Podcasts about Mamre

13:14 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: 13:15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. 13:16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. 13:17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. 13:18 Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.

Context of Genesis; Hammurabi?; Ruling over other men - offices of power; King of Sodom; Aleph-mem-resh-phe-lamed = sayer of darkness; Disliking Hammurabi codes; Representatives vs lawmakers; Your relationship with government; Covetousness; Biting neighbor with the teeth of government; "Citizen"; "Shinar" = Babylon? Shin-nun-ayin-resh; Goyim = other nations; "Bera" son of evil; Families of God = generations; Rebellion of kings; Meanings in names; "Moses"; Becoming merchandise; Appetites for benefits at others' expense; Blood lickers; Seeing the whole truth; Lot in Sodom; Theme of the bible - being free souls under God's authority; vs Men who want to be God for you; "Hebrew"; Legal vs Lawful Title; The solution; Setting the captive free; Going the way of righteousness; "brother"; "Mamre" mem-resh - not just a location; Abraham = Hebrew = wanderer = not subject = free soul; In spirit and truth; "confederate"; Freewill offerings; Freeing people; shin-vav-heh = to agree; Righteous charity; Melchizedek; Taxation; Walking with Holy Spirit; Bread and wine?; Shem; Why Sodom was destroyed; Fleshpots; Charity-based social welfare; Use tax = Usury; Linking Genesis to Jesus; One purse government; Legal title; Permits; "Goyim"; Dictators; Idol worship; Servant ministers; Pure Religion; Lot's lot; Lacking faith; Repent and seek kingdom of God; How to get out of bondage; Christ's commands; Ps 91:1; Abraham, Moses and Christ in agreement; Gen 15:17 vision; Smoke and furnace; Mammon - righteous and unrighteous; Way of the world - force, fear and fealty; Learning to be Israel; God's simple way; Universal income?; Cost of liberty; Circumcision of your heart; Join us on the Living Network.

