybe she had plastic surgery? At any rate, she was older and still considered quite gorgeous.

Some theologians say the Egyptian harem is where Sarai first encountered God for herself. God sent a plague on Pharaoh’s house and Sarai was returned to her husband with riches and livestock in tow.

Roger never shipped me off to a stranger. He was brave in the face of deacons and demons. But I was not so courageous. If you don’t know this, pastor’s wives are at the mercy of their husbands. Every word from the pulpit carries weight. Every decision could change the future. And every church member had an opinion about what our family did or didn’t do!

Sarai trusted God in a tough situation. I applaud her. And so did Peter:

…for this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear. – 1 Peter 3:5-6

Sarai’s Test of Patience

Sarai, like all of us, often faltered in her faith. God promised to make Abram the “father of many nations” (Gen. 17:4) but she was barren. So, like most conniving (or desperate) women, Sarai went into “fix-it” mode and gave Abram her maidservant Hagar to produce a son.

It was a lousy practice, but it was customary in her society. Sarai grew impatient and ran ahead of God.

Let’s try to put ourselves in poor Sarai’s shoes. Dr. Julia Blum writes,

“What a horrible disappointment! What a terrible moment to arrive at! All these years, the echo of His magnificent promises kept Sarai through the hunger, the endless wandering, the Egyptian humiliation, and those sharp pangs of loneliness that would seize her whole being whenever she thought of what she had left behind to follow her husband. Sarah was able to go through all of that because she firmly believed that someday she would give birth to a son, and then finally, everything that God promised would start to be fulfilled. After all, God promised her husband: 

“I will make you a great nation, I will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.” He promised: “And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered.” (Genesis 17:4)

Didn’t that mean that she, Sarah, would give birth to a son who would become a father of this multitude of descendants?

Abram’s wife waited for an unfulfilled promise for decades. Had God forgotten her? She went through the mood swings and hot flashes of menopause with nary a sign of morning sickness. Abram, her husband had heard God speak, but Sarai had to trust her husband’s divine revelations.

Like All of Us, Sarah Endured Suffering

Roger and I waited a long time for God to fulfill His promise to us. Our church site was too small. We were holding five services and further growth was impossible. Roger had God’s vision to relocate from our current site to a 100-acre parcel of land five miles north of our current church site. The move and the buildings would cost millions and supposedly take two years to complete.

Cost overruns plagued the project. Instead of taking two years to finish the project, it took twelve. Three ulcers and two heart attacks later, my husband entered the doors of the sanctuary to preach for the first time. We were not spiritual giants like Abraham and Sarah, but we camped in the scorching desert for more than a decade, and the wait was agonizing.

I’m still impatient. When God doesn’t work as quickly as I expect, I run ahead of Him. Instead of letting my kids grow up and make their own choices, I continually rush to advise them or bail them out. I don’t relinquish control and allow them to be adults.

Sarai suffered, waiting and waiting for this “child of promise.” I try to wiggle out of the trials and suffering God uses to mature my faith. Pastor Craig Groeschel calls such actions “Christian atheism,” because Christians often live their lives as if God doesn’t exist. God is not small, simple or shortsighted. He is eternal, all-powerful, and omniscient. And we are not.

My husband Roger often describes the hard journey of spiritual growth in this way: “It takes a hundred years to grow a mighty oak. He can turn out a squash in six weeks. Which do you want to be?”

Sarah eventually grew to be a mighty oak.

Sarah Became Angry

Can you imagine going through the mood swings and hot flashes of menopause, knowing God had promised her a baby? How frustrated Sarai must have been! But God didn’t reject her for her wavering faith. She still is mentioned in Hebrews 11, the Hall of Faithful Ones.

Hagar, Sarai’s maidservant, flaunted her rotund baby belly and belittled her mistress. Sarai, filled with jealousy and rage, cruelly threw her out of the family tent, much to Abram’s dismay. She didn’t trust God to give her a son. (Genesis 16)

Sarai’s impatience caused tension between her son and Hagar’s son Ishmael for 4,000 years. What a cat fight those two women must have had!

I don’t tend to anger easily. I just stuff my feelings and let them emerge as “thinly disguised contempt.” Sarcasm and acerbic humor take the place of confrontation. But the results are still the same.

Someone always gets hurt, and my sin distances us from God and others.

Sarah’s Reward

However, this is not the end of Sarai’s story. God did give Abram and Sarai a baby. In our world, that would be two wrinkled senior citizens becoming new parents just as they qualified for Medicare.

Isaac, their son, means “Laughter.” And God really does have a sense of humor. And He keeps His promises! Though she may have previously laughed in disbelief and secrecy, now Sarah laughed with joy and wanted her situation to be known: God had been faithful to His promise and blessed her. (Genesis 21:6-7)

I never thought I’d have another baby. My first little girl died a long, agonizing death. The docs told me it would be risky to try to have another child. But God miraculously gave our family two daughters, Brianna (Gift of God) and Bronwyn (Pure Heart).

We even had holy puppies! Goody (Goodness) and Surely (Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life). We never got around to adopting Mercy, but I foresee a “Mercy” mutt in our future.

Abram’s Test of Faith

One test still remained for the couple. God tested Abraham’s faith by asking him to sacrifice his promised son, Isaac.

Abraham was willing to give up his son, trusting that God would somehow still remain true to His promise (Genesis 22; Hebrews 11:17–19). The Bible never says that Sarah was aware of Abraham’s command to sacrifice her son.

But Abraham’s moments on Mount Moriah foreshadowed God’s sacrifice of His only Son, Jesus.

God’s Renames Abram and Sarai

God only gave a few sacramental names-names that were given in association with His covenant declaration. God re-named Abram. Abram, “Exalted Father,” became Abraham, “Father of Many Nations.” Sarai, “Princess,” became Sarah, meaning “Mother of Many Nations.” (Genesis 17)

Paul writes that Abraham and Sarah began a lineage that continued through all who believe in Jesus, the Messiah:

The Jews, the people of Israel-theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! However, it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son. – Romans 9:4-9

As Christians, Jesus has given you and I new names, too. I, Julie Gail (Windy July), and you, became “Beloved Child of the King.” We can’t even imagine what God will do through us if we trust His promises and wait for Him to work!

And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. – Hebrews 11:11

The key to Sarah’s success was that she considered God faithful, even when she was not. You and I can hope in a faithful God in our frailty. What a promise!

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Articles

The Rise of Deception from Adam to Israel

by Tommy Nelson
written by Tommy Nelson

“What is truth?” Pontius Pilate

The greatest pursuit of mankind has been that of truth.  What is truth? How do we know? How is it lived? Truth is that which is really present.  The correct interpretation of what truly exists…what corresponds to reality.

More specifically, it is what gives meaning to the observable world.  We see matter and its mechanics but where does it come from?  Why is it here?

And specifically, man and morality.  What is man and what makes him different?  What is right and wrong, and says who?

Some call it upper story and lower story.  Down here is “substance”… up there, “forms”.  Down here the visible something … up there an invisible something or someone who determines right.  What is there?  Who is there?  And how do we know?

Down here, we observe … up there, we either reason or establish contact in some way via meditation? hallucinogens? a direct revelation?… or an incarnation of God to man.

One’s solution to finding these answers is their claim to truth and that claim will be the fountain from whence that civilization proceeds, because all things will be judged, evaluated or permitted by its perspective of truth or its “world view.”  Whether for good or evil the claim of truth will frame society and prophesy what is to come.

“God is true.” Jesus Christ

The claim of the Bible is that God is true.   He is the source of all that is.  He establishes the laws, physical and moral, by which all things are governed.  His word, His revelation to man – The Bible claims for itself “truth.”  “The sum of Thy word is truth.”

                    “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”

                    “The scripture”, said Jesus, “cannot be broken.”

God will not lie, mislead, err, or fail to communicate His word truly, or be so weak as to not preserve it. It is the only means by which we know the essential answers.

What He commands is in keeping with His nature, thus “truth” will always correspond to the way, the best way, to live.

        “…let God be found true, though every man be found a liar.”

Therefore, Satan, the enemy of God and of man, logically speaking, needs only to lie and misdirect man against God’s word to bring about man’s destruction.  What opposes God will oppose truth and finally oppose man.

Let me summarize the Biblical Worldview.

Creation, it is written, bespoke of “order” from God’s “invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature… being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse.” (Rom 1:20)

Man, it is written, was set atop the crown jewel of earth to view the visible universe; he was material as the animal world, but immaterial and spiritual in the image of God.  The divine and the created came together in the person of man – as no other creature. He was God’s mediator to creation. He was given mind, reason, conscience, choice, and will to choose righteousness or depravity. To be the best or the worst.  Truth was self evident, instinctively knowable.

“A Priori”
As birds were built to navigate the air
worms the sod
fish the oceans, and
beasts the land
man was designed to navigate the question “why” –  to navigate choices. He could find some answers in creation; that God was above and before all things.  But, the specifics of who God is, how He created?  Why He created? That would require special revelation. A word from God. And that, Adam had.

Final, unknowable truth was made knowable to Adam by God’s initiative and goodness.  Sadly, a problem occurred. The Fall. The event of man’s alienation from God.

The Fall: Man’s Autonomy

Man was given choices.  Such is the will as part of the image of God.  The choices were represented in two trees. The tree of life.  In man partaking of it he would receive immortality as a gift from God.  But in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would assert independence from God, and thus, to then be able to choose for himself good or evil and find (he supposed) a happy, safe and good life without God.  He would be the arbiter of good and evil within himself.  He would be as God and know no authority but himself.

Adam and Eve were tempted and lied to.  Deceived by a person. A rebel. A fallen angel called Satan and the devil.  “A liar and the father of all lies” who had opposed God and sought his own glory in the destruction of God’s image in man, replacing it with his own.  He would be man’s father. The world, his.

Satan caused Eve to doubt God’s truthfulness by accusing God’s very character.  That God wanted obedience so that man would have to be beneath Him. God simply did not want a rival in independence.  If they would eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would be fully enlightened, free and independent of God, to live life on their own.  God was their restriction to life.  The serpent was the “fan of man.”  They ate and indeed became alien to God … and died.

Man’s mind, heart, and will became alien and even hostile to God and truth. Man’s flesh, passions, and mind were now bent toward rebellion.

Smeagol had become Gollum, clutching “precious” independence. An independence that would disfigure man and destroy him.  Man was now dis-integrated. Life lost its unity.

Man was spiritually, mentally, and physically magnetized toward rebellion, self-gratification, lust, pride, and violence.  The children of darkness would now bring forth a brood of Gollums. Man was adrift from his moorings.

The Metastasizing of Error

But this is not simply a study of the Bible, but its claim to truth.  A great deal of time occurred in between Adam and Noah but, suffice it to say, that Satan ruled and the world became a stench in its violence and murder.  God sent the flood and a new beginning. Noah was in a sense a new Adam…but the post-flood world became corrupted in the rebellion of the Tower of Babel.  Man’s rebellion in a tower to his glory, “a tower into the heavens.” Man again was God. But God slowed man’s evil by the confusion of languages.  Man’s unity was removed, and as man dispersed in the Fertile Crescent mankind formed 70 different language groups that married within the languages and became the nations, and races and peoples of the earth.  And as their idolatrous religions arose, an even deeper corruption now formed in the earth…that of superstition and “systems” of lies. Religions, man fashioned “gods” of his own imagination whom man could placate to his own benefit.

Israel: Nation of Truth

But amidst these lies the truth sprung up from the earth.  A man named Abram was called from the idolatry of Ur, the leading city of ancient Chaldea, to go to Canaan, to have Isaac, who would have Jacob, then the twelve that would become the 12 tribes, who would incubate 400 years in Egypt, then, through Moses come out a great nation then travel through the wilderness into Canaan and become two million – Israel, a holy nation, a nation in covenant with the only TRUE God.  The only orthodox nation … a nation reflecting the truth that had been diluted and lost since Eden. At Sinai they were given moral law, written down to be learned and passed down, and a religious sacrificial system depicting salvation. And a promise given of a man to come. A Jew, from King David of Bethlehem of the tribe of Judah, who would die and rise and reconcile man to God and return and rule the earth – the “Christ,” Messiah.

Indeed “Salvation is of the Jew.”

Truth lived again through the beginnings of the Bible – a written record of the truth to be progressively continued then given to all of mankind.

In Genesis, the first book of Jewish law, all the vital questions would be answered in an hour’s reading.

The lower story of nature would rest on its strong truthful upper story revelation of God.  What a glorious nation it could be …
…amidst pantheism – the belief that all is one and all is god.
…amidst polytheism with its many gods and idolatry
…and animism – the belief of spirits in nature
…amidst henotheism with its master god among many gods
…alongside dualism – equal opposite gods of good and evil in conflict
..amidst Buddhism with its moral improvement and conquest of sin through meditation and discipline.

A shaft of light broke – Israel with its teaching tribe of priests.

        “… come out from their midst and be separate.”

        “Thou shalt be unto Me a holy nation… a kingdom of priests.”

But alas … as with Adam, as with the sons of Noah, so also with the sons of Abraham, the children of The Book, who wandered from God and mingled with the darkness around them and learned their idolatrous ways.  From the Assyrians of the 7th century B.C. to the Romans of the 1st century A.D., the prophets of God warned the nation and called it to repent lest God’s wrath scatter them just as Moses promised.  But Israel turned a deaf ear.

www.dentonbiblechurch.org. Used by permission.

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Articles

Sarai and Hagar: Was Ishmael a Mistake?

by Jeff Elkins
written by Jeff Elkins

Was the birth of Ishmael the result of Sarah’s sin? Here are a few thoughts by Jeff Elkins:

AN OLD UNDERSTANDING OF GENESIS 16

As a Southern Baptist kid who attended a mostly white church in the Bible belt, when I read Genesis 16, I was certain of a few things:

1.   Abraham (still called Abram in this chapter) was the hero of the story.

2.   Hagar was a mistake.

3.   In Genesis 16, God paused the story of Abram to justify a war we were fighting in the Middle East.

Based on the Bible studies I attended then, my reading of the story went something like this:

God had promised Abram that he would be the father of many nations, but Sarai (Abram’s wife whose name will later be changed to Sarah) was baren.

Now, Sarai felt really bad about this because she is holding up God’s promise, so one day, she went to her patient and faithful husband and said, “I’ve got an idea. What if you have a baby with my maid, Hagar the Egyptian? She can be my surrogate. So when she has the baby, according to the laws of our day, it will be my baby and the promise can be fulfilled through it. What do you think?”

Abram, being a faithful and righteous husband, was like, “I don’t want to do that, but to honor your sacrifice, I will.”

So Sarai explained the deal to Hagar and Hagar agreed. But then, after the baby was born, Hagar went back on the deal. She became angry and started walking around like she was Abram wife. She was ordering everyone around and, even worse, making fun of Sarai for being barren.

In order to save the family from this horrible maid, Sarai told Abram that he needed to send her back to her family, so Abram did. But instead of going home, Hagar went out into the desert to pout. Not wanting Abram’s son to come to any harm, God intervened and saved Hagar from herself. God told Hagar to go back home to Abram and Sarai where she would be loved and safe.

But before she went, God predicted the future. This prediction wasn’t really for Hagar, it was actually for me. As a faithful member of a church in the U.S. in the 1990s, God was explaining why my country was at war with people in the Middle East. After God tells Hagar to name her son Ishmael, he says:

He will be a wild donkey of a man,
His hand will be against everyone,
And everyone’s hand will be against him;
And he will live in hostility toward all his brothers. (Genesis 16:12 NASB)

I remember a Sunday school teacher explaining that Ishmael was the father of Islam and that this description of Ishmael was actually God predicting that Christians would always fight with Muslims. That was why we were at war, and why there were terrorists, and why we should keep away from Muslims whenever possible because the Bible said they are trouble.

The moral of the tale was that even though Abram made a mistake by trusting Hagar, but God knew it would happen and in some mysterious way even planned it because He plans everything; therefore, I should trust God and know that everything that happens is a part of His plan and happens for a reason. Mostly, I was supposed to take comfort in the fact that I was in the right.

A DIFFERENT READING OF GENESIS 16

Now as an adult, I mourn this reading of Genesis 16. I understand it to be a tragic work of self-justification and I would like to offer a different perspective on Hagar, Ishmael, and God in Genesis 16.

Think of the story of Hagar as a play. There are two acts. In both acts, there are two characters on stage.

ACT ONE: ABRAM AND SARAI TALK

First, we see Abram and Sarai on the stage. The narrator kicks things off by reminding us that Sarai has not borne Abram any children and by informing us that Sarai has a female slave named Hagar. (Genesis 16:1)

Sarai speaks first, explaining to Abram that God has stopped her from having children, so Abram should have sex with her slave, and Sarai will have children through the slave.

Genesis 16:2 tells us that “Abram listens to Sarai.” Then Abram sleeps with Hagar and Hagar conceives.