Sermon Summary: Genesis 49 Andy's sermon focused on Genesis 49, the chapter where Jacob, nearing the end of his life at 147 years old, blesses his sons and prophesies about the future of their tribes. The sermon explored the themes of God's grace in using flawed individuals, the importance of looking to God for deliverance, and the significance of waiting patiently for God's timing. Andy began by reflecting on how words spoken to us, especially in our youth, can profoundly shape our lives. He connected this to the Genesis passage, where Jacob's words to his sons would define their destinies. He noted that while some blessings were influenced by past actions (Reuben, Simeon, and Levi), others, like Judah, contained prophetic statements about the coming Messiah. The sermon highlighted the contrast between the initial blessings, which were shaped by past negative actions, and the later ones, which contained prophetic hope. Andy pointed out the prophetic statement about Judah: "The scepter will not depart from Judah nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his." He explained that this refers to Jesus and the future day when all nations will bow down to Him. He also noted the extensive blessings heaped upon Joseph, pondering if this indicated continued favoritism or recognition of Joseph's role in saving God's people. A central theme of the sermon emerged from Genesis 49:18: "I look for your deliverance, O Lord." Andy described this as a pivotal moment in the chapter, a prayer for times of desperation. He likened it to the simple, heartfelt prayer, "Oh God, oh God, oh God, help," emphasizing that such prayers are valid and necessary, especially when facing challenges and uncertainties. He stressed that Jacob, even while giving these grand pronouncements, recognized the future challenges and weaknesses of his descendants, and the need for God's intervention. Andy then elaborated on four key aspects of this phrase: A Prayer for Times of Desperation: Andy emphasized that this prayer is relevant to our current times. He encouraged the congregation to cry out to God for help, whether for personal struggles, the future of the church, or the well-being of their children and grandchildren. He reiterated that Christians are not "goody-goodies" but flawed individuals whom God uses. He stressed that the good news of Jesus is that God loves to use people who are "messed up" and "screw up". He stated that God has come to us, taking the initiative through Jesus' death and resurrection, and that our response is to acknowledge and rely on Him. A Foundation: Andy described this phrase as a bedrock statement that should undergird everything we do. He drew a parallel to Jesus' parable of the wise man who built his house on the rock (Matthew 7:24-27), emphasizing the importance of putting God's words into practice. He urged the congregation to make "I look for your deliverance, O Lord" a central part of their lives, a constant reminder of their dependence on God, regardless of whether things are going well or poorly. He asked the congregation to consider what their driving force in life is, and to place this phrase at the center of their lives. Looking and Waiting: Andy acknowledged the difficulty of waiting, contrasting it with the instant gratification promoted by modern society. He reminded the congregation that God's timing is different from ours, referencing the story of Abraham and the long wait for his descendants. He challenged them to consider investing in things they might not see come to fruition in their lifetime, echoing Jacob's prophetic words about the Messiah, which he would not witness. He quoted several Psalms and a passage from Romans about waiting patiently for the Lord: Psalm 37:7 ("Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him"), Psalm 40:1 ("I waited patiently for the Lord"), and Romans 8:25 ("But if we hope for what we don't have, we wait for it patiently."). He warned against the pitfalls of trying to force things to happen or becoming discouraged and abandoning faith. He used the analogy of police horse training, where the horse is trained to stay focused and not be distracted, to illustrate the importance of building practices into our lives that keep us focused on God. He referenced Hebrews 12:2 ("Fix your eyes on Jesus"). All Points to Jesus: Andy concluded by emphasizing that Jesus is the ultimate source of deliverance and salvation. He reiterated that humanity is cut off from God due to sin, but Jesus came to pay the price and reconcile us to God. He stressed that Jesus delivers us not only from the consequences of our rebellion but also from the pain, hurt, trauma, and negative reactions that result from it. He called on those exploring Christianity to recognize Jesus' central role in salvation. In his closing prayer, Andy led the congregation in a time of reflection and confession. He invited them to consider areas in their lives where they needed God's deliverance, including healing, the effects of negative words, destructive behaviors, a lack of focus on God, and a desire for immediate results. He also prayed for those considering making a first-time commitment to Jesus. He concluded by asking God to "come and have your way" in their lives. Bible References: Genesis 49 Hebrews 11 Matthew 7:24-27 Psalm 37:7 Psalm 40:1 Romans 8:25 Hebrews 12:2 Transcript Freedom, freedom. Good morning everybody. Good morning. Good morning guys, 146. If you've got a Bible, if you want to turn to me to Genesis chapter 49, we've almost made it. Yay! 18 months now of working through Genesis and we've almost made it. I was chatting to Sheila on Thursday, Sheila Wingrove. So if you don't know, Sheila Wingrove has produced this amazing display in the foyer, right? I know we all rush into church because we want to be here, so we rush past it. But please take your time to study that and be amazed. It's a fantastic piece of work and we need to figure out how we keep it for posterity because it's such a beautiful thing. She was chatting to me on Thursday saying she's got no room left, so I'm not allowed to say anything this morning. Because there's no space to put anything. Good gospel here. But amazing, you know. So just two weeks left and then we're all itching to see how we're going to do services that only last an hour and a half. Two on a Sunday. I don't know how we're going to do that, but we'll see. Easy. Easy. So Genesis 49, I don't know about you, can you remember stuff that perhaps your mum or your dad said to you when you were younger? Anybody remember things they used to say? Good things? No hands. Bad things? A few hands. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We remember, don't we? I can remember. Is this me? Do I need to stand still? That would be good. I'll try and stand still. I can remember mum used to say, you know, when I was a lot younger, wait till your father gets home. Anybody have that? We're a generation, aren't we? My dad always used to say when I'd done something well, he'd always say, nine out of ten, because there's always room for improvement. And things like that. But perhaps a teacher, you know, you remember what your teachers used to say to you, you know, must try harder. Could do better. And things like that. And those words can kind of stick, can't they? Yeah, sorry about that. So those words stick with us, don't they? And they kind of can shape our lives. But, you know, most of us have had things spoken to us that did that type of thing. In fact, we had that fantastic Good Friday service that those guys did standing up here. And they talked about some of those things that had affected their lives. And they talked about, remember, they flipped those cards over and they talked about how Jesus was dealing with those things. In exactly the same way we've heard Evie describe the same thing this morning. In exactly the same way I responded to some of the stuff that my parents had said. You know, we don't want to be men and women who let those things restrict what God has in store for you and for me. And so here we are, we're reaching the end of Jacob's life. And as we've seen throughout Genesis, it's a significant moment when someone dies and they pass on this blessing to their children. We've seen it from Abraham to Isaac, Isaac to Jacob and Esau, remember all of that. And now here we are with Jacob himself doing it. And Cornelius taught us last week how he did it to his grandchildren first, Joseph's kids. And then we come to this chapter and he does it to the rest of his sons. So I'm just going to read it, if that's okay. I might read quite quickly because it is quite long. But I think it's good to read the Word of God at times. So Genesis 49. Then Jacob called for his sons and said, gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come. Imagine your dad saying that to you. That would be an amazing moment. Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob, listen to your father Israel. Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength. Excelling in honor, excelling in power, turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel. For you went up onto your father's bed, onto my couch and defiled it. Simeon and Levi are brothers, their swords are weapons of violence. Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly. For they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Cursed be their anger so fierce and their fury so cruel. I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel. Wow. Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons will bow down to you. You are a lion's cub, O Judah. You return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness. Who dares to rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch. He will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be darker than wine and his teeth whiter than milk. I'm not quite sure what that means. Zebulun will live by the seashore and become a haven for ships. His border will extend towards Sidon. Issachar is a royal bone donkey lying down between two saddlebags. When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labor. Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan will be a serpent by the roadside, a viper along the path. It bites the horse's heels so its riders tumble backwards and look for your deliverance, oh Lord. Gad will be attacked by a band of raiders, but he will attack them at their heels. Asher's food will be rich, he will provide delicacies fit for a king. Naftali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns. Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring whose branches climb over a wall. With bitterness, archers attacked him. They shot at him with hostility, but his bow remained steady. His strong arms stayed limber because of the hand of the mighty one of Jacob, because of the shepherd, the rock of Israel, because of your Father's God who helps you, because of the Almighty who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breast and the womb. Your Father's blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-hold hills. Let all of these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers. Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning, he devours the prey. In the evening, he divides the plunder. All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him. Then he gave them these instructions. I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave of the field of Ephron the Hittite, the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite along with the field. There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah. The field and the cave in it were brought from the Hittites. When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up onto the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people. That is the way to go. That's what I want to do. Definitely. Jacob at this point is 147 years old, and as we've seen over the last weeks and months, what a life. You know, struggling at birth with his brother, grasping his ankle as they're born, wheedling Esau out of his birthright and deceiving his dad to obtain the blessing, having to flee the family home, having to work for his uncle for 14 years so he could marry the woman of his dreams, being tricked into marrying a different woman in the meantime, and all that kind of stuff, and then his uncle deceiving him back as well and having to flee his uncle because of what happened, the meeting with Esau to try and patch things up and then never seeing Esau again, and then outliving his wives. This really bad family example we saw of having favourites amongst his kids, not a good idea, and thinking Joseph was then dead all of these years to finally be deceived by his own sons, and then having to leave the land of God's promise and come to Egypt. What a life. What a life. But at the same time, what we have also seen is God at work in this man's life, and God in his grace, choosing to fulfil his own plans and purposes through the life of Jacob. And that is a weird one for us, isn't it? Because what it says is that God is about using people that are messed up, that screw up. The Bible calls it sin. We might have other language. But he loves to take those people and use them for his glory and for his purposes. And that's such a repeat theme through this whole book, and I know I said it probably the last five times I've spoken, but it is such an important theme that we grasp that because we have to help people understand that people who are Christians are not goody-goodies. They're bady-baddies, right? We are bady-baddies, right? You know, we screw up. We mess up. We don't like to talk about it, and we don't own up. But we develop masks and other approaches to hide that. But we are screwed up, and we're shafted, if we're brutally honest. And the reality is God has come, and he loves to use people that are exactly like that. And that's the good news of Jesus. So it's so important that we grasp that. And so, yeah, here we are at the end of Jacob's life. He's speaking about the future and about defining his sons, what their families will become and what the tribes that come from those families will become. And it's interesting, and we're not going to go into all of them because time does not permit, and I'm not quite sure what I say about some of them, but it's interesting because those opening ones, that Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, their blessing is dictated by what they have done in their lives. That's how Jacob speaks to them. What they have done, the bad things that they have done in their lives, has an immediate repercussion on the so-called blessing that he gives them that's going to shape how they will be. Interesting. Then we get to Judah, and it's completely different. We begin to see in what he says about Judah the prophetic statements about a Messiah coming. We're in Genesis. We're in the beginning. And we still see, we begin to see here, there's an inkling in his eye. There's a twinkling in the distance. There is something happening that is going to happen. And we read this beautiful statement that the scepter, the government, if you like, will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler star from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. He's talking about Jesus. And the obedience of the nations will be his. There is coming a day when the obedience of the nations will belong to Jesus, and all nations will bow down to him. There is coming a day. And Jacob, right here in Genesis, he doesn't understand it, as Hebrews 11 tells us. He doesn't get it, but he's prophesying it. He's speaking it out in faith. He's certainly not going to see it in his few hours he's got left. But he's speaking out in faith because he sees that happening. And so there's this amazing prophetic statement in Judah. And then there's the one about Joseph near the end. There is so much blessing that he oodles on Joseph. He makes you think, is he still thinking that Joseph is his favorite here? Is that what's going on? Because he's really ladling on thick the blessings on Joseph. Or is it perhaps because actually Joseph is the one out of all those brothers that has rescued them and actually is part and parcel of the purposes of God to help God's people survive through this period of famine and obviously we saw through the whole story of Joseph how God used him. I don't know which it is. But it's interesting he calls him prince amongst his brothers. But what I want to do just briefly is hoe him. There's a little verse I read in the middle which kind of leaps out because it's out of context of everything else that's going on. He's giving his blessings to his people, to his kids, and he's telling them what's going to happen. And right in the middle in verse 18 we get this little phrase, I look for your deliverance, O Lord. That's a bit weird, isn't it? You think he's on a roll. He's on a train. I've got 12 sons to get through. He's 147. Can't I remember all their names? I forgot the right one with the right name. And all that sort of stuff. You think he'd be concentrating on getting all of that out. And then right in the middle, I look for your deliverance, O Lord. Or a different translation says, I wait for your salvation, O Lord. And why does he do that? It's almost like as he thinks about the future and as he thinks about the children of God and the people of God, that maybe God is showing him something about the challenges that lie ahead. And that he himself is aware of the struggles and the challenges they'll face and the hardship of God's people being true to him and not being overwhelmed by their enemies, not being led astray by other nations or other societies, or not having their faith and their trust in God diluted by what is going on around them. And he cries out in the middle, God, I look for your deliverance, Lord. Unless you do this, Lord, it isn't going to happen. Unless the Lord builds the house, it's builder's labor in vain. God, unless salvation comes from you, there's no hope, no matter what we say. And so four things quickly. Number one, this is a prayer for times of desperation. And there's no time like now for a time of desperation. Right in the middle of blessing his kids, he cries out. It reminds me many, many, many years ago of listening to John Wimber talk about when you're going to pray for someone for healing and you've not seen it before and you're not used to it and you have no idea what's going to happen and you want to pray for it and you're going to step out. We go in a room and we pray, oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, help. That's all you need to do. If you're struggling with praying, I want to encourage you. You haven't got to pray great long prayers and quote loads of scripture and shout to the ceiling, oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, help. It's right where it starts. And that is what is happening here. That's what Jacob's doing. He's explaining that out and it's like as he blesses his children and he thinks about their future and the future of the tribes of Israel that despite such big statements he's making over their lives, he sees something of the challenges. He sees their weaknesses. He sees the likelihood of them being influenced by society around them. He sees the frailties of their own heart. And so he cries out, God, you have got to come if this is going to work. Lord, if you are going to have a people that are yours, if your Messiah is going to come through Judah as he's just prophesied, then God, you have got to come and do this. Maybe even he's reflecting on his own life, his own awareness of mucking things up. And perhaps after all these years, he could now stand with a little bit of integrity and understand he's only where he is because of God delivering him and the salvation of God coming to him. So as you think about your future, whatever age you are this morning, as you think about your future, let's get a hold of this as a phrase to say, God, we need your deliverance. God, I need your deliverance and your salvation. As we think about the future of the church here, and yeah, we might get excited, at least for a little bit, while we do two services and a major building project and see people saved and more people getting baptized and people saved and added and more groups starting in the church and the impact on the community growing and growing and growing. We need to come back to, oh God, we need your deliverance. It is you, Lord. It is you. As we think about our children, our grandchildren, oh Lord, I look to you for your deliverance, Lord. I look to you for your salvation. It's a great prayer in times of desperation because for his kids it's not their skills, it's not their character, it's not their efforts, it's not even the prophetic word that he brings, but it is God who is the deliverer. It is God who is the bringer of salvation. And that is what is so special and unique about Christianity. And you might not be a Christian this morning, you're just exploring it and trying to understand it, and you might be chatting to some of your friends, but what does it really mean and what is it like? And you come along because you're just dipping a toe in the water. And I want to just labor the point that the uniqueness of it is that God has come to us, not the other way around. You can look at what goes on here this morning and I think our singing and the rest of it is kind of us trying to make ourselves right before God. Because it can look like that, and it does look like that, but that isn't what's going on. What has happened is Jesus has taken the initiative and he has come 2,000 years ago. He died on a cross for the sins of the world, including your sins and my sins, to put us right with God and he has taken that initiative, and three days later God has raised him from the dead. And now death is no longer the finality that it once was in our thinking because Jesus has broken that. He has taken the initiative and come to us, and what we do in a meeting like this, I hope in the morning, is we are responding to that. We are not trying to make our way to God, but we are responding to what he has done to us and for us and his love for us. So number one, it's a prayer in times of desperation. Number two, I look for your deliverance, O Lord. It's a foundation. It's like a bedrock statement that undergirds everything that we do. Jesus told that parable, didn't he, that the wise man built his house upon the rock. And he told us that not so that we could learn a little song, but he taught us that because he says, what, the wise man is what? The one who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice. Exactly. He puts them into practice. And so this statement is exactly like that. We need to figure out how do we put this into practice that we look to God for your deliverance, that we wait for your salvation. It's like a statement that needs to be brought front and center to our lives, whether we are struggling with things, whether things are going well as the church moves forward and as we make changes about what's happening, as we make greater inroads with the gospel in the life of the community here, and perhaps as we even think, dare to think, oh, this is going quite well, or whatever. It's a reminder not to get smug, not to get complacent, but to come back and say, you know what? I look for your deliverance, Lord. I wait for your salvation. And we need to bring that front and center of our lives and not let it compete with other statements and other things. You know, what is it that ultimately drives you forward and drives me forward? What makes you tick? If you could have one sentence over your life, what would it be? And whereabouts would this fit in that context? What is it that, despite everything, we need to return to time and time again? What is it we wait for? Is it our paycheck? Is it our benefits landing? Is it the next holiday? Is it the next thing? Or do we wait for your salvation, Lord? Do we look for your deliverance? You see, Jacob can prophesy amazing things, but what is it he puts right in the middle, like the pivot of which all of these things are commenting on? Things can go well. What does he return to? Some of those blessings are good things, but what does he come back to? Things can go pear-shaped. What does he come back to? We can make all the changes we want as a church, but what do we return to? We look out for your deliverance, O Lord. And we need to be men and women grappling with getting that in the front and centre of our lives. And as we think about Jordan thought and Baitmore and the edges and the surrounding area, God, we look for your deliverance. We wait for your salvation. We can try all the programmes, all the groups, whatever we want to, but unless God moves, there is nothing there. It is not going to happen. And because we are caught up with the plans and purposes of God, we've got to come back to this. Lord, it is your deliverance we are looking for. Turn your eyes towards Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow straight deep in, in the light of his glory and grace. Absolutely. Hope you knew that in 146 as well. It's so true, you know, and we need, the more we can come back to that, I think the better place we will be. The third thing about this statement is, you know, it's about looking and it's about waiting. Anybody enjoy waiting? There's no hands here. We don't do it, do we? You know, try telling a toddler to wait. We went to Yorkshire Wildlife yesterday and our granddaughter was with us and, you know, I want a biscuit now, now, now. I want a drink now, now. I want this now. You know, try telling a toddler to wait. It just doesn't work, does it? But then, actually, I'm not sure how much better it gets as we get older. Because we want the result, don't we? We don't want the waiting bit. We want the result at the end. That is what we're looking for. The whole of the advertising industry that we are all succumbing to is geared on giving you a result as fast as possible. Have this and it will change your life. Have this and it will make your life better. Instant success, instant access, et cetera, et cetera. Whole of technology, you know, on our phones, on our watches. It's all about instantaneous stuff all the time. And so the idea of waiting is kind of drifting away from life in general and the stuff that we have to wait for becomes a real pain. Well, if we get ourselves in a position where we say, waiting for your salvation of God is a real pain, then we've lost the plot along the way. Because God wants to work in our hearts and sift our hearts to cause us to become many women who learn what it is to wait for Him. Another thing Genesis teaches us is that God's time and timing is not ours. Remember when God first spoke to Abraham, however many months ago it was, and gave him the promises that your descendants will be as numerous as the sand on the seashore. Here we are, 232 years later, and his descendants are 66 that have gone to Egypt. 232 years. That should cause us to think a little bit about, we want to see God at work, we absolutely look for God's deliverance and salvation, and we want to pray and play our part in that, but maybe the great things that God is going to do are going to be after we've gone and been with Him, after we've hooked our legs onto the bed and gone to be with our fathers. Maybe that's when it's going to happen. That speaks, that's a challenge to me, because I think, what do I want to invest in and put my time in that I actually won't see? It's a challenge, isn't it? But he teaches, here's Jacob prophesying about the coming Messiah thousands of years later that he isn't going to see. Psalm 37 verse 7 says, Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret when people succeed in their ways. That's a good statement, that's a good one to put over our doorways, isn't it? Do not fret when people succeed. Psalm 40 verse 1, I waited patiently for the Lord. He turned to me and heard my cry. Well, Paul writes to the church in Rome in chapter 8 verse 25 says, But if we hope for what we don't have, we wait for it patiently. Waiting and patience is a fundamental part of following Jesus. Hope, you know, we have to get a hold of that. And the impact of the world around us on that is that we don't like doing that. And so we need to bring that front and centre. And I guess there's two pitfalls, you know, one is we try and make it happen because we don't like waiting. So we end up a bit like Abraham having Ishmael, we've done it ourselves but it wasn't the right thing. Or we get so bored waiting we forget about it and go off and do something else. I remember when I was a child, I went to what is now called Urban Saints, had a less politically correct name in those days. But we went to see the police horse training centre in Manchester, because that's where I lived at the time. And it was interesting because you imagine a group of like 11 and 12 year olds, spotty 11 and 12 year olds, and we were all given flags way bigger than this and whistles to blow, whistles to blow, big flags to wave like this. And there's two lines of kids down like that. And then this guy, policeman comes along on the horse and the horse just, we're all looking, blowing the whistles and all that. And the horse just calmly straight down because he'd been trained to do that, because they used them in riots and football crowds at the time and all that kind of stuff. And it was fascinating to see, although it's still etched in my brain. But that is what it is, it's a little bit like, we've got to build things into our lives that stop us being distracted from this call of God to wait on him patiently and to pursue him patiently. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Otherwise these distractions will come in. And finally, fourthly, this all points to, this is all about Jesus. He is the one who brings deliverance. He is the one who brings salvation. So we wait for him and he brings that deliverance. If you're not a Christian this morning, then again I want to say, we're cut off from God, that's our starting place. Our sins have cut us off from God and we ignore him and we act as if there is no God and we act as if, you know, he's certainly not going to be angry with us when we do things that are wrong and that we're under his judgment and we're only of his anger. And yet Jesus has come and paid that price for you and for me, the ultimate cost and that great exchange has taken place and what we deserve he gets and what we don't deserve we get has taken place. He's paid that price for you and for me and to unpack that. Therefore Jesus is not only the one that does that, he is the one who brings deliverance or salvation from the effects of that rebellion against God in our lives. The pain, the hurt, the trauma, the rejection, the impact of all of that on our character and our lives, he is the one. So we look to him for deliverance, for salvation. You know, as Evie beautifully explained this morning, that's what she was describing, how Jesus and the Word of God has brought about a change in our life, things he used to listen to. Actually, she's bringing the Word of God to apply to trump that because that's what it does. The love of God trumps that and we need to be men and women that are constantly coming back to that. So Jesus is the one who brings deliverance to those things but he also brings deliverance from the reaction we have of those things that have affected us, those negative things that lead us to turning in on ourselves, to shutting others out, to putting on masks, to taking addictive substances, to abuse that we do or that is done to us. And so he is the one that we look to for deliverance and for salvation this morning. And so just by way of response, as I finish, in Hebrews 11, the writer of the Hebrews says this, he says, by faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons and worshipped as he leaned on the top of the staff. And talks about how Jacob, along with all those other old patriarchs of the faith, as they're called in Hebrews 11, were looking for God's deliverance, for God's salvation. They didn't see it in their lifetime but they were looking for it and its completion is found in Jesus. I wonder if I could stand please, I'd just like to pray. I'm not sure how well I've done this but I mean, the chapter is about a blessing on 12 guys but right in the middle is this key pivot point that actually it is God we need to look to for our deliverance and for salvation. And as I think about it, I just want to be really practical here and I just want us to pray together. I thought of a few things where we need to perhaps be applying that to our own lives. One of these might be relevant for you. I just want you to be honest as we stand here before God. Maybe it's healing. Jesus commands us to pray for the sick. He doesn't command us to heal the sick. That's his business whether he does it or not. He asks us to pray for the sick. And there can be a tendency for us as God's people to wane from praying for the sick for various reasons. So maybe you're here this morning and maybe there's something physical, something mental, something emotional that you are healing for. We look to you for deliverance, Lord. This chapter is about the prophetic words that Jacob speaks over his sons that then describes how their lives and their families' lives would pan out. For some of us this morning, negative words have been spoken to us that we still carry, that still shape us and still prevent us from entering into all the goodness that God has for us. We look to your deliverance, Lord. For some of us, those words have shaped our identity. There was a food bank visit over the road from here and while I was just talking to the lady, I chatted to the girl who was about 8 or 9 years old. We were talking about school and she said, I'm no good at school because my mum says I'm stupid. Yeah, exactly. But for some of us here this morning, words like that have impacted us deeply and are keeping us away from the good things that God has in store. We look to you for your deliverance, Lord. For some of us, our reaction to those bad things that have happened in our lives is that we have ourselves embraced destructive and negative patterns of behaviour or addictions or other things that have harmed us or harmed others. We look for your deliverance, Lord. For some of us, perhaps the thing that God is highlighting is that you've stopped looking at God as the thing that needs to be front and centre. You've stopped looking at God as the thing that needs to be front and centre in your life and you've allowed other things to creep in and nudge that off centre. And this morning God is saying, hey, what about bringing me back? Bringing me back front and centre. We look for your deliverance, Lord. Maybe for the first time, maybe you've been coming along for a while and you've never made that decision to say, yeah, I want to submit to Jesus and I want to go for it with him and I want to invite him into my life. We wait for your salvation, Lord. And for some, the desire in our hearts, if we're honest, is still for immediate results, even in the church, even in our Christianity. We want the next thing, the next thing and the next thing. And today God wants to do a work in your heart. We look for your deliverance, Lord. We wait for your salvation, Lord. Father, we want to pray, Lord. We want to thank you, you treat us so gently, with such love and such care. And Father, as we stand before you this morning, you know the state of our hearts, you know the issues, you know the things that are going on, you see it all. And Lord, we stand here honestly before you and just pray, Father, come and have your way. Come and have your way in our lives, Lord. Lord, we'll do a work in our hearts as we stand here this morning. We want to say, Father, we look for your deliverance, Lord. We look to you. We don't want to look to other things. And we want to say, Father, we wait for your salvation. We don't want to try anything ourselves. But we call on you today, Lord. We call on you, Father, for your salvation in our own lives, in the lives of our families, in the lives of our children, in the lives of our grandchildren, Lord, in the lives of our neighbors, in the lives of the homes around here. Father, we call on you for your salvation. We call on you, Lord, for the lives of the people that are in the schools in this area. And Father, we pray, God, Lord, help us to keep our eyes fixed on you. And Father, we wait for you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Andy. Thank you, Andy. Thank you, Andy. Let's, I just feel in the four instances...

Gods many; Ruling judges; Which god do you worship (serve)?; Two "worlds"; Constitutions; Legal systems; Governing ourselves; "Shechem"; Circumcision?; Living God's way; Nimrod the hunter?; "Leaven"; Making the word of God to none effect; Baptism?; The Temple Laver; Hyrcanus and Aristobulus; Death of Zachariah; Sacrificing; Gen 17:4; Antisemitism?; Sons of Shem; Melchizedek; Good sons; Following Abraham; Corban?; Agreement with Egypt; Becoming Israel; Gen 18:1; "plains" of Mamre; 3 men?; nun-tzdek-biet+yod+mem (stood by); Divine spark; Referencing spirit; Where is Holy Spirit leading you?; Learning the Tree of Life; "Elder"; Church jobs; Hunters and Shepherds; Reading the bible; Testing forgiveness; Entertaining angels; Understanding societal relationships; v9 Sarah; Bible translators; Robbing Christ's Church; Sarah's denial; Fear not!; Lacking faith; Cry of Sodom and Gomorrah; Bargaining for Sodom; LORD and Lord; Today's politics; Seeing divine spark; Blessing from Shem; Abraham's case; Sin of Sodom; Aleph-lamad-vav; Plains and Oaks?; Walking in Spirit and Truth; The sin of Sodom; Weakening the poor; Long, fat breadlines; The need for challenge; Giving life; "Mamre" mem-mem-resh-aleph; Rebellion?; Understanding Abraham; Church of Constantine in Milan - ordered baptism; Blood money; Mixing iron and clay; Anti-Christian ministers; Welfare snares; Legal charity; Willful ignorance; "Mara" mem-resh-aleph - not spirit and truth; Beyond rebellion; Covetousness; Consequences; Job 39:18; Job 39:9; Revealing required corruption; Unicorn; Instant Christians; Zeph 3:1; Revealed lies; Becoming merchandise; False freedom; Opening eyes; Who is your savoir?; Sour grapes; The Harlot; Sloth; Gather and care for one another.

God's Covenant with Abram Setting - After these things . is Abram back at the sacred trees of Mamre or is he outside of Salem? Outside of Salem is the last place we saw him, but his camp was outside of mamre. The answer is we don't know. We are having another conversation with God. 7 And He said to him,…

Genesis 18:1-6,8 from the ArchiveNew Living Translation18 The Lord appeared again to Abraham near the oak grove belonging to Mamre. One day Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day. 2 He looked up and noticed three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran to meet them and welcomed them, bowing low to the ground.3 “My lord,” he said, “if it pleases you, stop here for a while. 4 Rest in the shade of this tree while water is brought to wash your feet. 5 And since you've honored your servant with this visit, let me prepare some food to refresh you before you continue on your journey.”“All right,” they said. “Do as you have said.”6 So Abraham ran back to the tent and said to Sarah, “Hurry! Get three large measures of your best flour, knead it into dough, and bake some bread.”  8 When the food was ready, Abraham took some yogurt and milk and the roasted meat, and he served it to the men. As they ate, Abraham waited on them in the shade of the trees.Music: "Rest in the Shadow" by Julian & Melissa Wiggins,Used with permission.

Garth Heckman The David Alliance TDAgiantSlayer@Gmail.com    19) A. The Three Visitors: Three men appear to Abraham near the oaks of Mamre. They announce that Sarah will have a son. Sarah laughs at the announcement. NOT MUCH IS SAID OF SARAHS FAITH… SHE ACTUALLY HAS NO FAITH OF HER OWN!    B. Isaac's Birth: Sarah conceives and bears Isaac. Abraham is 100 years old.   She is a woman full of doubt… BUT GOD HONORS HIS WORD   SARAH She is a woman full of doubt.     GOD CAN MOVE ANYWAY!  Faith feeds the invisible (so does fear) Hebrews 11:11 By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.   v. 11 A dative of accompaniment  She received faith… i.e. by faith of Abraham she received the gift of a son. It was not Sarahs faith it was Abrahams faith that got her pregnant.  You don't have to believe… I will believe for you!  YOUR SPOUSE DOES NOT HAVE TO BELIEVE YOUR PARENTS,  YOUR KIDS,  YOUR PASTOR YOUR BOSS   -  IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU BELIEVE! 

Notes - https://www.generationword.com/notes/Genesis/39-Genesis_20_1-Great_Trees_of_Mamre.pdf

“The Lord appeared again to Abraham near the oak grove belonging to Mamre.” (Genesis 18:1 NLT) Abram (who was later renamed Abraham) was given an extraordinary promise. God announced that He would bless Abram with a son and a land for his descendants. Those descendants would become a great nation—one that would bless all other nations. God didn’t include a timetable with His promise. He wanted Abram and his wife Sarai (who was later renamed Sarah) to trust Him. But as time passed, that became more and more difficult for the childless couple. In Genesis 12, God instructed Abram to leave his country and move to the land of Canaan—the Promised Land. When Abram got to Canaan, the Lord appeared to him and confirmed His promise to give the land to Abram’s descendants. And in Genesis 17, the Lord appeared to Abram to make a covenant with him. If Abram served God faithfully and lived a blameless life, God would give him countless descendants. The Lord then changed Abram’s name to Abraham because he would be the father of many nations. One day, Abraham was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the hottest part of the day when he saw three men nearby. Abraham recognized one of them as the Lord Himself. The Bible doesn’t say how Abraham recognized Him, but it may have been because he had already encountered the Lord on two previous occasions. So the encounter at Mamre was the third time the Lord appeared to Abraham. And on all three occasions, it was Jesus he came face to face with. It couldn’t have been God the Father. The apostle Paul wrote of Him, “No human eye has ever seen him, nor ever will” (1 Timothy 6:16 NLT). Jesus Himself touched on His encounter with Abraham during His confrontation with the Pharisees in John 8. “You aren’t even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham?” they replied (verse 57 NLT). They couldn’t wrap their minds around the idea that the One who stood before them had also stood before Abraham centuries earlier. Unlike the Pharisees, Abraham knew exactly who he was talking to. And it must have gratified him to hear the Lord confirm again that Sarah would give birth to a son. Sarah, on the other hand, had a different reaction. She laughed to herself when she heard the Lord’s words. She was, after all, nearly ninety years old, and Abraham was nearly one hundred—not exactly the prime childbearing years. Jesus reassured the couple with an important question by quoting Genesis 18:14: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (NLT) Within a year, they would have their answer. And they would name him Isaac. It is interesting how Jesus came to different people in the Bible. To Abraham, Jesus came as a traveler. We know that Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. He saw it and was glad” (John 8:56 NLT). Why did the Lord come to Abraham as a sojourner? That is what Abraham was. Jesus meets us where we are, in a way that resonates with us. He appeared to Abraham and Sarah to encourage them to be patient, to trust God’s timing, and to prepare for the blessings and challenges that lay ahead. He does the same thing for us, as often as necessary, through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Reflection question: How might the Lord reassure you or give you the perspective you need to trust His promises and His timing? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship! — Listen to the Greg Laurie Podcast Become a Harvest PartnerSupport the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alam mo bang nagsinungaling si Abraham tungkol sa tunay nilang relasyon ni Sarah bilang mag-asawa? Sabi sa Genesis 20:1–2, “Nilisan ni Abraham ang Mamre at nagpunta sa lupain ng Negeb sa pagitan ng Kades at Shur, at tumira sa Gerar. Habang siya'y naroon, kapatid ang pakilala niya kay Sara, kaya ito'y pinakuha ni Abimelec, hari ng Gerar.”All Rights Reserved, CBN Asia Inc.https://www.cbnasia.com/giveSupport the show

Have you ever been standing on the threshold of something good – perhaps one of God's promises – and all of a sudden it's as though everything starts to go wrong?   On the Threshold Have you ever stood on the threshold of something good, I mean something really good, something fantastic? Maybe it's the promise of a promotion, or the promise of a pay increase, or you've just fallen pregnant or your wife has and in the not too many months, there's going to be this new life in your family, or a great holiday, or a new home, or peace where there was conflict and you stand there and you think, "This is going to be faaaannntastic. I just can't wait". And then all of a sudden, it's like all hell breaks loose. Everything and everyone kind of comes after you with a pickaxe; at work and at home, in your heart and in your head, there's turmoil. And you think, "Hang on a minute. I'm about to step over into this Promised Land and well, it's supposed to be fantastic. What is going on?" We've all been there, right? So has God and today we are going to look at His specific Word that He wants to speak right into that. This week on the programme, we are going to look at this ‘Promised Land' thing. And the Promised Land was born when God promised a land to Abraham, the father of Israel, and centuries later Israel crossed over into that Promised Land. It started with this beautiful promise to Abraham that we looked at last week. If you have a Bible, grab it, open it up at Genesis chapter 13, beginning at verse 14. This is what it says: The Lord said to Abraham, after Lot had separated from him, ‘Lift up your eyes now and look from the place where you are, to the north and the south and the east and the west, all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can count the dust of the earth, your offspring will also be able to be counted. Get up, walk the length and the breadth of this land for I will give it to you'. So Abraham moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which is at Hebron and there he built an altar to the Lord. What a stunning promise! What an incredible promise! What an impossible promise! See, Abraham was an old man and he and his wife Sarah hadn't had any children and from that promise began a long and winding road for the nation of Israel. Centuries later they travelled through the exodus, they went through this desert and they'd gone on this long journey. And Israel ultimately is about to cross over into the Promised Land and all of a sudden their leader Moses, whom God used to set them free out of slavery from Egypt; to go through the Red Sea; that amazing miracle, to guide them through the desert for forty years – all of a sudden Moses, their leader dies. And God comes along to his successor, Joshua, with some godly advice – more than advice, admonition. Now we are going to have a look at that today. It's in Joshua chapter 1, beginning at verse 1. This is what God said: After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, son of Nun, Moses' assistant, ‘Moses, My servant is dead. Now then you and all these people, get ready to cross over the Jordan River into the land that I am about to give to them, the Israelites. I have given you every place where you will set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to the Lebanon, from the great river, the Euphrates, all the Hittite country to the great sea on the west and no one, no one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead this people to inherit the land that I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong; very courageous. Be careful to obey all My law that the servant Moses gave you. Don't turn from it to the right or to the left so that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let the Book of this Law depart from your mouth but meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything that's written in it, then you will be prosperous and successful. Haven't I commanded you, Be strong and courageous? Don't be terrified; don't be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.' Just think about it. They have been on this long journey for forty years, the exodus in the desert and they are about to cross over into the Promised Land and Moses dies. Oh, fantastic! What lousy timing. They had this tried and proven leader and he is gone, and so the reins get handed over to Joshua, his assistant and God repeats the promise that He made to Abram and that He made to Moses; He repeats that promise to Joshua: "I have given you this land - I have promised this land to you and no one will be able to stand against you." Oh, that's not good; that's not good at all. If God has to promise you that no one is going to stand against you. All these different tribes and nations that are already in the land; they're not going to invite Israel in to take their land. They are not going to say, "Oh, God said you could have it, well sure, go ahead, take all our land." Not likely! Israel is in for a bunch of battles and then God says: "I will never leave you or forsake you." This is not looking good. God says: "Be strong and courageous," and again, He says: ‘Be strong and very courageous.' And a third time in that passage we just read, He says: "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged." Now you are Joshua, you were there forty years ago, on the other side of the Red Sea. You saw the miracle when Moses lifted his staff and the Red Sea parted and Israel passed through and all of a sudden Pharaoh's army tried to chase them and the sea came together again and Pharaoh's army was drowned. You were there. The euphoria of God's amazing miracle. You've spent forty years in the desert and you think, "surely it must be over by now. We are just days away from crossing over into this Promised Land, from realising the promise that God made to Abram centuries before". And now God's setting you up; preparing you for a tough time. He talking about battles and wars and being strong and courageous. This is life and death stuff. Is that what you expected of the Promised Land after all this time? That's why I've called this series of programmes, "It Time to Take the Promised Land" because it doesn't get delivered to your front door like a pizza. God's promise of a land flowing with milk and honey is accompanied by God's reality - battles along the way. You have to take the Promised Land. And it's the same today. You know what I've noticed? The rest of the world doesn't want me to have God's peace and joy. The rest of the world doesn't want me to live in God's promises. The devil wants to spoil God's plan for my life and every time God is about to do something amazing in my life, all hell seems to break loose. The devil just doesn't want me to have the Promised Land. Now Joshua could have sat up on his side of the Jordan River, heard what God was saying about not getting discouraged and about the battles and thought, ‘No, I'm outa here', but he didn't. He believed in God‘s promise and he crossed over and he went about taking the Promised Land. He knew it was time to take the Promised Land.   Courage in the Promises Well, here they are. They are standing on the threshold of the Promised Land after forty years in the desert and all the trials, after the nation being in slavery in Egypt. Centuries before, God had promised to Abraham this Promised Land and they are standing on the Jordan and they are looking over the Jordan and what they see is this so-called Promised Land but there are all these people and tribes and kings and fortified cities and armies. On the one hand, they believe in God's promise, but on the other hand, they're looking at this reality. God calls us into His Promised Land here and now, today. There are promises all through the Bible about our relationship with God. Jesus said in John chapter 10, verse 10: The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy but I have come that you may have life in all its abundance. That's a promise! Jesus wants us to have an abundant life. He said: The Kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again and then in his joy, he went and sold all that he had and he bought that field. Again Jesus said in Matthew chapter 13: The Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant who is looking for fine pearls when he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and he bought it. Do you get the picture? When we give our lives to Jesus, lock stock and barrel, He invites us into a land of promise and He is saying that this land of promise; the Kingdom of God, it's like … it's like a treasure – that's what it is meant to be like. And the promises are so different to what the world promises. Not a physical land or physical wealth or all that other stuff but a Promised Land that is quite different. In Luke chapter 17, verse 20, Jesus put it this way: Once having been ask by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus said, ‘The Kingdom of God doesn't come because of your careful observation nor will people say, ‘Here it is,' or ‘There it is,' because the Kingdom of God is within you.' The Promised Land isn't something out ‘there' – it's not a new house or a new car or all that stuff. The Promised Land; the Kingdom of God is in our hearts. And so often we feel like Joshua standing on the threshold, looking back and then looking forward, wanting to believe in the promises of God but … they are so hard to believe-in some days aren't they? I'm going to talk right now about taking courage in the promises of God. This is so important because we normally focus on the things that we can see – all the problems and the obstacles that are in front of us. But God calls us to set our eyes on the things that are above; to set our eyes on heavenly things. Look again at what God said to Joshua about this Promised Land. Joshua, chapter 1, verse 3: I have given to you every place where you will set your foot as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to the Lebanon, from the great river, the Euphrates, through all the Hittite country to the great sea on the west. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you or forsake you. Isn't it interesting, he uses the past tense; actually the Hebrew perfect tense. He says, "Every place where you will set your foot as I promised Moses, I have already given you." It's a done deal! As far as God was concerned, the Promised Land was absolutely a done deal. It was given and when God gives, who can block that? That's God's perspective, even though our perspective is all about the things that we can see – the obstacles and the enemies and the fears and the broken relationships and the people who are bugging us who are never going to change. I tell you, when I became a Christian twelve years ago, I had so much dysfunction in my life, I can't begin to tell you. And through that passage in John chapter 10, verse 10, where Jesus said: I have come that you may have life in all its abundance. I just let Him write that on my heart. Jesus wants you and me to have an abundant life. And if I looked at me and my life and the predicaments I was in, I had no right to believe that promise from Jesus! But the Holy Spirit takes His Word and He writes it on our hearts and He gifted me to lift my eyes to look at heavenly things. I believed so imperfectly, going through some things, I was so afraid some days and so lonely some days. But at the end of the day, what Jesus did on the cross for you and me was to remove all sin, all of the reproach of the past, and open the door to an abundant, outrageous, wonderful relationship with God. It's a done deal! It's past. It's completed. The abundant life has been purchased for you and me. And it's now time to walk in it. And the point of what God said to Joshua was there will be battles: I have given you every place where you will set your foot as I promised Moses. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you or forsake you. See, the promise is a done deal. When people come against us, they won't be able to stand against us and rob us of the promises of God. And God will never leave us or forsake us. It's a completely different way of looking at things. Instead of looking at the problems, we look at the promises. It's completely different. And for me in my life, over these last twelve years, in every day, here and now, where I get my courage is in the promises of God, because when God promises something, nobody can take that away. And the focus of that promise; our relationship with Him, the Kingdom of God, the peace and the joy that flows from that, is where it's all at. All that other stuff - that will come and go – relationships and health and money – they're all temporary. What will last forever is our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Joshua literally means "God saves" and that's the same name that Jesus had, (Joshua was His actual Hebrew name), to lead us into the Promised Land and it is an act of faith to take courage in the promises of God. And we can do that because they're a done deal.   Prospering in God's Word Now, God is expecting some stiff opposition for Joshua and his people when they cross over the Jordan to take the Promised Land. Remember we looked at that passage, Joshua chapter 1, verse 1 and the following verses. And three times – there is Joshua with all that he has been through, standing on the banks of the Jordan ready to cross over into the Promised Land – and three times God says to him; "Be strong and courageous", "Be strong and very courageous", "Be strong and courageous, do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go". I always a worry a little bit when God tell us "not to be terrified", you think, "Uh, oh, this is not going to be pleasant." That's often the way as we decide to lay hold of God's promises in our hearts. Things so often get a whole bunch worse before they get better. Jesus said: Peace, My peace I leave with you - My peace I give to you. Yeah man, that's what I want; that's God's peace; that's God's promise, I want that promise. Jesus promised that to His disciples just before He was about to be crucified at a dangerous and fearful time where there would be pain and loss and fear for their own lives. So He explains what He is on about. He says this: My peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I don't give it to you the way the world does. Don't let your hearts be troubled and don't let them be afraid. (John 14:27) We often have to deal with obstacles and fear to lay hold of the promises of God in our lives, I do, you do, we all do. And it's at those times that we grow, when we understand that that's the reality and that the promises of God stand amidst all the obstacles, all the uncertainty, all the things we look at and think, "I can never get through those on my own." That's the whole purpose of God's promises. So what's our part of this? Well, let's see what God said to Joshua. He said: Be careful to obey the law that My servant Moses gave you. Don't turn from it to the right or the left, that you might be successful wherever you go. Do not let the Book of this Law depart from your mouth, instead meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything that is written in it, then you will be prosperous and successful. See, God was saying to him, "You know where it's at. Let My Word come to life in your heart. Don't forget about it. Don't let it depart from your mouth". In other words, "don't let it leave your mouth permanently; instead meditate on it day and night. Do what it says and then you will be prosperous and successful." Meditate so that it becomes part of you, so that you start living your life My way, says God, then you'll be prosperous; then you'll be successful. You know, I know so many Christians who own a Bible. "Well, it's somewhere, I think. It's up in the cupboard or maybe it's at the bedside table or gathering dust somewhere." I want to tell you something about the Word of God. I would be a nervous wreck by now if I didn't spend time in God‘s Word every day. I'm in the front line of ministry, my job is leading people into the Promised Land through what I am doing right now, through these programmes; helping people to take a hold of God's promises and the devil is not happy about that. The world is not always happy about that, even other Christians sometimes, they don't always understand. And here we are, my wife and I and the team here at Christianityworks, in a ministry that's building and growing. Three years ago I started recording our first radio programmes. I didn't have a single radio station who had committed to airing them. Nothing. Just this call from God in my heart – a promise from Him written on my heart by His Holy Spirit. And today, just three years later, these programmes are being heard on seven hundred stations in eighty countries. There are millions of people listening. Now you might think, "WOW, that's fantastic; that's great," and it is. But do you have any idea how many trials, how many battles, how much opposition, the lack of funds, the uncertainty – any idea how hard that was along the way, and some days continues to be? We all have to go through this stuff in our lives. Whatever story and plan God has written for our lives. Yours is going to be different to mine. But as we step out into the Promised Land, into what God has called us to do, we are going to go through some stuff. And we will have a temptation to do it in our own strength or to give up or to compromise here and there. And the promise of God was, "Josh, get My Word into your heart. Meditate on it day and night; soak it in; let it never, ever depart from you and you will be prosperous and successful in what I've called you to do." In other words, do it God's way and not our own way. See, in His Word God reminds us of His promises and the Holy Spirit comes and writes them into our hearts in a way that we never could. What soldier would walk onto a battlefield without a weapon? The Apostle Paul, when he was talking about the armour of God in Ephesians chapter 6 says: The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. So many Christians walk out onto that spiritual battlefield and they leave God's Word, the sword of the Spirit, in the cupboard and wonder why they suffer defeat after defeat. That's nuts! God's promises are a done deal. People will come against us and they won't be able to stand against us. God said: I will never leave you or forsake you. And when we meditate on God's Word, when we let it become part of us, when we live it out through faith, that's when His success and His prosperity show up.