Animosity forms between the two women and in verse 5, Sarai speaks again. She says to Abram, “ You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me!”

Abram replies, “Your slave is in your hands. Do with her whatever you think is best.”

So Sarai treats her slave “harshly” and Hagar runs away.

FOUR THINGS TO NOTICE ABOUT ACT ONE

There are four things we need to notice in the first act of Genesis 16.

Notice how Abram and Sarai choose to deal with their problem.

Sarai cannot have children, but God has promised that Abram would be the father of many nations. Instead of asking God for help, or at the minimum an explanation, Abram and Sarai decide to take matters into their own hands and solve the problem themselves.

While I’m not championing inaction, I am arguing that the first lesson from this story is that when we cut God out of the conversation we make poor decisions.

Notice who speaks.

Abram has a voice. He speaks. He makes choices.

Sarai has a voice. She speaks. She makes choices.

But Hagar is silent, and the only choice she makes is to run away.

And God is silent. Silent and unconsulted.

When we find ourselves in a position of power, and we need to immediately stop what we are doing and give those without power a voice.

How different would this story have been if Abram and Sarai had given Hagar a voice instead of treating her like an object? I believe that most injustice in the world would end if those of us with a voice would simply pause and seek to understand the perspective of those who have no voice.

Notice Sarai. She is afraid and she allows her fear to drive her choices.

She is afraid she won’t become pregnant. She is afraid of the other woman who is younger and has conceived. She is afraid of being cast aside. She is afraid that she was the problem all along.

In her fear, Sarai blames others. She blames God, and she blames Abram, and she blames herself, and she pushes everyone away.

This is something I do too. I think we all do, but it is an inclination we must suppress because making decisions out of fear leads to blaming others and isolating ourselves.

Finally, notice that Abram and Sarai are not the heroes of this story.

Yes, the story of Genesis is following Abram’s struggle to understand what it means to live in a relationship with a loving God.

Yes, Sarai has been a character in the narrative since chapter 11.

And yes, God has promised Abram that his children will someday be as numerous as the stars.

But trying to live under God’s promises doesn’t make you right.

ACT TWO: HAGAR AND GOD TALK

Act two starts in verse 7. Hagar is sitting by a spring in the wilderness. She is alone and vulnerable in a dangerous world. Her family is in Egpyt, an impossible distance away. She has nothing and no one.

God finds her by the spring and asks, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

Hagar replies, “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai.”

Then God tells her to go back to your mistress and submit to her, but he promises her that he will, “increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”

Then God tells her:

You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael (God Hears) for the Lord has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.

Hagar responds by declaring, “You are the God who sees me. I have now seen the One who sees me.”

THREE THINGS TO NOTICE ABOUT ACT TWO

There are three things we need to notice in the second act of Genesis 16.

Notice who speaks.

God has a voice. He speaks. But unlike Abram and Sarai, when God speaks, he asks Hagar a question. The first thing he does is give the powerless slave a voice.

He is the Ismael, the God who hears.

He is the El Roi, the “God who sees me.”

If we want to be like God, we must also be in the business of giving broken people voices. We must let the powerless know that they are seen and heard.

Notice that when God solves problems, he doesn’t hold back or protect himself out of fear.

At this point in the narrative, God’s plan is totally wrapped up in Abram’s success. Abram is the only horse God has bet on. So it would make sense for God to tell Hagar, “I’m going to make sure you and your boy get as far away from Abram and Sarai and my future people as possible.” That’s clearly what Abram and Sarai wanted.

But that is not what God does. Instead, he gives Hagar everything.

He provides for her immediate needs by telling her to go back home, and he gives her a future by telling her the same thing he told Abram, that her children too would be numerous.

Abram is not special because he was some amazing leader or wise and righteous father. Chapters 12–15 have been filled with more failures of Abram than successes. What makes Abram special is that God has made him promises and that God is with him.

Thus, at this moment by the spring, God elevates Hagar. She is no longer an object to be acted on. She is now also a promise bearer, carrying with her the same thing that Abram knows has made him special.

And God’s promises don’t stop there. God says Ishmael will be “a wild donkey of a man.” When I put myself in Hagar’s shoes, I understand why this is such an amazing promise.

Donkeys were service animals. Their job was to work for their masters.

But Ishmael will not be harnessed.

Ishmael will not be tamed.

Ishmael will be wild.

Is there any greater promise God can make to a woman trapped in slavery? God tells Hagar, “Your child will be wild and free.”

And not just wild and free. God tells Hagar, “And that family that drug you away from your home to a strange land and has forced you to serve them, that family that has overlooked your personhood and treated you like a position, you son will fight them. He will fight them at every turn. He will never surrender.”

God doesn’t just take care of Hagar’s immediate needs, he gives her a future and promises that her children will be free.

God doesn’t cast blame or isolate himself. He doesn’t seek to protect what he has. He doesn’t hold back. God is in the business of freeing slaves, and if we want to call ourselves his children, we should be too.

Finally, notice how Hagar responds to God.

Hagar gives God a name. She says, “You are El Roi. The God who sees me.”

Giving God a nickname implies intimacy. It means that something special has happened between the person and God and that the person is forever changed by the encounter. It is a sign of belonging and acceptance. All the big names in the Bible do this. Moses does it in Exodus. Gideon does it in the book of Judges. King David does it a lot in the Psalms. Abram will do it in chapter 22 of Genesis.

But the first person in the scripture to have the honor of this level of intimacy and understand with God is an African slave woman.

If you believe the Bible is authoritative, then this should communicate something to you. The more I read the Bible the more I realize it is far more progressive than we are comfortable with it being.

If you want to find God, go find the powerless outcast and sit down next to them, because according to the Bible, that is where God is going to be.

A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF GENESIS 16

I used to think that Abram was the hero of this story. Now I see that the only hero in the story is God.

I used to think of Hagar as a mistake. Now I see that she is the first person in the Bible to see God for who He is, the one who sees and hears those who are lost and suffering.

I used to think this passage justified my position of privilege in the world by predicting a worldview that made sense of the world in a way that protected me. Now I understand that Genesis 16 is intended to challenge me because it reveals God to be the one who finds the lost and helpless woman under the tree, embraces her, and gives her a future.

My new reading of Genesis 16 teaches me that I should stop making decisions out of fear that blame others, protect my position, and maintain my power. Instead, if I want to be like God, I should be in the business of empowering the powerless.

 

https://medium.com/@jffelkins/understanding-hagar-god-wild-donkeys-and-how-i-got-the-bible-wrong-c8f3a729e5ee

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Sarah: When Hiding from God is No Longer an Option

by Lisa Bevere
written by Lisa Bevere

A lot can happen in a year. In Genesis 18, God visits Abraham. While sitting at the entrance of his tent, Abraham notices three men standing before him by the oaks of Mamre. Abraham runs to them, bows down, and compels them to stay, referring to them as “Lord.”

After providing a lavish meal for his visitors, a question arose, “Where is Sarah, your wife?”

“She’s inside the tent,” Abraham replied.

Then one of them said, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!” Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent (see Genesis 18:9–10 NLT).

Sarah listens from the darkened confines of a tent, close enough to hear but separated from their conversation. She is careful not to make a sound, but Scripture reveals her thoughts:

Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children. So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?” (Genesis 18:11–12 NLT)

Was this the first time Sarah heard this? She is obviously caught off guard. Sometimes a promise is drawing closer when it has never seemed more impossible. What I love about this discourse was that the Lord is determined that Sarah is part of the conversation.

Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was afraid, so she denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh.” But the Lord said, “No, you did laugh.” (Genesis 18:13–15 NLT)

Sarah not only laughed . . . she lied! She was scared because it was one of those “You’ve got to be kidding!” laughs. God spoke to the deep desire of Sarah’s heart, which shook her to the core. Her heart was shaken like a gold minor drilling the hard earth searching for the promise concealed in her heart. Perhaps she had died to these dreams but these dreams had not died–they were only buried alive deep within her.

Strength comes when God visits your life with promise. It turned out to be a year like no other for Sarah. The truth is that there is no substitute for hearing God speak directly to you. You need to jump in on conversations with God that concern your destiny. We need what you carry on your life. This is not the time to hide. It is time for you to come out of confinement and call to the Lord, “I’m here! Speak, for Your servant listens.”

If you want to live the life God has planned for you, hiding must no longer be an option. Like Sarah, this year could be a marker year for you—the year you both receive promise and have promise fulfilled.

Don’t lie and say that you do not long for more. Don’t deny your dreams. When you do, there is first a laugh and then a lie as the door of your heart shuts. Bravely throw open your heart and embrace all the miraculous wonder you’ve been invited into.