You know – God is full of promises. Amazing promises. But so often – it's hard to see how those promises fit into the reality of our lives – here and now.   Promises, Promises, Promises Well, I am really excited because we're starting a new series this week called, "It's Time to Take the Promised Land". What sort of a series title is that? "It's Time to Take the Promised Land". Well, here's my hunch. We live in a world that promises so much: A world of brands and products and experiences and travel and luxury – a world that promises so much. Marketers talk about the brand promise. For example, here's my favourite. On TV, the advertisements for margarine or breakfast cereal or low-fat milk. Right? Have you ever noticed them? Here's what they look like. Here's the setting. It's a kind of trendy, today kind of kitchen and the sun's always streaming in through the windows. It's never raining; it's always sunny. Mum's smiling as she prepares breakfast. She's slim and happy and well-adjusted, and this well-adjusted teenager bounds in smiling and spreads margarine on their bread or pours the milk on their cereal or whatever, and then ... Then this cool-looking forty-something dad strolls in, and he is good-looking, and then he grabs a piece of toast and kisses his wife before he reads the newspaper. This is the sort of family and breakfast that most people would like to have, but the reality ... Well, the reality's a bit different to that ad. I mean, the reality is that there are millions of people watching that ad who don't know where their next meal's coming from. The reality is that a lot of the people watching that ad, their families and marriages are falling apart. The reality is, even if they aren't, they're bringing up teenagers and that's tough and there's dysfunction. The reality is, most people's families and kitchens and lives look nothing like those glossy images on the ad. Images selling margarine or cereal or milk, making a brand promise that if you buy this product ... well ... this is what your life will look like. You look at that in the cold, hard light of day, and it's absolutely nuts. Right? I mean, it's crazy to try to link a margarine to a well-adjusted family. New car ads are the same. They're always out on the open road; there's only ever that one car on the road, and the brand promise is if you buy me, you'll have the freedom to roam. Isn't it funny how the car ads never have someone stuck in peak-hour traffic, ever? See, there are so many things in this world that hold out a promise that they can't deliver. On the one hand, we want to live out those images of success the marketers kind of dangle under our noses. On the other, we so often ... well ... we never do. We never quite get there. It never quite works the way that the advert says it will, and that's the psychology of marketing. You create an image that creates desire, and the person sees the gap between the image and their reality, and so they spend money to buy that thing to buy the brand promise, and they discover it doesn't work, and so the marketers dish up the next image, and round and round and round we go, on this treadmill of broken promises. It makes our consumer economies go round, and here you and I are with this treadmill of broken promises, brands that never really deliver their brand promise, and God comes along with a promise. God makes lots of promises. "I'll be your God, and you will be My people, and I'll walk among you. I'll bless you and keep you and comfort you and guide you" ... Jesus said, "I have come that you may have life in all of its abundance." It's almost like God's painting this picture of a promised land – a land that's almost too good to be true – a land ... a life ... well, to you and me, it seems a bit like the kitchen and that family in the margarine ad. In the reality of our lives, the promises of God can be hard to swallow, especially when we're still on that treadmill of broken promises, going round and round and round ... In this day and age, God's promises are harder to accept than ever. Now ... now we're getting close to the heart of this new series, "It's Time to Take the Promised Land", because God is a God of promise, and brand Jesus is the one brand that actually delivers. God's plan is to lead you and me into His promised land – a land flowing with milk and honey, a land of blessing, but (here's the but) He involves us in that process and we have a part to play. The first step that we're going to talk about today in this whole thing of walking into God's promised land is accepting His promise in the first place; letting Him write that promise on our hearts, and believing it with all that we are; believing it with every fibre of our beings, with our very lives. You see, we can't have the promised land (we can't go there, we can't settle) unless first we believe it in our hearts. God is a God that calls us to faith, and faith means believing before we see it. Now we're going to talk about that very thing today because if we're going to talk about accepting the promises of God, you can't go there without talking about it: Faith. It's when we place our faith in Him. When we place our faith in His promises, then ... then He calls us on to cross over into that land, and to take the land. Now that's a shock and a surprise to me. We're going to be looking at that a bit over the coming weeks. It's really important that we understand the journey. God's promised land isn't like pizza delivery. You know, He doesn't ring the doorbell and deliver the promised land; God actually calls us out of the front door, to take a step of faith, and it can be a tough journey with battles all along the way. We're going to be looking through the book of Joshua over the coming few weeks in the Old Testament, because the book of Joshua is about the time that Israel crossed over into the promised land. They'd been in slavery in Egypt and then on the exodus for forty years, and the book of Joshua begins right on the threshold of the promised land, and they have an upfront decision to make. Do I really want God's promised land, really? And if I do, am I going to let Him write His promise on my heart, and carry it round with me through thick and thin – the bright sunny days, and the cold wet days? Well, today's programme is all about letting Him write His promise on our hearts, His plan for us to dwell in His promised land. As we're going round and round and round on that treadmill of broken promises, where many people have this empty unfulfilled life, we have a decision today to make. We can decide that it's time to step off that treadmill and to take the promised land.   One Man's Promise So where does this term, "The promised land" come from? Well, it all begins when God promises some land to Abraham. Now God first engages with His people, Israel ultimately, through Abraham – the father of Israel. Abraham was living very comfortably indeed. He was quite wealthy, in a place called Ur, which is near Babylon or around modern-day Bagdad, and God calls him out of that place. If you have a Bible, grab it, and open it up at Genesis chapter 12. God calls him out of this place. This is what happens: Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your family and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. Incredible promise for Abram and Sarai, who were old. I mean, they were well into their seventies; they were childless, and there is a two-part blessing here, two-part promise: Land and children, but there in the comfort and the wealth, they believe God, so they step out. They up and leave all of that. They take their possessions and servants and animals, and they hit the road and head westward to a land called Canaan. Now, what happened when they got there? Well, we read about that in Genesis 12:6-8: When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time, the Canaanites were in the land. Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.' So Abram built an altar to the LORD who had appeared to him. Now just think about God's promise to this old man. Firstly, your descendants. The guy is seventy years old, and he and his wife have not been able to have children, but God promises him descendants. Not only descendants, but God says, "I will make you a great nation". Really? And, "I will give this land to your descendants". Imagine Abram. "But God, I'm in my seventies. I don't have any children. This land is occupied by the Canaanites". It was a pretty impossible promise, but right here, right in the middle of all this impossibility, the promised land is born. God promised it to Abram, yet Abram believed this promise with his life. How do we know that? Because he actually left his comfortable existence in Ur, and followed down the dusty trail of God's promise, over hill and dale, and he gets to this land of God's impossible promise – a land filled with Canaanites, who weren't about to say, "Well, yeah, sure, Abram. Take our land! We don't mind", and the childless Abram ... what does he do? He builds an altar to God. He honours God. He bows down and says, "Well, God, you know, even though this doesn't make a whole bunch of sense, I'm going to believe You", and God knows what's going on in Abram's heart. He takes him up a hill and makes the promise again. You can read it. Flick over to Genesis 13:14: The LORD said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, ‘Raise up your eyes now, and look from the place where you are: North and south and east and west, for all the land that you see I will give you, and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Rise up! Walk the length and the breadth of this land, for I will give it to you.' So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which were at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD. I love how God lays out the land before Abram. Can you see that picture? They're on-top of the hill and God is speaking to Abram, who's thinking about this impossible promise, and little by little God is breathing this promised land into the man's heart. "Go and walk through it, as far as your eyes can see, and let Me make an outrageous promise," says God, "So many descendants you will have that they will be more than the grains of dust on the earth", and Abram built another altar and honoured God. See what's going on here? God is taking him through a process, a huge leap. He's an old man with no kids, and God is promising him a promised land full of his own descendants, and God's leading Abram gently into a place where he can believe. Like you and me, this guy's a man and he's human. He's struggling with it in his heart. We can read about it in Genesis chapter 15. Abram goes to God and says, ‘Look, I still don't have a son. I mean, this other man will have to be my heir. How's this promise ever going to happen?' Look at what God says and does (Genesis 15:4). God says: 'No, that man won't be your heir. No one but your very own son shall be your heir.' God took Abram outside and said, ‘Look towards the heavens and count the stars if you're able.' Then God said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be', and Abram believed the LORD and the LORD reckoned it unto him as righteousness.” What a beautiful picture! Abram is aching! He wants to believe in God's promises. He wants to believe in the land and descendants and mighty nations, but it's so hard. He just can't see how God could possibly deliver on this promise, so God takes him out to the stars – the Milky Weigh; this unbelievable sight, without the city lights and the smog. There are so many stars there, and finally the word of God, the promise of God, God's promised land drops into Abram's heart. Still he makes plenty of mistakes along the way. You can read about it in the next few chapters of Genesis, but the promised land is written on Abram's heart. Ultimately he has a son, Isaac. That's the only part of the promise he ever sees, and Isaac has a son called Jacob and Jacob has twelve sons, who are the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel. They ended up in slavery in Egypt and grew into a mighty nation and then Moses led them out through the Red Sea. And they experienced the desert, the exodus for forty years, and all of a sudden one day, this mighty nation of Israel was standing on the banks of the Jordan, ready to cross over into the promised land, but that took centuries to happen. We're going to look at that next week, but there on that night, under the stars alone with God, the promised land was written on Abram's heart, and he believed.   God's Promise to Us I'm always so touched by the story of how God reaches out to Abraham. Sure; it's a story about Abraham, but Abraham's not Mr Perfecto Super-Christian. He's human; he's frail; he has struggles like you and me, and he struggles to believe in this outrageous promise from God. Then gently, and tenderly, the LORD leads him to believe in the promised land – this mighty nation. If you and I put ourselves in Abraham's shoes just for a minute, this old man, wouldn't we struggle too? Next week we're going to be starting in the book of Joshua and looking what it means to cross over into the promised land, and the battles involved in taking that promised land, and why God does it that way. I mean, this promised land was supposed to be flowing with milk and honey. Wouldn't you think you'd just arrive? Wouldn't it be like a summer resort with a swimming-pool and a bellhop to carry your bags up to your suite? Well, that's the next few weeks, but over the next few minutes, it's time for you and me to consider this promised land and whether we'll believe. Faith is the key to the promise. Faith is the gift from God, and the reason you and I are together today (no doubt) is that God wants to unlock the promise in your heart, as He breathes faith into you through His Word. As Israel went from Egypt through the Red Sea, and then forty years in the desert, how many Israelites that crossed through the Red Sea at the beginning of the exodus crossed through the Jordan into the promised land forty years later? Do you know? How many? Out of hundreds of thousands and probably millions, how many? Just two: Joshua and Caleb, and Psalm 106 tells us exactly why: They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. So God said He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen one stood in the breach before Him to keep His wrath from destroying them. Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His promise. They grumbled in their tents and did not obey the Law, so He swore to them with uplifted hand that He would make them fall in the desert. That's why today's message is so important. You and I, like Abraham, we look at the circumstances of our lives and we look around, and it's hard to believe sometimes in God's promises. Maybe we even have a grumble about God and His promises ... That's going to keep us out of His promised land. People sometimes say, "Well, Berni, you talk about this promised land. It's obvious what it meant to the Israelites back then, but what does it mean to you and me here and now?" Well, we need to go from the Old Testament to the New Testament. There's a transition from the physical land to the spiritual one - something that people struggled with when Jesus talked about the kingdom of God. They thought Jesus had come to kick the Roman occupiers out of the promised land, the physical land, but He was talking about something entirely different. There are so many passages we could go through in the New Testament, but a couple that really explain the promised land that God has given to us through Jesus His Son ... Let's have a look at them. Luke 17:20. Flick over to there: Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The kingdom of God doesn't come with your careful observation, nor will people say, “Here it is,” or “There it is”, because the kingdom of God is within you.' The promised land isn't something out there. It's not a new house or a new car or all that stuff. The promised land is the kingdom of God; it's God living and dwelling and ruling in our hearts. Again, Jesus explained it this way in Matthew 13:44: The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy he went and sold all that he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. The promised land is the treasure of God Himself in our hearts, our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name; Your kingdom come. John 14:23. Jesus said: If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to make our home with him. There are plenty of people who believe in Jesus for their eternal life. Jesus died for my sin; therefore I'm forgiven; therefore I have eternal life. Then what they do is, they kind of put it in their filing cabinet and file it under insurance policy, and live a miserable life. Jesus promised a lot of things – a rich, abundant life, as well as trials and persecutions. He didn't promise us it would be easy to follow Him; what He did promise is that our relationship with Him would fill us to overflowing with abundant joy and peace. That's where the promised land is today – in our hearts; in our relationship with Jesus Christ; in that abundance of life that comes through that relationship. Let me take you back to that starry night: Abram, and the LORD led him tenderly to the point where God wrote His promises on Abram's heart – a promise that Abram believed against all odds; a promise that God delivered against all odds. You and I are each under our own patch of starry heaven today, and the LORD is whispering of His promised land in our hearts – a land purchased by Jesus on the cross, a land of blessing that goes on forever. The Spirit of God will write that on our hearts if we let Him. He will give us the faith to believe if we'll ask Him. Is today that day when we open our hearts to God's promised land?