So, what are you hiding from? What is the dream that you now mock? Beloved, maybe this year has begun in the shadows with a laugh . . . but can end with embracing a promise!

www.messengerinternational.org. Used by permission. 

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Ask Roger

What About the Baptism and Filling of the Holy Spirit?

by Roger Barrier
written by Roger Barrier

Dear Roger,

I am a member of your church and I work for (company name withheld). We take the girls to various Assembly of God Churches, but I am allowed to bring some of them to Casas on Sunday mornings and they love it.

The Church we go to on Saturday night is offering Bible classes that I thought about taking…. The application is very detailed and asks if I have been filled with the Holy Spirit with evidence of tongues, and (do I use) tongues in my current prayer life? This was the only question on the application that I did not know how to answer… except (to say) “no”.  🙂

I welcome any advice and suggestions.

Thank you,

(Name Withheld)

 

Dear Name Withheld,

 

The Bible makes a clear distinction between the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the Filling of the Holy Spirit. They are not the same. In direct reference to your question, some believe that the Bible teaches that speaking in tongues is the manifestation that occurs when a person receives Christ. They also teach that speaking in tongues is the sign of being baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit.

 

When Peter preached to Cornelius in Acts 10 he and his family received Christ before Peter’s sermon was even finished! They simultaneously spoke in tongues. Peter took this as a sign that even Gentiles could receive Christ. He thought previously that only Jews were welcomed into the family of God.

 

When Paul arrived in Ephesus he encountered some Jewish disciples of John the Baptist. After hearing about Jesus they believed in Him and became followers of Christ. When Paul laid hands on them they spoke in tongues as the “Holy Spirit came on them” (Acts 19:1-7).

 

Those who believe in speaking in tongues and simultaneously being baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit derive their understanding and practice from the two passages above as well as several other like them in the early passages of the Gospels.

 

One example is when John the Baptist declares that when Jesus comes, He will “baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Frankly, there is a wide variety of interpretations of the meaning of John’s words.

 

The other extreme view regarding this issue is held by those that teach that the spiritual gift of tongues no longer exists today. They base this on 1 Corinthians 13 where Paul teaches (as I shared with you in my last answer to you) that tongues will “cease by themselves”.

 

They teach that tongues is a “sign” gift that was needed in the first century to help the early Christians understand that Christianity was for Gentiles, too, since Gentiles coming to Christ had the same experience as the disciples had on Pentecost. These folks teach that since we have the Bible we no longer need this sign, so the gift stopped.

 

Now, “Name Withheld,” let me draw what I think are solid principles that may be of help to you as you make your own decisions concerning your beliefs and practices.

 

First, it seems to me that it is impossible to hold the position that tongues are the sign of conversion and/or the baptism or the filling of the Holy Spirit! Paul explicitly declares that not all shall speak in tongues, but that all are baptized of the Holy Spirit (compare 1 Corinthians 12: 30 with 1 Corinthians 12:13) Thus, Paul clearly makes a distinction between speaking in tongues and being baptized in the Holy Spirit.

The corollary teaching is that it is dangerous to elevate any spiritual gift and make it be a sign of the filling of the Holy Spirit—or to make the possession of any gift normative for a spiritual experience.

 

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs at conversion (1 Corinthians 12:13; 6:19). It is not necessarily accompanied by the gift of speaking in tongues. It would be fair to say that most Christians do not speak in tongues when they receive Christ.

 

The word, “baptism” means to “dip in” or to “immerse” For example, in the “Odyssey”, Odysseus escaped from the Cyclops by sticking (the Greek word is “baptized”) a stake into his eye. Odysseus did not sprinkle it in. He immersed it deeply. In the Bible “baptize” never means “to sprinkle” as some teach today. When we receive Christ, we are immersed (“baptized”) fully by the Holy Spirit into Christ and into the family of God (for example, read Romans 6:1-10).

 

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is received by simple faith in Christ. The Baptism follows automatically, positionizing us in Christ and cementing us securely into the family of God. Paul taught these “position in Christ” concepts in Colossians 2:12.

 

Peter also enunciated them in 1 John 4:15. The baptism of the Spirit refers to the new Believer’s incorporation into the body of Christ by a spiritual-organic union effected by the Holy Spirit. Peter declared the same in his sermon in Acts 2:28. The new Christian is now “in Christ”.

 

The Baptism in the Spirit is permanent and is bestowed at conversion. It is not to be repeated (Acts 2:38). There is no Scripture text urging believers today to seek for the Spirit’s Baptism.

 

The point is that it is not possible to receive what we already have!

 

On the other hand, what the Bible does urge us to seek and receive is the filling of the Holy Spirit. The key verse here is Ephesians 5:18: “Do not get drunk on wine, … Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” The term, “be filled”, is often translated in Greek as “keep on being filled” with the Spirit. It is a continual present tense.

 

From this we deduce that the filling of the Spirit is not permanent, but is to be repeated again and again. As a drunk is saturated and under the direct influence of alcohol, so we are to live saturated and under the direct influence of the Holy Spirit.

 

I see a direct parallel between being filled with the Holy Spirit and enjoying the living waters (John 7) and to experiencing the abundant life (John 10:10) that can be ours in Jesus Christ.

 

Unfortunately, sin and personal choices can soil and stymie the filling, the living waters, and the abundant life. However, our sins and poor choices never threaten our relationship with God. They may affect our fellowship with God but never our relationship with Him. We are born into the family of God. He is our Father and we are His children and that can never be undone.

 

While none of us can demand or make God pour out the Spirit-filled life upon us, the Bible gives definite guidance on being filled with the Spirit.

 

First, stop sinning. Do not grieve the Spirit by sin (Ephesians 4:30).

 

Second, when you do sin, confess your sin to God (1 John 1:9). We must be empty and clean in order to be filled).

 

Third, seek to live every moment in the Kingdom of God (Matthew 5:6 and 6:33). A.W. Tozer said, “Every man is just as spiritual as he wants to be.”

 

Fourth, make every effort to respond positively to the guidance and speaking of the Spirit deep within. As far as possible, never quench His voice or refuse to do what He says (1 Thessalonians 5:19). We must unreservedly yield our lives to Christ (Luke 14:33; 9:24).

 

Fifth, pray to become a spiritual man or woman at any price (1 John 2:12-14).

 

Sixth, ask God to pour His Spirit into your life so that you might receive the filling of the Spirit. You are now in a great position to experience the filling, abundant life, and living waters of the Spirit.

 

Seventh, leave the results to Him and soon you will enjoy the experience of walking hand in hand with Jesus (1 John 1:7).

 

Well, Name Withheld, I know you well enough to know that you are baptized in Christ because you received immersion into the family of God the moment you received Jesus. I know that you did not speak in tongues at that moment. I don’t know whether or not you do so today. You are well along in your journey. I know that you’ve experienced the filling of the Spirit on numerous occasions—perhaps not knowing or understanding the Biblical terms for what you were experiencing.

 

I hope my answer is helpful for you and gives some clarity about the three distinct experiences of tongues, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the Filling of the Holy Spirit.

 

Love, Roger

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3 Reasons to Wait on God

by Jan Shrader
written by Jan Shrader

Abraham’s faith is inspiring.  Chasing the grasslands of Canaan as a nomadic shepherd Abraham was free to survey the Promised Land his family would one day possess.  Catching each vista must have built his faith and his anticipation.  How did others in his entourage experience the endless treks through Canaan’s hills and valleys?  How did Sarah handle being uprooted at 65 and being invited on a lifelong camping trip?  Abraham is the one who first heard God’s voice.  When she was fatigued from packing up the tent or dousing the cook fires one more time did she grow discouraged?  The scriptures are silent about most of her emotions, but the desire to give Abraham a child made her desperate and bone weary.

 

Abraham’s life is a fascinating study because he often takes two steps forward, only to take one step backward.  He is making spiritual progress, but do you think he got discouraged and forgot where he started.  Maybe he was tempted to focus on his latest misstep.  Do you do that?  Instead of seeing how far you have come with God, do you become impatient with how long it is taking you to receive all of God’s promises?

 

Romans 15:4 says, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”                                                                                 ESV

 

One of those passages where you can find the importance of endurance is Genesis 16.  It is an incredibly sad story that occurs one chapter before Abraham and Sarah have their names changed by God.  This episode is difficult because of the destructive power of polygamy and what it does to men, women and their children.  It is also tragic because it is the two believers in this story who create the pain.  So, take a moment, look at Genesis 16:1-6 and refresh your memory with this sorrowful tale.

 

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children.  She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar.  And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children.  Go into my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.”  And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.  So after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.  And he went into Hagar and she conceived.  And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress.  And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you!  I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt.  May the Lord judge between you and me!  But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.”  Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.                                                           ESV

 

Not every spiritual lesson has to be learned first hand.  If you are observant you can pick up extremely useful information from other people’s blunders.   Abraham and Sarah’s missteps are a perfect example of the many personal applications you can make from their awful mistakes.

 

1)   When waiting on God, it is important to realize impatience makes everything worse.

 

By this account Abraham and Sarah had already waited 10 years in the Promised Land for God to provide them with the promised heir.  Many people would believe that waiting ten years was a valiant effort, but what does their impatience produce?  They harm and use a servant girl named Hagar, they produce a rival heir to God’s promised son Isaac, they carelessly drive a wedge into their marriage’s intimacy, and they bring political conflict on the entire world.  Without God’s divine intervention the descendants of Isaac, the Jews, and the descendants of Ishmael, the Arabs, will fight until the end of time.  This is a lot of suffering they have unleashed not only in their lifetime, but the reverberations of their impatience are still being felt today. When you are tempted to take things into your own hands, remember that impatience will only make everything worse.

 

Take a moment and reflect.  How might impatience add to your suffering?

 

2)   When waiting on God, it is important to realize God values the fruit that grows in us while we wait.

 

What did waiting on God produce in Abraham?  Wait time gave Abraham a deeper understanding of God’s goodness and his unconditional love.  At first Abraham only knew God was powerful, but after experiencing God’s faithfulness numerous times he clearly understood the God of creation was on his side.  Amazingly, after Isaac’s birth Abraham will even have the grace to surrender to God the child of the promise on Mt. Moriah (Gen. 22:1-19, Heb. 11:17-19).

 

God was also permanently reshaping Abraham’s view of his wife.  Before God’s revelation Abraham saw Sarah and her beauty as a liability when they traveled, not someone precious he should protect.  At least two times while they were on the road Abraham lied and told people Sarah was his sister.  He could have trusted God for his physical protection, but instead he practiced deception as a form of protection.  Can you imagine how frightened Sarah must have felt when she was placed in a harem not once, but twice?  (Gen. 12:10-20, 20:1-18).  During the extended time they both waited for Isaac’s birth, Abraham witnessed God elevating Sarah.  (Gen. 17:15-21).  Abraham will father more sons as his story continues (Gen. 25:1-2), but only Sarah’s son will be called the child of the promise.  Traditionally, Jewish status has been passed through the mother, not the father, largely because of the importance of Sarah’s faith journey.  In this drawn out timetable, God was challenging the value Abraham had given Sarah.

 

What does waiting on God produce in you?  If you are teachable the fruit of waiting will be trust in God.  God has a wonderful plan to bless you, but part of that plan is to also transform you.  Through a lengthy waiting period you learn God truly is good.  As you grow and make spiritual progress you will put your confidence in God sooner, more often and with greater abandonment.  When you have grown weary of anticipating when God will answer your prayers, consider what God desires?  Work with God and not against him.  Not every lesson you learn has to be taught in the school of hard knocks.  As you actively pause ask him to empower and strengthen you in your wait time.   I promise you, you will like the transformation in your personal life as much or more than God does.  When you have been delivered of your fears, pettiness or whatever else God desires to change, you are going to love the new, freer you.

 

What is God building in you during your wait time?

 

3)   When waiting on God, it is important to realize God does not need your help to keep his promises.

 

Sarah thought God needed her help to keep his promise to Abraham.  This is an incredibly small view of God.  Cannot the God of the universe who created the stars and asked Abraham to try and number them get Sarah pregnant?  Ultimately, God was more interested in Sarah coming to know who he is, than in her immediate motherhood.  Sarah mistakenly believed that God would want to bless Abraham, but not her.  This is not how a loving God treats a married couple.  Growing Sarah’s faith was just as critical to God as Abraham’s faith development.  God never intended to leave her out of his equation of blessing.  Eventually, through Sarah’s lineage Israel will give birth to the Messiah and the Savior of the world.

 

Abraham and Sarah knew it was God’s will to give them an heir.  But, they could not have guessed how important the twenty-five year, extended wait time would be in their lives, in the future of their descendants and even today.

 

How could God’s current delay in your life have a purpose?

 

 

Close out your study time by thanking God for days of intentional waiting and fresh revelations of how vast is his love for you.

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Learn from Successes and Failures!

by Don McMinn
written by Don McMinn

Experience is not the best teacher; evaluated experience is.—John Maxwell

Learn from your successes.

Do we learn more from studying failures or successes? Obviously, we learn from both, but often we analyze our failures and merely celebrate our successes. But the most valuable lessons may come from studying our successes. Here’s why.

You cannot infer success by studying failure and then inverting it. Of all the different ways to perform a certain task, most of them are wrong. Failure reveals what does not work, but it will not tell what does work. That’s why you cannot learn much by studying failure.

Carefully analyze successes because it is often difficult to determine exactly why something was successful; a cause and effect relationship is hard to establish. For instance, was the workshop you sponsored well-attended because of the topic, the speakers, or because it was held in the Caribbean? When you succeed, create hypotheses about why it may have happened and test them to confirm accurate correlations.

Also, carefully reflect on your early successes because they may mislead you. Po Bronson says, “Failure is hard but success can be far more dangerous. If you’re successful in the wrong thing, the mix of praise and money and opportunity can lock you in forever.”

Learn from your failures.

View failures and mistakes as both unavoidable and acceptable. Management consultants Pfeffer and Sutton say, “Setbacks and mistakes should be viewed as an inevitable, even desirable, part of being action oriented. The only true failure is to stop trying new things and to stop learning from the last effort to turn knowledge into action.”

If we are afraid of failure, we will never move beyond our safe zone; we will never leave sight of the shoreline for the vast ocean. Instead of thinking, “failure is not an option,” think “failure is an option, and there’s a good probability that it will happen.”

When you fail, look for causes, not excuses. Analyze what happened, identify causes, learn, and adjust.

Although failure is a natural byproduct of living an aggressive life, never be cavalier about failure and don’t romanticize it. Failure is not acceptable if it is the result of slothfulness, poor planning, or poor execution.

Are you failing enough?

In 1952, Drs. Watson and Crick discovered DNA. Dr. Watson calmly proclaimed, “I have discovered the source of life.” Their findings were published in an 874-word paper. Years later, Dr. Crick acknowledged that some of his postulations were off-beat and speculative. “But,” he told the Associated Press in 1994, “a man who is right every time is not likely to do very much.”

Picasso used up no less than eight notebooks just for preliminary sketches of his revolutionary painting, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, before he was satisfied.

Thomas Edison, when commenting on his experiments to invent the light bulb, said, “I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

Winston Churchill said, “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”

Don’t miss out on what you can learn from successes and failures.

www.donmcminn.com. Used by permission.

 

 

 

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Internet Safety: Parental Controls that Build Relationships

by Luke Gilkerson
written by Luke Gilkerson

I didn’t want just a filter that was like a fence around my kids. Fences might be good for keeping dogs in, but they only provide a temptation for people. You always want to see what’s on the other side—particularly with the Internet, especially if you know nobody is really watching.” – Ron DeHaas, founder of Covenant Eyes

Two Reasons Accountability Software is Important

When it comes to Internet safety, parental controls often focus on only one method: blocking content.

But accountability software is not the same as Internet filtering. A filter blocks access to specific places online; accountability services do not. While people frequently use accountability and filtering together, accountability services monitor and report the sites that have been visited and the apps that have been used.

1. Internet accountability is important is because secrecy has become the norm. According to recent research, 71% of teens have done something to hide what they do online from their parents. This includes clearing browser history, minimizing a browser window when in view, deleting inappropriate videos, lying about online behavior, blocking parents with social media privacy settings, and using private browsing.

2. Internet accountability is important because it offers “relational” parental controls. Internet safety is not merely a matter of shielding young eyes from bad content. Internet safety is about training kids to become adults in a world without filters. Nothing does this better than having a healthy, constant conversational relationship with your child about their online choices. To do this, however, we need to know where they are going online.

Seven Steps to Internet Safety: Parental Controls in Your Home

Good parental controls begin with conversation. As you set down clear rules for using the Internet in the home, remember the importance of keeping a warm, open dialogue with your kids.

As the video stated above, here are seven steps you should take right away in your home.