Isolating Israel - Spiritual Spring CleaningWebsite: http://www.battle4freedom.com/Network: https://www.mojo50.comStreaming: https://www.rumble.com/Battle4Freedomhttps://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%207%3A6&version=CJBDeuteronomy 7:6For you are a people set apart as holy for Adonai your G_d. Adonai your G_d has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his own unique treasure.Genesis 35:1 G_d said to Ya`akov, "Get up, go up to Beit-El and live there, and make there an altar to G_d, who appeared to you when you fled `Esav your brother." 2 Then Ya`akov said to his household and all the others with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods that you have with you, purify yourselves, and put on fresh clothes. 3 We're going to move on and go up to Beit-El. There I will build an altar to G_d, who answered me when I was in such distress and stayed with me wherever I went." Genesis 35:4 They gave Ya`akov all the foreign gods in their possession and the earrings they were wearing, and Ya`akov buried them under the pistachio tree near Sh'khem. 5 While they were traveling, a terror from G_d fell upon the cities around them, so that none of them pursued the sons of Ya`akov.Genesis 35:6 Ya`akov and all the people with him arrived at Luz (that is, Beit-El) in the land of Kena`an. 7 He built there an altar and called the place El-Beit-El [G_d of Beit-El], because it was there that G_d was revealed to him, at the time when he was fleeing from his brother.Genesis 35:8 Then D'vorah, Rivkah's nurse, died. She was buried below Beit-El under the oak, which was given the name Alon-Bakhut [oak of weeping].Genesis 35:9 After Ya`akov arrived from Paddan-Aram, G_d appeared to him again and blessed him. 10 G_d said to him, "Your name is Ya`akov, but you will be called Ya`akov no longer; your name will be Isra'el." Thus he named him Isra'el. 11 G_d further said to him, "I am El Shaddai. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed a group of nations, will come from you; kings will be descended from you. Genesis 35:12 Moreover, the land which I gave to Avraham and Yitz'chak I will give to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you." 13 Then G_d went up from him there where he had spoken with him. Genesis 35:14 Ya`akov set up a standing-stone in the place where he had spoken with him, a stone pillar. Then he poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 Ya`akov called the place where G_d spoke with him Beit-El.Genesis 35:16 Then they traveled on from Beit-El, and while there was still some distance to go before arriving in Efrat, Rachel went into labor, and she had great difficulty with it. 17 While she was undergoing this hard labor, the midwife said to her, "Don't worry, this is also a son for you." 18 But she died in childbirth. As she was dying she named her son Ben-Oni [son of my grief], but his father called him Binyamin [son of the right hand, son of the south]. 19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Efrat (that is, Beit-Lechem). 20 Ya`akov set up a standing-stone on her grave; it is the standing-stone of Rachel's grave to this day.Genesis 35:21 Isra'el continued his travels and pitched his tent on the other side of Migdal-`Eder. 22 It was while Isra'el was living in that land that Re'uven went and slept with Bilhah his father's concubine, and Isra'el heard about it. Ya`akov had twelve sons. 23 The sons of Le'ah were Re'uven Ya`akov's firstborn, Shim`on, Levi, Y'hudah, Yissakhar and Z'vulun. 24 The sons of Rachel were Yosef and Binyamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah Rachel's slave-girl were Dan and Naftali. 26 And the sons of Zilpah Le'ah's slave-girl were Gad and Asher. These were Ya`akov's sons, born to him in Paddan-Aram.Genesis 35:27 Ya`akov came home to his father Yitz'chak at Mamre, near Kiryat-Arba (also known as Hevron), where Avraham and Yitz'chak had lived as foreigners. 28 Yitz'chak lived to be 180 years old. 29 Then he breathed his last, died and was gathered to his people, an old man full of years; and his sons `Esav and Ya`akov buried him.DOGE and DOSE?Department of Spiritual Efficacy!https://unsplash.com/@stigson - Jordan Valleyhttps://unsplash.com/@robertina - Anointing oilhttps://unsplash.com/@fadid000 - Heart

Hebrews 13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. Showing hospitality was a very important and expected social practice. The apostle Paul encouraged it in Rom. 12:13; 1 Tim. 5:10, and the apostle Peter wrote, “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling” in 1 Pet. 4:9. In the Middle Eastern setting, if one didn't have a home in which to stay, their only other option was a hostel, which was often an environment of immorality and adultery. So traveling saints were dependent on members of the local church opening their homes. Hospitality also meant fellowship with members of the body of Christ around the meal table.  The example of Abraham welcoming three strangers into his tent and offering them food and fellowship comes to mind when we read about entertaining angels, doesn't it? Abraham didn't know who he was receiving, but we do. It was the Lord with two other messengers. Gen. 18:1-5. And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.”  If we stay in the context of verse 1 of chapter 13, we assume that hospitality is one expression of the love of Jesus for His body. This makes sense if we are showing our love out of gratitude for being placed into God's kingdom of love. Those we host are also partakers of God's kingdom and grace. To love them is to love Him. To serve them is to offer an acceptable sacrifice. Hospitality is a service. One has to expend the energy, time, and finances to have their home in such a state that it is available for His use at any time. That's not easy. There's a cost to hospitality, so we should look at the expenditure as a love gift to Jesus. If we don't keep our homes neat and operational for hospitality, when the opportunity comes, which is usually spontaneous, we won't be ready for it. We can also show hospitality by taking a visitor out to eat if our homes are not available.  Perhaps today, God may put a stranger in your path who is a brother or sister in Christ. The first thing you can do to show hospitality to a stranger is to have your heart open to receive everyone God puts in your path. Then as you love them with Jesus, you'll find out best if and how you can meet practical needs through hospitality. Hospitality is just one aspect of living to love with Jesus and showing gratitude to God for His receiving you as a stranger into His home. When you practice hospitality to strangers who are in Christ, you are inviting Jesus into your home. I invite you to become a partner in our ministry. Would you pray about becoming a regular supporter of Elijah Ministries and the Live to Love with Jesus ministry? I hope you will receive the joy and benefit of “giving it forward,” so others may receive encouragement to turn their hearts to God and to live to love with Jesus. You may give online or send a check to the address listed at www.spiritofelijah.com/donate.

Pastor John Ryan Cantu brings this week's message, “The Blessing." Key Verse: Genesis 14:1-20 NLT: “About this time war broke out in the region. King Amraphel of Babylonia, King Arioch of Ellasar, King Kedorlaomer of Elam, and King Tidal of Goiim fought against King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King Shinab of Admah, King Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (also called Zoar). This second group of kings joined forces in Siddim Valley (that is, the valley of the Dead Sea). For twelve years they had been subject to King Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled against him. One year later Kedorlaomer and his allies arrived and defeated the Rephaites at Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzites at Ham, the Emites at Shaveh-kiriathaim, and the Horites at Mount Seir, as far as El-paran at the edge of the wilderness. Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (now called Kadesh) and conquered all the territory of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites living in Hazazon-tamar. Then the rebel kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela (also called Zoar) prepared for battle in the valley of the Dead Sea. They fought against King Kedorlaomer of Elam, King Tidal of Goiim, King Amraphel of Babylonia, and King Arioch of Ellasar—four kings against five. As it happened, the valley of the Dead Sea was filled with tar pits. And as the army of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into the tar pits, while the rest escaped into the mountains. The victorious invaders then plundered Sodom and Gomorrah and headed for home, taking with them all the spoils of war and the food supplies. They also captured Lot—Abram's nephew who lived in Sodom—and carried off everything he owned. But one of Lot's men escaped and reported everything to Abram the Hebrew, who was living near the oak grove belonging to Mamre the Amorite. Mamre and his relatives, Eshcol and Aner, were Abram's allies. When Abram heard that his nephew Lot had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men who had been born into his household. Then he pursued Kedorlaomer's army until he caught up with them at Dan. There he divided his men and attacked during the night. Kedorlaomer's army fled, but Abram chased them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. Abram recovered all the goods that had been taken, and he brought back his nephew Lot with his possessions and all the women and other captives. After Abram returned from his victory over Kedorlaomer and all his allies, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). And Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High, brought Abram some bread and wine. Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you.” Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered.” Sermon Topics: Blessing If you enjoyed the podcast, please subscribe and share it with your friends on social media. For more information about PNEUMA Church, visit our website at mypneumachurch.org.  Connect with Us: Instagram: https://instagram.com/mypneumachurch YouTube: https://youtube.com/mypneumachurch Facebook: https://facebook.com/mypneumachurch Time Stamps 00:00 - Introduction 00:30 - Welcome 02:34 - Genesis 14:1–20 NLT 06:14 - The Blessing