  1. Adopt this policy: If I am not willing to monitor a device, I will not provide it.
  2. Review and configure all parental controls for devices in your home. Make sure you have administrative controls on every device.
  3. Review every app on your child’s devices. Make sure you can control when apps are added and deleted.
  4. Discuss Internet concerns with the parents of your children’s friends. See what protocols they have in place.
  5. Limit the times of day your child spends online.
  6. Require all computers and phones be outside the bedroom, especially at night.
  7. Install Covenant Eyes on every device in your home. Use it to monitor where your kids go online and then start having good conversations with them about the choices they are making.

www.covenanteyes.com. Used by permission.

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How to Fight Porn in Your Church

by Luke Gilkerson
written by Luke Gilkerson

Dead. That’s exactly how John felt that morning as he faced the platform. He was singing along with the music, eyes closed, trying to focus on the lyrics, trying to lift his heart to God as best he knew how. But like many Sundays before, his soul felt shriveled and uncomfortably numb. If those who stood around him only knew the depths of his sin, how would they treat him?

If they knew about the websites he visited the night before, what would they say?

What would his wife say?

Men like John are all too common in the church today. According to Pure Desire Ministries, after collecting thousands of surveys from churches all over America, men like John comprise 60-70% of the men in our pews (plus 25-30% of women, and sadly, 50-58% of church leaders).

Can churches become communities where people like John find repentance, hope, and healing?

The good news is many leading churches are striving for this, and they are reshaping the culture of the church to change lives.

Dry Drunks in the Pews

How could so many Christians be so sexually broken and go unnoticed? Is this problem really as large as it is made out to be?

According to Leadership Journal, more than half (57%) of pastors surveyed say porn addiction is the most sexually damaging issue to their congregation.

Some in the pews are undeniably addicts of the first degree: their sexual compulsions have brought them to unfathomable depths of perversion. And they are paying dearly for it.

But others have only convinced themselves they don’t have a problem. Ted Roberts of Pure Desire likens these men and women to “dry drunks”: they watch a little porn now and then, they masturbate, they sexually fantasize, but they would never call themselves “addicts.” Outwardly their sexual habits might pass for unharmful, but inwardly they are filled with loneliness, bitterness, and lust. Their marriages are far from intimate. Their fellowship with others is shallow at best. And week after week they lose a little more hope that things will ever be different.

“Our church, every church, all this culture are awash in lust, pornography, and every manner of sexual perversion,” says Pastor John Piper of Bethlehem Baptist Church. “We are, in fact, so awash that we’ve become fish who don’t even dream about air anymore.”

Opening the Can of Worms: Taking on Taboos

Some church leaders have said enough is enough, and they have become intentional and strategic about tackling this issue head-on.

James Reeves, senior pastor of Celebration Fellowship in Fort Worth, likens the damage of pornography to a coming tsunami. “The issue of sexual addiction caught us unaware at first,” Reeves writes. “All around us marriages began to fall apart, husbands started getting caught with pornography, in affairs, and visiting prostitutes, and we knew we had to do something. Although we were heavily involved in recovery ministry already, we knew very little about how to deal with the specific issue of sexual addiction. So we got informed, educated, and went to work.”

On Sept. 21, 2003, they devoted a special Sunday to the issue, entitled, “The Day Celebration Told the Truth about Pornography.” They had a panel discussion where six couples and one man, all of whom were in recovery, told their stories. They spoke about the shame, frustration, and despair that comes with this addiction, and they talked about their path to recovery so far.

Reeves didn’t announce the topic beforehand to his congregation so people would not come up with convenient excuses to miss church that morning. “From that day forward,” says Reeves, “we were off and running in ministering to men, women, and families caught in this area.”

Even smaller churches are taking action. Rev. Hank Van der Woerd ministers to a growing congregation of 250 families in the immigrant community in Southern Alberta, Canada. Even among this farming community, the members of Trinity United Reformed Church are no strangers to the problem of pornography.

Rev. Van der Woerd, along with ministers from surrounding churches, decided to organize a seminar for all their men, age 14 and up, where they communicated biblical, psychological, and practical advice for men facing this temptation. The event was well-attended, and while there were some naysayers, critics were soon silenced when they were confronted with the enormity of the problem.

For the elders of Trinity, this is only the beginning of their approach to this problem. Determined to help their 900 members, the elders have decided to set aside funds every year to purchase Covenant Eyes Internet Accountability for any family who wants it in their church. They are sending a message to the church-at-large: we want to be a community of hope and healing, where secrets sins can be brought into the light.

The Inevitable Fight with Shame

For many men and women who deeply struggle with sexual sin, a feeling of shame clings to them like a wet blanket and often become the biggest barrier against seeking help. Biblical counselor David Powlison says shame and guilt are related but distinct experiences. “Guilt is an awareness of failure against a standard,” such as a rule or a personal expectation. But shame, says Powlison, is “a sense of failure before the eyes of someone else.” Shame is overtly relational.

For many porn and sex addicts, the shame is so acute, being open and honest in a spiritual community sounds like the last thing they want to do. So for churches that are proactive about this issue, disinfecting the shame-dynamic is a constant battle.

Disinfecting Shame at Hospital Church

And religious environments, unfortunately, encourage masks and pretension. A few decades ago, Pastor James Reeves came to believe that the church (as he experienced it) was not a safe place to talk about real problems.

Reeves was saved at age 18 right off the street. He grew up, as he says, “poor white trash in a tin-roof house.” He was no stranger to drugs and alcohol. His own father died a penniless alcoholic in a flop house. Coming to Christ brought about a radical change in his life and eventually, after college, he entered a life of vocational ministry.

However, six years into his pastoral career he sunk into an inexplicable and deep depression. His fellow church leaders gave him a short sabbatical, during which Reeves discovered how insufficiently he had recovered from the hurts and sins of his past. He returned to his church, not only refreshed, but with a new vision for what he wanted his church to become. He desires his church to become a place where people felt free to bring their deepest hurts and their biggest secrets.

He calls it “Hospital Church.”

The church, says Reeves, is meant to be like a hospital gown. “The hospital gown is designed not for concealment but easy access.” Reeves dreams of a church where people can be completely transparent—warts and all—and for the past 20 years, Reeves and the leaders of Celebration Fellowship have worked hard to intentionally create an atmosphere of grace to make transparency possible.

Similarly, Dr. Bill Berry of Central Church in Collierville, Tennessee, says battling the shame-orientation is crucial to helping men and women come out of hiding. Dr. Berry has been the director of Battle Plan Ministries for 12 years in his church, and through this program he has watched scores of men walk out of the darkness of porn addiction and into the light.

He knew men and women were seeking private counseling for these problems—a tactic he calls “covert warfare”—but he wanted his church to be a place where men could be honest publically about their struggles. Berry says he started Battle Plan for this very reason: to change the culture of his church and give men a safe forum for being honest without fear of condemnation.

He now oversees four Battle Plan groups around the Memphis area.

Modeling Brokenness from the Front

Where does transparency start? Jon Acuff calls Christian leaders to give “the gift of going second.” When one brave soul speaks first, when he or she shares the raw and dirty details off their life, others in the room are given “the gift of going second.”

It’s so much harder to be first. No one knows what’s off limits yet and you’re setting the boundaries with your words. You’re throwing yourself on the honesty grenade and taking whatever fall out that comes with it. Going second is so much easier. And the ease only grows exponentially as people continue to share. But it has to be started somewhere. Someone has to go first, and I think it has to be us.

In the New York metropolitan area, Grace Community Church reaches thousands with its weekend services.Nearly every week Pastor Jarrod Jones will stand on the platform and remind his congregation, “This is a church where it’s okay to not be okay.” Jones, himself, is no stranger to the struggle of sexual sin. He writes candidly about what he has learned from his own struggles in his book, 13 Ways to Ruin Your Life.

This environment of grace is one of the reasons why their Men’s L.I.F.E. Accountability Group is as strong as it is. Mike Pagna, who leads this Saturday morning fellowship, believes strongly that leaders need to set the pace when it comes to transparency. “I don’t care if I’m labeled a sex addict,” he says. Wanting more guys to come clean about their struggles, he would create venues to tell his story: men’s breakfasts, youth group events, anywhere he was given a platform. This not only drew guys to his group, but it also empowered men to be honest when they got there. “The leader needs to really, really lay it out. I need to lead with my junk so other guys can talk about theirs.”

This is the same approach used by Pastor Darrell Brazell of New Hope Fellowship in Lawrence, Kansas. Brazell struggled with pornography since he was 10. He pursued a career in ministry believing if he devoted his life to God in full-time service, God would make his sexual struggles go away. When this did not happen, his heart was eaten alive with shame, and the addiction only became worse.

Brazell started to find freedom when he opened up about his struggle to other fellow pastors. Because of his willingness to share his story with others, more and more men came to Brazell for help for their sexual sins. In October 2003, Brazell founded New Hope Fellowship, and to this day its sexual addiction recovery ministry is the church’s largest outreach to the surrounding community.

Brazell knows his situation is unique: not every pastor’s story is like his own. But he believes strongly that pastors need to be honest about their own weaknesses. “If the teaching pastors do not understand their own brokenness and constantly proclaim grace, no recovery ministry is going to thrive.”

www.covenanteyes.com. Used by permission.

 

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Articles

Pew Peeps, Weasly Deacons and Building Trust

by Julie Barrier
written by Julie Barrier

Forget a funeral, insult the nursery lady, lose your temper in a business meeting, utter a curse word in a sermon and you’re likely to be kicked to the curb, dear minister. My husband used to have this recurring dream that he was preaching away and he looked down to discover he forgot his clothes. All preachers feel vulnerable. Pastors (and their families) are all human. So how do they survive and thrive in a church environment?

 

 

Pastor, how do you build trust between you and your pew peeps? Here’s a cautionary tale.

 

As a fledgling ministry couple in our first church, we received a frantic phone call from a seminary colleague serving in a parish across town. Sounding like a poodle cornered by a Doberman, our friend squeaked, “Roger, the weasels are at it again!” What a cryptic statement! We knew our friends lived in a dilapidated parsonage, but why call us? Why not contact animal control? We’d nabbed a few rats, chased a few cats, but our weasel experience was limited, at best.

 

Then my husband’s friend (we’ll call him Clyde) reminded Roger that it was “Weasel Wednesday” night, the lay leader conclave when committees gathered to discuss church policy, politics and pay scales. For us, our affable elders were the supportive sort who prayed for us newbies as we tried out our ministry wings and picked us up when we crashed and burned.

 

Brother Clyde reminded us that he was not so fortunate. He ranted and raved that his deacons, those nefarious ne’er-do-wells who hired him, were certain to criticize his every move, dock his pay and generally make his life a living (well, you know, the opposite of heaven). Why would a pastor speak so ill of his leadership? He had only served at his current post for six months. Either this congregation was really dysfunctional or Clyde was pretty paranoid.

 

The minister listed a number of faux pas that gave us pause. Clyde had removed the mahogany pulpit hand-carved by one of the church founders the first Sunday that he preached. Wilma Hesselbrook, widow of the pulpit craftsman, hyperventilated in her pew and needed mouth to mouth. Ouch. Way to win friends and influence people! Eager to light a fire beneath the faithful, our friend delivered a fiery vision sermon on evangelism, and basically informed his congregation that they were apathetic and lazy when it came to reaching the world for Christ. Brother Clyde was frontman for “Gospel Shredders” in seminary-a factoid he failed to mention to the pulpit committee. One can imagine their surprise when he whipped out his amp and began to strum along with “Holy, Holy, Holy.” Yes, poor Clyde needed a few lessons in Christian diplomacy. 

 

We never learned much about Clyde’s brief stint at his post. He departed the “weasel” Baptist church suddenly and left the ministry soon after. A real shame. He was a good guy with six years of Greek and Hebrew under his belt. Have you ever tried to get another job with Greek and Hebrew on your resume? Now Clyde’s happy as a clam working at Jiffy Lube.

 

Clyde could have benefited from some “shepherd-mentoring.” A pastor my husband Roger greatly admired told my husband that he needed to learn to play PARISH POKER. At first the gambling analogy took him aback. Brother Lubner explained that every fledgling preacher is handed a pair of “chips” when he steps into the pulpit of his new church. If Reverend Clueless rips out the organ pipes the first week and replaces them with three media screens and laser lights, he just lost all of his chips. In fact, he might just be kicked to the curb by lunchtime.

 

My husband’s pastorly over-sight could have been a career-ender, but he squirreled away a stockpile of poker chips for such a day. Roger’s wedding mishap was both hilarious and precarious. My hubby and daughters were happily watching Sponge Bob Squarepants and scarfing pepperoni pizza when the dreaded phone call came. Deacon Harold, the father of the bride, barked, “Pastor, where are you? Roger dropped his pizza slice, donned his tux pants and bolted for the Buick. The desert sunset wedding had been timed to the minute so that the sun would set through purple clouds behind the Catalina Mountains just as the couple said “I do.”

 

By the time Roger arrived on the scene, it was dusk and the bridemaids stumbled over the rocky path in their stilettos, making their way to the altar. The onlookers stood to acknowledge the bride’s grand entrance and Dad fell “splat” into a nearby prickly pear cactus. It took two sets of tweezers and a dinner fork to extricate the spines from dad’s thorny posterior. He was not a happy camper. Needless to say, Roger received no honorarium and the wedding photos were staged on the backyard patio next to the swing set.

 

Believe it or not, the family did not leave the church and Roger did not get fired. Why not? He had lots and lots of chips with that family. He baptized their kids, counseled their teenage son and kept vigil at Grandma’s hospital bed. Rog lost some chips that day, but the family forgave him. You see, chips are all about relationships and building trust.

 

So what lessons can be learned from Roger and Clyde?

 

Hapless Clyde lost chips because he didn’t understand the culture of his congregation and didn’t take time to know his people first. Fiery young ministers want to preach their first sermon on “vision.” Give me a break. Everyone in church knows the new parson has vision. That’s why they hired him. The first question every pew-hugger wants to know is “Pastor, do you want to know me? Are you going to take care of me?” If you answer that question in spades, your pile of “chips” will grow.

 

Don’t expect to pile up chips overnight. Trust must be earned. Spirituality, integrity, faithfulness and compassion are proved over years of serving others. There is no greater challenge and no greater blessing than longevity in ministry.

 

A little grace goes a long way. Dear servants of God, remember the weight of responsibility your lay leaders shoulder. All of your sheep are needy. Shepherd their families. Comfort their hurts. Forgive their foibles, and be patient when they are slower to change than you would like. If they know you love them deeply and are committed to them long-term, the sheep will gladly follow wherever you lead.

 

Deacons, elders and lay leaders remember that your pastors and wives are sheep, too. Cut them a little slack. They need your care as well. Give them friendship, forgiveness, loyalty and above all, your prayers. Ultimately we love and trust each other because we love and trust the Good Shepherd.

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Articles

Love: For Longer and Forever

by Max Lucado
written by Max Lucado

He had always loved those who were his own in the world, and he loved them all the way to the end. (Jn. 13:1)

Give thanks to the Lord because he is good. His love continues forever. (Ps. 136:1)

Moms, I have a question: Why do you love your newborn? I know, I know, it’s a silly question. Indulge me. Why do you?

For months this baby has brought you pain. She (or he) made you break out in pimples and waddle like a duck. Because of her you craved sardines and crackers and threw up in the morning. She punched you in the tummy. She occupied space that wasn’t hers and ate food she didn’t fix.

You kept her warm. You kept her safe. You kept her fed. But did she say thank you?

Are you kidding? She’s no more out of the womb than she starts to cry! The room is too cold, the blanket is too rough, the nurse is too mean. And who does she want? Mom.

She didn’t even tell you she was coming. She just came. And what a coming! She rendered you a barbarian. You screamed. You swore. You bite bullets and tore the sheets. And now look at you. Your back aches. Your head pounds. Your body is drenched in sweat. Every muscle strained and stretched.

You should be angry, but are you?

Far from it. On your face is a for-longer-than-forever love. She has done nothing for you, yet all you can talk about are her good looks and bright future. She’s going to wake you up every night for the next six weeks, but that doesn’t matter. I can see it on your face. You’re crazy about her.

Why?

* * * * * * * *

God, I have a question: Why do you love your children? I don’t want to sound irreverent, but only heaven knows how much pain we’ve brought you. Why do you tolerate us? You give us every breath we breathe, but do we thank you? You give us bodies beyond duplication, but do we praise you?

Seldom.

We complain about the weather. We bicker about our toys. We argue over who gets which continent and who has the best gender. Not a second passes when someone, somewhere doesn’t use your name to curse a hammered thumb or a bad call by the umpire. (As if it were your fault.)

You fill the world with food, but we blame you for hunger. You keep the earth from tilting and the Arctic’s from thawing, but we accuse you of unconcern. You give blue skies, and we demand rain. You give rain, and we demand sun. As if we knew what was best, anyway.