Sermon Summary: Spiritual Renewal (Genesis 35) This sermon by Nick explores the theme of spiritual renewal, drawing from the biblical account in Genesis 35. It follows the narrative of Jacob and his family, who are facing a crisis after a tragic event. The Context: Desperation and Defeat: Jacob, at 97 years old, is deeply distressed. His daughter, Dinah, has been raped, and his sons, Simeon and Levi, have violently retaliated, causing further chaos and endangering the entire family. Loss of Direction: The family, once blessed by God, is now living in disarray. They have strayed from their faith and are driven by emotions and circumstances rather than God's guidance. A Call to Return: In the midst of this despair, God intervenes. He instructs Jacob to return to Bethel, the place where he first encountered God and received his blessings. Key Messages: The Importance of Remembering: When life presents challenges, disappointments, and betrayals, it's crucial to remember God's past promises and experiences. These memories serve as foundational stones for our faith and provide hope and strength. The Need for Simplification: Just as Jacob was instructed to "get rid of all your pagan idols," we too need to declutter our lives. This involves removing distractions, negative influences, and anything that hinders our relationship with God. God's Unfailing Presence: Despite Jacob's failures and the family's struggles, God's presence remained constant. This emphasizes that God's love and grace are not dependent on our own righteousness but on His unwavering faithfulness. Transformation and Identity: God changes Jacob's name from "Jacob" (deceiver) to "Israel" (God fights), signifying a shift from focusing on his own shortcomings to recognizing God's work in his life. This highlights the transformative power of God's grace. The Long Game: God works over time, often in ways that we cannot fully understand. We are encouraged to trust in God's plan, even when circumstances seem hopeless or confusing. Practical Applications: Reflect on past encounters with God: Spend time remembering those moments when you experienced God's presence and felt His guidance. Identify and remove distractions: Declutter your life from anything that hinders your spiritual growth. Focus on God's character: Shift your focus from your own weaknesses to God's strength and faithfulness. Trust in God's timing: Remember that God works over time and has a greater purpose for your life. Bible References: Genesis 35:1-29 Isaiah 41 This sermon encourages listeners to return to their spiritual roots, to remember God's promises, and to trust in His guidance through life's challenges. It emphasizes the importance of simplifying their lives, focusing on God's character, and embracing the transformative power of His grace. Note: This summary aims to capture the essence of the sermon. For a complete understanding, please listen to the full audio recording. Transcript Thank you. Good morning. We're on Genesis again, Genesis 35. I first prepared to speak this message way back when it snowed. We've learned to take everything as from God. So you prepare a message and then it snows and we cancel the church, and you think, well, what's my life all about then if I can't preach? But take it as from God, and I believe that this is the message God has for us. So we are hurtling, hurtling through Genesis towards the conclusion, but buckle up because there's plenty still to come. And you will, if you, one of those people that goes ahead to read the chapters ahead, you'll know there's going to be some interesting and challenging ones in the next few weeks. But we're on Genesis 35, and the title I've got is Spiritual Renewal. And the passage is set against the background of the passage that Johnny spoke about way back. We were away, and it was back in November. That was the last time we were in Genesis. And he talked about where Dinah, Jacob's daughter, had been raped and abused by some of the men that lived in the area there. And Simeon and Levi, Jacob's sons, had gone and wreaked a revenge on these men. And it was just an absolute brutal mess. Jacob, you can imagine how he felt. He was 97 years old at this time. 74 years earlier, at the age of 23, he had deceived his brother into giving up his birthright and taking the blessing from his father. 74 years, and he's thinking, I'm sure no doubt he's thinking, well, okay, if this is the blessing, I don't really want to live under the curse, because this doesn't look great. He must have looked on all of these tragic turn of events and wonder, what is this all about? His response at the end is one of desperation. Simeon and Levi have done all of this. They've taken revenge. This is at the end of chapter 34. Afterward, Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, you have ruined me. You've made me stink among all the people of this land, among all the Canaanites and Perizzites. We are so few that they will join forces and crush us. I will be ruined, and my entire household will be wiped out. And then they simply said, but why should we let him treat our sister like a prostitute? They retorted angrily. And that's the state that this family had got into. His response appears to be like that of a father, taking his head in his hands and wondering, what is it all about? What has come out? 97 years old. This has happened to my daughter. My sons have lost control. We've been completely ruined in the eyes of the people we live in. We're going to be crushed. We are finished. We are going to be wiped out. We are the blessed family, people and the blessing of God, and yet we are going to be wiped out. You have ruined me. You have made me stink among all the people of this land. They were all living their own way, far from the foundations that were laid in their lives. The encounters with God their father had, they all seemed to mean nothing. Now they were just, the circumstances had overtaken them, instincts had overtaken them. They were just living according to how they felt. This happened, so we're going to do that. Why should this happen? Why shouldn't we do this? And it just seems to be it's like the wheels have come off. They don't look like a family that is a family of destiny. They look more like a family that is being governed by the circumstances that happened to them. 74 years after their uncle Esau had said, what use is a blessing to me if I'm hungry? And he sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. This family now were in danger of letting go of all that God had put in them, all that God had said to them, all that God had blessed them with, and they were being thrown around as if in a washing machine from one disaster to another. And the chapter ends abruptly with that sense of desperation and hopelessness. There's nothing more said. You have ruined me. You have made me stink, and now we're going to be wiped out. And they simply said, why should we let him treat our sister like a prostitute? End of chapter. Nothing else to be said. Nothing that had happened to them up to this point was actually going to help them, was going to increase their blessing. It was actually going to contribute to their decline. And then we move into 35. Don't ever be tempted to separate these chapters out as standalone things. These chapters and verses obviously are an invention that have come in over the years and over the generations to help us, and they do help us because we wouldn't know where to start, would we? If I'd said we're going to just go to there, we wouldn't know what page to go to or whatever. But here we are in Genesis 35, but the link cannot be missed. It ended, it was just left hanging. Why should this happen? Why should we not? Then God said, chapter 35 verse 1, then God said to Jacob, get ready and move to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau. Go back, Jacob. Like God has waited until they've got to this point of absolute disaster, of absolute desperation, and then he comes in. He doesn't say, right, I'm going to help you. We're going to clean up this mess. We're going to pick this apart. We're going to get this sorted out. He says, simply go back. Go back to where I first spoke to you. Go back to where you first met me. Go back to where you first heard the promise. Go back to when it really mattered. Go back to when you realized that you had encountered God. Go back to that place. Come back with me, Jacob. And that is the route to restoration and renewal in all our lives. When life disappoints us, and it does. When circumstances go against us, and they do. Breaking news. When people betray you. When grief overtakes you. When you're weary and disillusioned and you wonder what it's all for. Perhaps that's the time for God to come to you and say, let's just go back. Let's reel back and remember where it all began. And one of the things I love about Genesis and the things that we've taught, and it's been a theme that's repeated over and over again, is the stretch of time, the stretch of years. We love everything to be instant. If God says something to us today, we want the fulfillment tomorrow. There's no gap. If it doesn't come tomorrow, well, where's God? I thought he spoke to me. Go to Genesis and read about the men and the women and the children that went through year after year after year, generation after generation, where the promises actually made sense. That Jacob could take the blessing at age 23 and at age 97, he's still working it out. And I've just been thinking about that recently. I don't consider myself very old, but there's an awful lot that we fit into our lives, isn't there? And when you start to look back and you think, well, it did all look different when I was 25 rather than 55. And we were looking ahead and we were thinking about the possibilities and what God could do and what our lives might look like. And there was a sense of excitement. And then you get further along the line and there's actually quite a lot behind you. And you start to think, and as I look back to, and I was thinking, I don't know why it's been coming into my mind recently, but just thinking back to early days in church leadership, early days in Zambia, all those things that we were doing. And I realized that it's almost like we're in a completely different universe now. And looking ahead, it's a strange thing to look ahead when there's so much of what we hoped for and prayed for and dreamed about has sort of worked its way out. I don't think it's all over, by the way, but it's really interesting. But one thing that's important for me, for you, as you get weary, as you get tired, as you get older, because we all get older, don't we, is to have this ability to allow God through his Holy Spirit to take us back and to remind us. Because those memories are not just memories, they are actually foundation stones in our lives. Those are the points where we remember this is what God said to us. And when we start to get a little bit desperate, a little bit disillusioned, and so many people these days you read about have actually been walking away from faith, because we lose track of what God has actually said to us in the past. It's so important to be able to go back and to focus on those things. I remember, I probably told you this story before, I tell these stories over and over again, but when we left for Zambia, Erica's dad took us aside and said how pleased he was with what we were doing and excited for us. But he wanted to know that in the middle of all the excitement, all the sense of adventure, and all the newsletters that were going out, and the fridge magnets saying pray for the Lug family as they go to be missionaries and all that stuff, in the middle of all of that, you do know that you've heard God. And we said, yeah, we do. We know that God is called. I remember, I can even remember, that's what God takes us back, I can remember where I was sitting when these things dropped into me, and that sense of conviction about what we should do. And he said the reason you have to do that, you have to know that, is because there are many times when the excitement has waned and things aren't looking as bright and rosy as they do today. You'll have to know and you have to remember, otherwise you won't succeed, you won't keep going, you won't make it. And we won't make it in life unless we're able to take ourselves back and remind ourselves of what God has shown us at different stages in our lives. We might feel like we're different people now, but we know that those things stand forever. And that's what the story of Genesis teaches us, is that these things stand through generation after generation after generation. It matters what God has said years ago. And it's really important that we're able to allow him to take us back. And I do remember one time, some months after we got out there, and nothing was working out as we planned, and I remember standing alone in our garden and looking up at the sky. It's a lot more interesting to look up at the night sky in Zambia than it is here. Lots of stars and a bright moon and all of that, and just looking up and thinking about the sort of songs that we've sung this morning and thinking about God and just thinking, what has happened? It felt like it was all finished. It felt like that what we'd set out to do, there was nothing left. People had said to us, you can't take your children to Zambia. It will ruin their lives. And we said, oh, don't be silly. God is with us. And then as I stood there, I thought, maybe they were right. There's that sense of desperation. But I remember how from that moment, people, circumstances, gentle words of encouragement, the gentle words of the Spirit of God in my heart took me back to those moments that I've already talked about when I knew. And I knew that God had spoken to us. And I knew that that word doesn't diminish because things go wrong or because things go against us. That thing doesn't disappear. It doesn't get wiped out. It doesn't get rubbed out. And I knew that God would be with us through it all. And so I can say that 20 years later, that which I thought was dead then is still living, still growing. And there are many times things in your life that you might have looked back and you think, well, what was that all about? It's all finished. It's all gone. And yet if we allow God to lead us through that, if we allow God to remind us, he doesn't always, Kathy said, he doesn't remove the Red Sea, but he does party. He doesn't take away all the problems. He doesn't solve them all. He doesn't take away those challenges. He doesn't take away the things that eat away at our confidence and our hope. But he does remind us about who he is and what he said and what he's promised. So we all need Jacob moments like at the end of 34 and 35 when God says, come back with me. Come back and we'll go back to where it all began. So Jacob told everyone in his household, get rid of all your pagan idols. Purify yourselves and put on clean clothing. We are now going to Bethel where I'll build an altar to the God who answered my prayers when I was in distress. He is being with me wherever I've gone. I love that. I mean, as I read it, I just thought, the one thing, I don't know why it's my mischievous sense of humor or something, there's a poster that I saw once that simply said, Jesus is coming. Look busy. And it just reminded me about that. You know what? God comes in the middle of all the mess and all the chaos and all the distress and all the trauma. God comes and says, right, we're going to go back to the altar, go back to the place, build an altar, and I'm going to go back where it all began. Jacob says, oh yeah, remember now. Right, everybody pack up your pagan idols. They're going to go, these things weren't a surprise to Jacob. The household was just living with these idols. They were living in this way. They were living in this chaotic, cluttered way. And the first thing Jacob says to them is, pack up. Pack it all up. We're going to go back. We're going to simplify. We're going to purify. We're going to get things straight. We all carry clutter and stuff that we pick up along the way, don't we? Ways of thinking, ways of behaving. We drift in our passion for God and so that we live under the blessing. Our lives can be full of so much other stuff and you probably know what that feels like. I don't know, I've forgotten the name of the program, Stacey Solomon. There was a BBC program we used to watch last year when we were on holiday. We watched all the episodes, shows how spiritual we are about how to declutter your life. And you go in somebody's, people have got houses with stuff from floor to ceiling and they just clear it all out and put it all over the floor of a warehouse and then they have to go through and have to get rid of like 70% of their stuff and then they put it back in the house. And it's interesting. It's fascinating. But it's a great example of what our lives can get like as we, even as we live under the blessing of God. We know that we're believers. We know that God loves us. We know that he's called us. We know that we can tell a testimony of the day that we became a Christian. But since that day, the process that we've gone on, our lives have got cluttered. They've got full of stuff. We carry so much baggage around with us. Just like Jacob said to the people there, come on, pack up, get rid, declutter. We're going to go back to where it all began. We're going to Bethel where I will build an altar to the God who answered my prayers when I was in distress. He's remembering now, you see. He has been with me wherever I have gone. What a statement. And that doesn't mean that Jacob was a great, you know, God raises these patriarchs as heroes of faith. But when we look at it from our peer-to-peer level, they're not heroes of faith. There's so much that goes, there's so much that we can compare with ourselves. But he has been with me wherever I have gone. And what it tells me is that the blessing and the presence of God is not, as much as we like to believe it, is not a reward for our righteousness or faithfulness. But it's a result of his faithfulness and his determination to keep his covenant of love with his people. So Jacob can say, no matter how much has gone wrong, no matter what a mess his life has got in, how chaotic the family is, he can say, even then, God has gone with me wherever I have gone. And that will be, is and will be our testimony as people of God, that God has gone with us wherever we have gone, wherever. Even if we drift off in our attention, even if we lose our passion for him, even if we wander into sin, wherever we have gone, God has attached himself to us. No matter how dark and desperate things have become, God had been with him wherever he had gone. God's reminder to him about what happened at Bethel turned on the light and he could say, oh yeah, things were beginning to change. He'd gone from absolute desperation to hearing the voice of God again. And we all need to make that transition. When we wander and lose energy, we drift far from God. We can't solve the issues, we can't make ourselves better, we can't unpick all that's gone wrong, but we can build an altar to God and we can remind ourselves of what it's all about. We can remind ourselves of who it is that's called us and what he said in our lives. When Jacob returned to Bethel, God appeared to him once again, blessed him and said, your name is Jacob, but you'll not be called Jacob any longer. From now on, your name will be Israel. Jacob means heal and deceiver. You know, he came out grabbing the heel of his brother. Israel means God fights. And so 74 years after he first tricked his way to a blessing, the focus is now shifting from what Jacob was to who God is. And that's a journey that we've all got to make. I remember one of the first sermons I ever heard in our church in Surrey when I first joined the church. There was a man called Bernard Thompson from Oxford and he stood up and he was asking people. He did all those sort of questions and answers, interaction. So what does Jacob mean to you? He said, what sort of person was Jacob? And our church treasurer spoke up and said he was a deceiver and a trickster. And that was an example of how reputations stick. The guy's point was that he was a man after God's own heart and he sort of explained all that. But that was something that carried him around. Jacob means heal and deceiver. That was the label. That was the banner over his life. That was the identifier. That's the type of person that he was. He gets what he wants through deception. But God says to him at that moment, Jacob, you will no longer be called Jacob, but you will now be called Israel. Israel means God fights. And that's the slow journey that we're all on, being transformed in our understanding from who we are to understanding who God is. And many times the dominant thing in our minds is what we are, what we're not, what we've failed at, what we feel about ourselves, what other people say about us, what circumstances have told us, what the failures and disappointments of life, all of those things become our definition. They become our definition. So if somebody was to ask you, describe yourself, you'd say useless or failure or shy or whatever else you might say. And God wants to take us all on the same journey that he took Jacob to say, all right, you'll no longer be called that, but you're going to be called something else. And what you're going to be called is something that reflects what God is in you, what God has done for you. And that's the journey that will be. And sometimes we won't make that journey fully in this life, but we need to make progress on that journey. We need to start. I know that in my own life I need to see what it is that God says, because often if I'm pushed, how I will identify myself is what I think about myself or what I think other people think about me. And I very rarely think clearly about what God thinks about me. And if we think, you know, well, people say, well, God loves you. You think, oh, well, what does that mean? You know, there's not much to love or whatever else we say. We ignore what God is saying. God took the initiative over Jacob and he says, you will no longer be called, but you will be called this. And through the school of hard knocks, through human weakness and failure and reaching the lowest of lows, we are carried by the faithfulness of God away from what we were to where God wants us to be. What a journey. How many people in this room? 150, 160 people. That means there are 150 or 160 stories that will probably make our hair curl. All sorts of stuff that we've been through. Mike said, has anybody got a testimony? Well, to be truthful, we have got about 150 testimonies in here. Probably haven't got time for them all. I remember being in Belfast one time, and there was an advertised event where there was a paramilitary, former paramilitary terrorist that had been in prison for his crimes in the time of the Troubles. And he'd become a Christian. And the publicity was sort of this terrorist that's turned to God. And so a lot of people came because they wanted to hear. And the guy was really challenging because he stood up and he said, I know why you're all here. You want to hear stories. He said, I'm not going to tell you any because I refuse to talk about what I was. I only want to talk about what I am through Jesus Christ. Talk about what God has made me. Really, really powerful challenge. But we can feel a million miles from God, unsuitable for his blessing, disappointed in ourselves, disappointed with life. That's where Jacob was. God reminded him that I have been with you wherever you have gone. And God, if you look back over your life now, over the pattern of where you've gone, all the wanderings and the meanderings, the Bible says he will make our paths straight. Some of us look at our lives and think, well, my paths haven't been very straight. But wherever you've meandered, wherever you've wandered, God has gone with you wherever you have gone. And now he's back on your case. And he's saying, build an altar to me and I will change your name from what you were to what you will become in me. God reminded him that he was always with him, that he could go back to where it all started and that God would use his weakness to demonstrate his strength. So don't lose heart. It's amazing what God can do and the way that he speaks to us. I'm going to go back to again another story about how the time came when we came to leave Zambia. That was in 2010. And it was quite traumatic for our children. They cried when they went to Zambia and now they cried when they were leaving. And it was all very, very sad. We had lots of farewell events and farewell services and all of that sort of stuff. And it was quite emotional and quite draining. And on the very last day, the general secretary of our church out there came to us and he gave us some verses from Isaiah 41. I won't go through it all, but the key point of it, he says, I will help you, says the Lord. And as we piled into our vehicle and we traveled down to this ark and we ended up traveling in the middle of the night, it was just the four of us completely on our own with our suitcases. We'd gone out to Zambia with a shipping container and we came back with four suitcases. You know, these guys in Genesis started with the four suitcases and ended up with a shipping container. We went the other way around. And we were all quite down and quite sad about it all and everything else. And Jacob, our youngest son, who was 11 at the time, said, don't worry. We shouldn't be sad because God says he's going to help us. But well, there's a word from an 11-year-old and we held on to that. And over the years, from time to time, that verse has come back to us. God says, I'll help you. Even when we felt like we're under pressure, we're struggling, God says he's going to help us. And then even this week, there were a number of things that were going on that were really, really challenging me and struggling to come to terms with it and feeling discouraged and feeling uncertain about the way things were going to work out. And we started reading only just a few days ago a Charles Spurgeon devotional. And on January the 16th, we opened it up and the passage was Isaiah 41. God says, I will help you. And it's like God's saying, all right, you can get into all of that confusion. You can get into all of that discouragement, but I'll continually bring you back to what I said. And what I said then still stands today. And for some of you need to know that what God said to you five, 10, 20, 30, 50 years ago still stands. And for some of you, like Mike said, God will speak today and will put down a marker in your life today that will make a difference in 10 years time. We know that what you hear today, hold onto it, because the word of God stands forever in your life. And there are so many things shifting sands and tides and things that will push us this way and that. We don't know what's going to happen to us and none of us can predict what's going to happen. Yesterday turned out entirely differently to how I thought it would in the morning. But the word of God stands over our lives. Finally, thank you Manuel for your testimony as well. I just want to relate to this. Amongst all the other things that happened throughout all these things that unfold in Genesis 35, we get to the end at verse 27 and it says, So Jacob returned to his father Isaac in Mamre, which is near Kiriath-arbor, now called Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had both lived as foreigners. Isaac lived for 180 years, then he breathed his last and died at a ripe old age, joining his ancestors in death and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. God plays a long game in our lives and we can afford to trust Him with things that we cannot control and things we cannot change. He's able to orchestrate our lives, relationships, and circumstances and bring glory to Himself. And there are things that you're carrying even today that you're thinking, I don't know how I work this out. Maybe it's things in your family, relationships, maybe there's breakdown, maybe there's uncertainty, maybe you're worried about children, maybe you're worried about others, maybe things are burdening you and you don't know what to do about it. God plays a long game in our lives and we can afford to trust Him with things we cannot control and things we cannot change. We wish things could be different. We wish things hadn't worked out the way that they have. When you can't see any way through. This was a dysfunctional family, the end all dysfunctional family. Brothers were at loggerheads, they were threatening each other's lives, there was real mortal danger that was coming up from the breakdown of their relationship and yet there's a simple comment at the end of verse 29 that when Isaac died his sons Esau and Jacob buried him together. Beautiful sort of closure to a long, long, long, long, long story. And so remember when God first spoke to you, remember that He's with you wherever you go, remember that He carries you away from what you were towards what He can be in you and that over many, many years He is able to make sense of it all. We have a friend who, a very dear friend who died on New Year's Eve and we did it again, we didn't know that was going to happen. She'd been in hospital, she'd had a bit of an accident and had been in hospital for two or three weeks but had been recovering and was doing fine. She was quite strong. I went to see her a couple of days before she died. She was very chatty, very energetic, very lively and then we went to see her on New Year's Eve and we couldn't recognize her. She was on oxygen, got a chest infection, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't speak and she died that very day. And just sitting around her bed, she was trying to speak but she had no volume at all, nothing. She'd take the mask off and she couldn't form words or whatever but you could tell that she was there. And so we chatted and we prayed a little bit and whatever and there was just like you do sometimes around the hospital bed, there was a lot going on. And then all of a sudden she just sort of stopped us and she took her mask off and she said with volume and clarity, you know we can cast all our fears and worries onto him. Really, really powerful and then she put her mask back on and she probably didn't say anything else until she died and I thought well that to me is an example of trust. Trust God, lean into God, hold on to God because wherever you go, he goes with you. As you walk through those strained relationships, as you walk through those challenges, as you walk through those situations that you don't know how it's going to work out, God goes with you and he has ways of bringing it all together and making sense of it all. Jacob and Esau buried Isaac together after all those years of running from one another. So the questions in response, do you need today to stop and go back to what God has said to you over many, many years? Maybe you can, even just now as I'm saying that, maybe just think back. Are there times when you've known things much more clearly than you do today does God want to take you back by his spirit to remind you of what he said and what he's done and what he's promised? Second challenge is don't try and solve the issues when you we look at our lives and think all right okay so we've got to get this right. New Year's resolutions, Johnny talked about it, we've got to make it, got to be better, we've got to be stronger, we've got to be more organized, got to be more spiritual, let's get up at six o'clock every morning and pray, that's not going to work too well. So I mean some of you might love getting up at six o'clock in the morning to pray, others might not. It's not about the effort that we can put in to make things better, but it's about our ability to build an altar and to remember the God who originally called us, the God, that's why testimonies are so important to go back and remember, tell your story, tell your story to yourself, remind yourself what God has done and what he said in your life, and then know that God is changing your story from who you are and what you've made of your life to who he is and what he makes of your life, what his destiny is for you, and then let go and trust because he plays a long game and things work out over many, many, many years and some of the things where some of the situations that you feel you've moved on from, God still has something to do and something to say in the midst of all of that. And so I want us to pray and to turn our hearts to God, settle ourselves, you know sometimes when we pray we come into a, we get frantic and we get anxious don't we, we try and blur everything out to God, oh Lord this and this and this and this, I'm really sorry God because I haven't prayed for so long and I'm so unspiritual and and you really must be tired of listening to me and I just don't, you know, I don't even know why you bother Lord and it's just, it's just hopeless in Jesus' name, amen, and that's the, you know, that we don't get very far with those sort of prayers, but we need to come to God and we say, Lord with open hands, Lord this is a, this is me, this is us, this is our situation, but Lord we remember how faithful you've been, Lord we remember those days of promise, we remember the things that you've, that you, you established, we remember the things that we hope for and we dream for, we remember all of that and say, Lord take us back, Lord we will worship you in the midst of this, we've got all these idols and all this stuff that we're packing up, but nevertheless you are the God who's answered our prayers, you're the God who's carried us through and you're the God who changes our name from what we were to what we can be, and so let's just turn our hearts to God in worship, maybe the team can come back and we just respond, begin to respond to God what he said, I don't know in my stumbling ways what makes sense and what makes clear, what's clear, but God knows he's able to apply his word to our hearts through the power of his Holy Spirit and just encourage you to come, open hand, don't come with an agenda, don't come with lots of words, don't come with lots of apologies, don't come with any of that stuff, just come before God and say, Lord you have been with me wherever I've gone, now take me on again Lord, take me on again, show me what it is that you want to do in my life, show me what it is that you want to make of my life from this point forward, not diving back, not trying to fix things, but going forward, what is it that you want to do, what is it that you want to say, what is it that you want to establish in my heart and today can be a time when things change, reminded of an old sort of proverb, what's the best time to plant an oak tree 50 years ago, but bearing in mind the fact we didn't do it 50 years ago, the best time is today, there might be lots of things that you regret, lots of things that you struggle with, but today plant something, today establish something, today reach out to God, that God take me forward from today on the basis of what you've promised over so many years. Amen.