We give more applause to a brawny ball-carrier than we do the God who made us. We sing more songs to the moon than to the Christ who saved us. We are a gnat on the tail of one elephant in the galaxy of Africa’s and yet we demand that you find us a parking place when we ask. And if you don’t give us what we want, we say you don’t exist. As if our opinion matters.

We pollute the world you loan us. We mistreat the bodies you gave us. We ignore the Word you sent us. And we killed the Son you became. We are spoiled babies who take and kick and pout and blaspheme.

You have every reason to abandon us.

I sure would! I would wash my hands of the whole mess and start over on Mars. But do you?

I see the answer in the rising of the sun. I hear the answer in the crashing of the waves. I feel the answer in the skin of a child.

Father, your love never ceases. Never. Though we spurn you, ignore you, disobey you, you will not change. Our evil cannot diminish your love. Our goodness cannot increase it. Our faith does not earn it anymore than our stupidity jeopardizes it. You don’t love me less if I fail. You don’t love me more if I succeed.

Your love never ceases.

How do we explain it?

The answer is found in the eyes of the mother. Why does she love her newborn? Because the baby is hers? Even more. Because the baby is her. Her blood. Her flesh. Her sinew and spine. Her hope. Her legacy. It bothers her not that the baby gives nothing. She knows a newborn is helpless, weak. She knows babies don’t ask to come into this world.

And God knows we didn’t either.

We are his idea. We are his. His face. His eyes. His hands. His touch. We are him. Look deeply into the face of every human being on earth and you will see his likeness. Though some appear to be distant relatives, they are not. God has no cousins, only children.

We are, incredibly, the body of Christ. And though we may not act like our Father, there is no greater truth than this: We are his. Unalterably. He loves us. Undyingly. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ. (Rom. 8:38, 39)

Had God not said those words, I would be a fool to write them. But since he did, I’m a fool not to believe them. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. But how difficult to embrace this truth.

You think you’ve committed an act which places you outside his love. A treason. A betrayal. An aborted promise. You think, he would love you more if you hadn’t done it, right? You think he would love you more if you did more, right? You think if you were better, his love would be deeper, right?

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

His love is not human. His love is not normal. His love sees your sin and loves you still. Does he approve of your error? No. Do you need to repent? Yes. But do you repent for his sake or yours? Yours. His ego needs no apology. His love needs no bolstering.

And he could not love you more than he does right now.

 

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Ask Roger

Did God Order Father Abraham to Commit Murder?

by Roger Barrier
written by Roger Barrier

 

Dear Roger,

 

I continually struggle with the story of Abraham and Isaac. In all truth, this story really bothers me. I realize that God did not have Abraham continue with the sacrifice, but by simply asking this of Abraham, is God not asking Abraham to sin? Is this not considered murder? I understand the principle that God desires our ability to surrender all to Him, even those dearest to ourselves, but asking us to kill, to put it bluntly, a loved one seems so awful.

 

I always think of the Lafferty brothers, who are Mormon fundamentalists, who killed their youngest brother’s wife and baby “at God’s request.” I realize that this is incredibly outrageous and these men were not seeking God’s will, nor were they in reality receiving instruction from God, but how would one explain the difference to a non-believer?

Thanks,

Amy

Dear Amy,

Thanks for the question. I believe that the Abraham-Isaac event is a “TYPE” A “TYPE” is the theological term used to describe and Old testament picture (or allegory) engineered by God the Father to point to the coming death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

 

Let me give you several examples of Old Testament TYPES. God instructed Moses to speak to the Rock at Meribah (Numbers 20:1-13) and life giving water would flow forth to quench the cravings of the thirsty-desert-dwelling Israelites. The flowing water was a TYPE of the Living Water which would one day flow forth from everyone who surrendered their lives to Christ as Lord and Savior (John 7:37-39). According to Paul (1 Corinthians 10:1-4), this Rock was a metaphor for Christ.

 

Moses sinned that day at Meribah when the waters flowed (Numbers 27:12-14). God instructed Moses to speak to the rock. Unfortunately, in his anger Moses struck with rock. Then, he struck it again. He never got around to asking the rock to release the water as God intended. As a result of his disobedience, God disqualified Moses from entering the Promised Land. This punishment seems rather harsh until we see the Rock as a TYPE of Christ. In one sense, Moses’ first strike many have enhanced the TYPE. After all, Christ was struck hard when He was crucified.  The rock struck and then asked to pour forth Living Water to all who requested it would make a powerful TYPE. Unfortunately, the second strike certainly ruined any sort of salvation picture the Father might have had in mind.

 

God forbade Moses to enter into the Promised Land because he ruined the TYPE. Types are serious business to God.

 

Amy, let me give you another example. In Psalm 22, the “Psalm of the Cross,” David is a TYPE of Christ. His experiences 975 years before Christ exactly mirror Christ’s crucifixion. Psalm 22 begins with the words, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” and ends with the words, “It is finished.” Notice that these are the very words Jesus used to begin and end His work on the cross (Mark 15:34 and John 19:30).

 

Psalm 22 pictures what Christ saw as He looked down from the cross. On the other hand, Isaiah 53 pictures the view of those who were staring up at Christ as He hung upon the Cross.

 

Now, with the above background we can understand the Father’s murderous command to Abraham. It is one thing to view God’s command as a test of Abraham’s devotion to God. It is quite another to understand this event as a TYPE of Jesus Christ.

 

Just so we can’t miss it, God carefully explained the meaning of the Abraham-Isaac story in Hebrews 11:17-19. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that Abraham believed all along that God would raise Isaac back to life: “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.”

 

When Abraham raised the knife, Isaac was as good as dead. But, just in time, the Angel of the Lord told Abraham to cease and desist. By the way, the angel of the Lord is an Old Testament “epiphany” (literally “God shining”) or manifestation of Jesus Himself on earth before the incarnation. asa Abraham lowered the knife, he turned around and saw a ram caught up in the bushes. Isaac was saved when his father sacrificed the ram on the altar in place of Isaac.

 

In the same way we are on the altar of justice and deserve to die for our sin (Romans 3:23 and 6:23). Just in time Jesus substituted Himself on the altar of sacrifice and died in our places in order to pay the price we deserve for our sins. Then, to carry the TYPE to its logical conclusion, we, like Isaac, are saved to new life.

 

By the way, Genesis 22:14 says, “so Abraham called that place “The LORD Will Provide.” And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” By the way again, Calvary is the name we use today for Mount Moriah–the Mountain where God provided the ram for Isaac, Jesus lated provided Himself as a lamb for us.

 

God never again asked a parent to sacrifice a child in order to determine devotion. In fact, God the Father absolutely forbids this practice. He declared in Leviticus 20:4-5: “If the people of the community close their eyes when that man gives one of his children to Molech and they fail to put him to death, I will set my face against that man and his family and will cut off from their people.”

 

Some theologians argue that Jephthah’s vow in Judges 11:30-39 proves that God condoned the father’s sacrifice of his only daughter as a result of his prayer to God. Jephthah promised that if God would deliver Amorite enemies into his hand, “… whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.” (v. 31). Jephthah’s virgin daughter came running out to meet him as he returned from battle. This sacrifice was not God’s prerequisite for victory. Judges recounts several events that occur that are the result of man’s rejection of His Creator’s authority.

“In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” Judges 21:25 KJV

Regarding the second part to your question, I see the murderous instructions to Abraham as not murderous after all. They are an anomaly that occurred only once. People who claim that God told them to kill are misguided religious nuts, mentally ill people who need treatment, unflinching psychopaths and/or demonically deluded captives to the forces of evil.

 

The Lafferty brothers, the Mormon fundamentalists that you mentioned, certainly did not kill their youngest brother’s wife and baby “at God’s request”. The Laffertys heard voices all right–but not from God! They were seduced by decptive “doctines of demons.” They murdered cruelly, were deceived mercilessly and will one day stand before god’s Great White Throne of Judgment. The Lake of fire will soon consume them. (Unless by God’s mercy and grace they surrender their lives to Christ–so vast is His forgiving power. Read my ASK ROGER answer entitled, “Rapists in Heaven?” to gain some insight on my last comment.)

 

By the way, the infamous Mountain Massacre occurred in southern Utah in the late 1800s. A group of Mormon men dressed as Indians murdered an entire wagon train of men, women and children. Here is another example of people who are deluded into thinking that they are following the will of God when they are actually dastardly sinners acting upon the basest horrors of the human heart.

 

Well, Amy, I hope that I’ve shared some thoughts and information which are helpful both to you personally as well as to your “unbelieving” friends. May God grant you blessings and success as you point them to the lovely person of Jesus Christ.

 

Love, Roger

 

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