Passage: 17 After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). 18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) 19 And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. 21 And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.” 22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, 23 that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.' 24 I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me. Let Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre take their share.” (Genesis 14:17-24 ESV) Song: High Priest (https://open.spotify.com/track/5f36B77R5uSj8A3aTxqQJC?si=26cd661283a24d49) by Jonathan Ogden Lyrics: Oh the humility Of a King inside a manger Our shepherd and our saviour on the cross You gave Your life for me Now how can I repay You? All the riches I could gain are not enough You are the Prince of Peace You're our Great High Priest You have made a way for me You have set me free You got thirsty You got tired You were tempted You were tried And You can fully sympathise Cause You know just what it's like to live this life Fully God and fully man Who can fully comprehend the mystery? You are the Prince of Peace You're our Great High Priest You have made a way for me You have set me free I've found freedom in You Jesus There is nothing in between us You turn mourning into dancing And sorrow into joy oh Lord Prayer: This is another day, O Lord. I know not what it will bring forth, but make me ready, Lord, for whatever it may be. If I am to stand up, help me to stand bravely. If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly. If I am to lie low, help me to do it patiently. And if I am to do nothing, let me do it gallantly. Make these words more than words, and give me the Spirit of Jesus. Amen. -The Book of Common Prayer

Sermon preached by Dr. B.J. Hutto at Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church on Sunday, December 22, 2024.

Series:Before Immanuel | Speaker: Richard Hamlin | Genesis 18:1-3

The Sons of Avraham - Designated or DisinheritedWebsite: http://www.battle4freedom.com/Network: https://www.mojo50.comStreaming: https://www.rumble.com/Battle4Freedomhttps://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2037%3A29&version=CJBPsalm 37:29The righteous will inherit the land and live in it foreverGenesis 25https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%2025&version=CJBGenesis 25:1-4Avraham took another wife, whose name was K'turah. She bore him Zimran, Yokshan, Medan, Midyan, Yishbak; and Shuach. Yokshan fathered Sh'va and D'dan. The sons of D'dan were Ashurim, L'tushim and L'umim. The sons of Midyan were 'Eifah, 'Efer, Hanokh, Avida and Elda'ah. All these were descendants of K'turah.Genesis 25:5-6Avraham gave everything he owned to Yitz'chak. But to the sons of the concubines he made grants while he was still living and sent them off to the east, to the land of Kedem, away from Yitz'chak his son.Genesis 25:7-11This is how long Avraham lived: 175 years. Then Avraham breathed his last, dying at a ripe old age, an old man full of years; and he was gathered to his people. Yitz'chak and Yishma'el his sons buried him in the cave of Makhpelah, in the field of 'Efron the son of Tzochar the Hitti, by Mamre, the field which Avraham purchased from the sons of Het. Avraham was buried there with Sarah his wife. After Avraham died, G_d blessed Yitz'chak his son, and Yitz'chak lived near Be'er-Lachai-Ro'i.Genesis 25:12-18Here is the genealogy of Yishma'el, Avraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian woman bore to Avraham. These are the names of the sons of Yishma'el, listed in the order of their birth. The firstborn of Yishma'el was N'vayot; followed by Kedar, Adbe'el, Mivsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Teima, Y'tur, Nafish and Kedmah. (Maftir) These are the sons of Yishma'el, and these are their names, according to their settlements and camps, twelve tribal rulers. This is how long Yishma'el lived: 137 years. Then he breathed his last, died and was gathered to his people. Yishma'el's sons lived between Havilah and Shur, near Egypt as you go toward Ashur; he settled near all his kinsmen.Why do we treat Ishmael like Cain?Genesis 25:19-23Here is the history of Yitz'chak, Avraham's son. Avraham fathered Yitz'chak. Yitz'chak was forty years old when he took Rivkah, the daughter of B'tu'el the Arami from Paddan-Aram and sister of Lavan the Arami, to be his wife. Yitz'chak prayed to Adonai on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. Adonai heeded his prayer, and Rivkah became pregnant. The children fought with each other inside her so much that she said, "If it's going to be like this, why go on living?" So she went to inquire of Adonai, who answered her, "There are two nations in your womb. From birth they will be two rival peoples. One of these peoples will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."Genesis 25:24-26When the time for her delivery came, there were twins in her womb. The first to come out was reddish and covered all over with hair, like a coat; so they named him 'Esav [completely formed, that is, having hair already]. Then his brother emerged, with his hand holding 'Esav's heel, so he was called Ya'akov [he catches by the heel, he supplants]. Yitz'chak was sixty years old when she bore them.Genesis 25:27-28The boys grew; and 'Esav became a skillful hunter, an outdoorsman; while Ya'akov was a quiet man who stayed in the tents. Yitz'chak favored 'Esav, because he had a taste for game; Rivkah favored Ya'akov.Genesis 25:29-34One day when Ya'akov had cooked some stew, 'Esav came in from the open country, exhausted, and said to Ya'akov, "Please! Let me gulp down some of that red stuff — that red stuff! I'm exhausted!" (This is why he was called Edom [red].) Ya'akov answered, "First sell me your rights as the firstborn." "Look, I'm about to die!" said 'Esav. "What use to me are my rights as the firstborn?" Ya'akov said, "First, swear to me!" So he swore to him, thus selling his birthright to Ya'akov. Then Ya'akov gave him bread and lentil stew; he ate and drank, got up and went on his way. Thus 'Esav showed how little he valued his birthright.

Parasha Chajee SaraTe lezen: Genesis 23:1–25:18, 1 Koningen 1:1–31, Efeziërs 5:21–33Abraham luisterde naar Efron; en Abraham woog voor Efron het geld af waarover hij ten aanhoren van de Hethieten gesproken had: vierhonderd sikkel zilver, naar de gangbare waarde voor de koopman. Zo ging de akker van Efron in Machpela, die tegenover Mamre lag, de akker en de grot die daarop gelegen is, en al de bomen op de akker, op heel het gebied rondom de grot, over op Abraham als zijn eigendom, voor de ogen van de Hethieten, in het bijzijn van allen die naar de poort van zijn stad gekomen waren.Genesis 23:16-18 (HSV)Deze shabbat bestuderen we parasha Chajee Sara. Hoewel de naam “het leven van Sara” betekent, begint dit gedeelte opvallend genoeg met haar overlijden. Haar dood en de koop van de spelonk van Machpela, die als haar begraafplaats zal dienen, markeren niet alleen het einde van een hoofdstuk, maar ook het begin van een nieuwe fase in Gods plan. Abrahams aankoop van dit stukje land getuigt van zijn onwankelbare geloof in Gods belofte en legt de basis voor de toekomstige vervulling van Zijn verbond.Centraal in deze parasha staat dan ook het vertrouwen in Gods voorzienigheid en de voortgang van Zijn beloften, zelfs in moeilijke tijden. Dit komt prachtig tot uiting in de bruiloft van Isaak en Rebekka, een gebeurtenis die hoop en toekomst symboliseert. Het Nieuwe Testament versterkt deze thema's in Efeziërs 5:31-32, waar de relatie tussen man en vrouw wordt gepresenteerd als een profetisch beeld van de liefde tussen Messias Jeshua en Zijn gemeente.Support the show

Big Idea: Jesus turns a funeral into a birthday.  In the Beginning: Joseph Genesis 50:1-14 I. The distance of death hurts. 1-6 Then Joseph, leaning over his father's face, wept and kissed him. He commanded his servants who were physicians to embalm his father. So they embalmed Israel. They took forty days to complete this, for embalming takes that long, and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days. When the days of mourning were over, Joseph said to Pharaoh's household, “If I have found favor with you, please tell Pharaoh that my father made me take an oath, saying, ‘I am about to die. You must bury me there in the tomb that I made for myself in the land of Canaan.' Now let me go and bury my father. Then I will return.” So Pharaoh said, “Go and bury your father in keeping with your oath.” II. We grieve differently. 7-11 Then Joseph went to bury his father, and all Pharaoh's servants, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt went with him, along with all Joseph's family, his brothers, and his father's family. Only their dependents, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. Horses and chariots went up with him; it was a very impressive procession. When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wept loudly, and Joseph mourned seven days for his father. When the Canaanite inhabitants of the land saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a solemn mourning on the part of the Egyptians.” Therefore the place is named Abel-mizraim. It is across the Jordan.   III. Go any distance to honor a dying wish. 12-14 So Jacob's sons did for him what he had commanded them. They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave at Machpelah in the field near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased as burial property from Ephron the Hethite. After Joseph buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father. Next Steps:  Believe: I want to be adopted into God's family today.  Become: I will live for eternity this week.  Be Sent: I will show others that Jesus lives this week. Group Discussion Questions:  What makes funerals so painful? Have you ever spoken during a funeral?  If so, what did you say? Has death changed your family's dynamics?  Why? Read John 11:33.  What touched Jesus so profoundly? Are you attempting to live out someone's last words to you?  If so, explain.  What would your last words be to your family and friends? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you focus more on eternity tomorrow. 

Featuring Special Guest, Rabbi Zev Reichman Thank you to our generous sponsors this week, Dasi and Jeremy Schwalbe and family who are sponsoring this episode of the One Pasuk Podcast in celebration of Rabbi Daniel and Dina Goldberg's new daughter, Sarit Leora. May the Goldbergs and our community see her raised, together with her siblings Moshe, Shaya, and Esther – to Torah, Chuppah and Maasim Tovim. Thank you so much Dasi and Jeremy Schwalbe for your generous support of the One Pasuk Pasuk Podcast. וַיֵּרָא אֵלָיו ה' בְּאֵלֹנֵי מַמְרֵא וְהוּא יֹשֵׁב פֶּתַח־הָאֹהֶל כְּחֹם הַיּוֹם׃  Hashem appeared to him by the terebinths of Mamre; he was sitting at the entrance of the tent as the day grew hot.

Big Idea: Only the Gospel creates flourishing from failure!  In the Beginning: Joseph Genesis 43:13-33 I. The conditions of flourishing. 13-21 Zebulun will live by the seashore and will be a harbor for ships, and his territory will be next to Sidon. Issachar is a strong donkey lying down between the saddlebags. He saw that his resting place was good and that the land was pleasant, so he leaned his shoulder to bear a load and became a forced laborer. Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan will be a snake by the road, a viper beside the path, that bites the horse's heels so that its rider falls backward. I wait for your salvation, Lord. Gad will be attacked by raiders, but he will attack their heels. Asher's food will be rich, and he will produce royal delicacies. Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns.   II. The fruit of flourishing. 22-27 Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine beside a spring; its branches climb over the wall. The archers attacked him, shot at him, and were hostile toward him. Yet his bow remained steady, and his strong arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, by the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, and blessings of the breasts and the womb. The blessings of your father excel the blessings of my ancestors and the bounty of the ancient hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince of his brothers. Benjamin is a wolf; he tears his prey. In the morning he devours the prey, and in the evening he divides the plunder.”   III. The length of flourishing. 28-33 These are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this is what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.Then he commanded them, “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my ancestors in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hethite. The cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hethite as burial property. Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried there, Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried there, and I buried Leah there. The field and the cave in it were purchased from the Hethites.” When Jacob had finished giving charges to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, took his last breath, and was gathered to his people. Next Steps:  Believe: I need Jesus to forgive my failures this week.  Become: I will enjoy God's goodness, no matter my circumstances. Be Sent: I will help someone flourish this week. Group Discussion Questions:  Describe the basic elements of human flourishing in your own words. Who is the greatest example of flourishing that you know? Does God define flourishing in the same way as the human definition?  Explain your answer.  Are you flourishing if you're not emotionally or spiritually healthy? What impact do relationships have on a person's flourishing? Can you flourish without contributing to someone else's life? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you flourish in the Gospel this week. 

Death and burial of Sarah - The Good WifeWebsite: http://www.battle4freedom.com/Network: https://www.mojo50.comStreaming: https://www.rumble.com/Battle4Freedomhttps://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes%209%3A9&version=TLVEcclesiastes 9:9Live joyously with the wife whom you love all the days of your fleeting life that He has given you under the sun during all your fleeting days—for this is your portion in life and in your toil that you labor under the sun.Genesis 23:1-2Now Sarah's life was 127 years—the years of Sarah's life. Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), in the land of Canaan. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her.Genesis 23:3-4Then Abraham rose from before his dead one and spoke to the sons of Heth saying, "I am an outsider and a sojourner among you. Give me a gravesite among you so that I may bury my dead from before my presence."Genesis 23:5-6The sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, "Listen to us, my lord. You are a prince of G_d among us. Bury your dead in the best of our graves. None among us will withhold his grave from you, to bury your dead one."Genesis 23:7-9Then Abraham got up and bowed down to the people of the land, to the sons of Heth, and spoke with them saying, "If you are of a mind to let me bury my dead from before my presence, listen to me. Plead with Ephron son of Zophar on my behalf, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him, that is at the end of his field. At the full price let him give it to me in your midst for a gravesite."Genesis 23:10-11Now Ephron was sitting in the midst of the sons of Heth. And Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the ears of the sons of Heth, all those who enter the gate of his city, saying, "No, my lord, listen to me. The field—I hereby give it to you. Also the cave that is in it—I hereby give it to you. In the eyes of the sons of my people, I hereby give it to you. Bury your dead one."Genesis 23:12-13Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land, and spoke to Ephron in the ears of the people of the land saying, "But if only you would please listen to me. I hereby give the price of the field. Accept it from me that I may bury my dead one there."Genesis 23:14-15So Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, "My lord, listen to me. A land worth 400 shekels of silver—what is that between me and you? Bury your dead one."Genesis 23:16-18Abraham heard Ephron. So Abraham weighed out to Ephron the silver that he had spoken of in the ears of the sons of Heth—400 shekels of silver at the merchant's rate. Now Ephron's field that is in Machpelah next to Mamre—the field and the cave that is in it, and all the trees that are in the field in all its surrounding territory—was handed over to Abraham as a purchased possession in the eyes of the sons of Heth, before all those who enter the gate of his city.Genesis 23:19-20Afterward, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah next to Mamre (that is, Hebron), in the land of Canaan. So the field and the cave that was in it were handed over to Abraham as a gravesite from the sons of Heth.https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2018%3A12-15&version=TLVGenesis 18:12-1512 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I've grown decrepit, can I have desire—and my lord so old?"13 Then Adonai said to Abraham, "Why is it that Sarah laughed, saying, 'Can I really give birth when I am so old?' 14 Is anything too difficult for Adonai? At the appointed time I will return to you—in about a year—and Sarah will have a son."15 Sarah denied it saying, "I didn't laugh!" For she was afraid.But He said, "No—for you did laugh."https://unsplash.com/@sadswim

No not even one - The End of InnocenceWebsite: http://www.battle4freedom.com/Network: https://www.mojo50.comStreaming: https://www.rumble.com/Battle4FreedomRomans 3:12All have turned aside; together they have become worthless. There is no one who does good—no, not even one!Genesis 181 Then Adonai appeared to him at Mamre's large trees while he was sitting in the entrance of his tent during the heat of the day. 2 When he lifted up his eyes to see, suddenly, three men were standing right by him. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed down to the ground. 3 Then he said, "My Lord, if now I have found favor in your eyes, please do not pass by your servant. 4 Please let a little water be brought so you can wash your feet, and make yourselves comfortable under the tree. 5 And let me bring a bit of bread so that you can refresh yourselves—then you can pass on—since you have passed by your servant.They said, "Do just as you have said." 6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, "Quick! Knead three measures of fine flour and prepare bread loaves!" 7 Then to the herd Abraham ran and took a young ox, tender and good, and he gave it to the servant, who prepared it quickly. 8 Then he took butter and milk and the young ox that he had prepared and set it before them. While he was standing by them under the tree, they ate.9 Then they said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?""There, in the tent," he said.10 Then He said, "I will most surely return to you in about a year's time, surprisingly, Sarah your wife will have a son."Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent, which was behind Him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years—Sarah had stopped having the way of women. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I've grown decrepit, can I have desire—and my lord so old?"13 Then Adonai said to Abraham, "Why is it that Sarah laughed, saying, 'Can I really give birth when I am so old?' 14 Is anything too difficult for Adonai? At the appointed time I will return to you—in about a year—and Sarah will have a son."15 Sarah denied it saying, "I didn't laugh!" For she was afraid.But He said, "No—for you did laugh."https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2015%3A6&version=TLVGenesis 15:6Then he believed in Adonai and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.16 Then the men got up from there and looked down over Sodom. Abraham was walking with them to send them off, 17 when Adonai said, "Should I keep secret from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham will most certainly become a great and mighty nation and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? 19 For I have made myself known to him so that he will command his sons and his household after him to keep the way of Adonai by doing righteousness and justice, so that Adonai may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him." 20 Then Adonai said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great indeed, and their sin is very grievous indeed. 21 I want to go down now, and see if they deserve destruction, as its outcry has come to Me. And if not, I will know."22 Then the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham was still standing before Adonai. 23 Abraham drew near and said, "Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you really sweep away and not spare the place for the sake of fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from You to do such a thing—to cause the righteous to die with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked share the same fate! Far be it from You! Shall the Judge of the whole world not exercise justice?"26 Then Adonai said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous people within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake."27 Then Abraham answered and said, "Look, pray, I have decided to speak to my Lord, though I am dust and ashes. 28 Suppose the fifty righteous people are lacking five. Will You destroy the whole city for lack of five?"And He said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there."29 So he spoke to Him yet again and said, "Perhaps forty will be found there?"And He said, "I will not do it for the sake of the forty."30 Then he said, "Please, let my Lord not be angry, so I may speak. Perhaps thirty will be found there?"And He said, "I will not do it if I find thirty there."31 Then he said, "Look, pray, I have decided to speak to my Lord: Perhaps twenty will be found there?"And He said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty."32 Then he said, "Please, let not my Lord be angry, so I may speak once more. Perhaps ten will be found there?"And He said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten."33 Now when He had finished speaking to Abraham, Adonai left, and Abraham returned to his place.

John 19:29–30 (ESV) A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Jesus WAS before He was BORNHe Existed Before He Was Born - John 8:53–59 (ESV) Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.' But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.He Died Before He Was Born - Revelation 13:8 (KJV) And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.Christophanies/Theophanies In The Old Testament - The Angel of The Lord // The Angel, The Lord, allows himself to be worshiped.He Is Credited For Creation - Colossians 1:15–17 (ESV) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.He Walked With Adam - Genesis 3:8 (ESV) And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.He Appeared To Abraham (several times) - Genesis 18:1–3 (ESV) And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.He Wrestled Jacob - Genesis 32:30 (ESV) So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”He Spoke Out Of The Burning Bush To Moses - Exodus 3:4 (ESV) When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”He Appeared to Joshua - Joshua 5:13-15 as the commander of the army of the Lord before the battle of Jericho.He Appeared to Gideon in Judges 6:11-24 as an angel, speaking on behalf of God.He Appeared to King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 3:25 as one like a son of God, walking with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace.He Appeared To Isaiah in Isaiah 6:1-8 when he saw a vision of God on his throne.He Appeared To Ezekiel - el throughout his book through various visions and encounters with God's glory.JESUS Was Born Fully MAN*Philippians 2:5–8 (ESV) Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.Set divinity asideHe had access but refrained.Limitations of all menBaby, vulnerableGrew in status with menTired, weary, hungry, frustrated, angryJesus' Power Came From The Holy SpiritIf Jesus was just a man, where did his power come from?Luke 3:21–22 (ESV) Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”When Jesus Did Miracles, He Wasn't “Proving Who He Was” Or “Showing Off.” He Simply Recognized Things Out Of Alignment With Heaven And Demonstrated “How To!”Your Power Comes From The Same Spirit - Romans 8:11 (ESV) If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.Was Tempted, Suffered And Crucified In Every Way By/For Sin.We are tempted/sin in every way - Body, Soul SpiritWe SIN on all Levels Jesus Suffered On All Levels, For Our SinBody - John 19:16–18 (ESV) So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.Soul - Luke 22:41–44 (ESV) And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.Spirit - Matthew 27:46 (ESV) And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”He Suffered During Temptation - Hebrews 2:18 (ESV) For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.He Did Not Sin - Hebrews 4:15 (NIV) For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.He Became Sin - 2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV) For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.He Died* John 19:29–30 (ESV) A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.John 3:14–15 (NLT) And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.

Genesis 18:1-6, 8New Living Translation18 The Lord appeared again to Abraham near the oak grove belonging to Mamre. One day Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day. 2 He looked up and noticed three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran to meet them and welcomed them, bowing low to the ground.3 “My lord,” he said, “if it pleases you, stop here for a while. 4 Rest in the shade of this tree while water is brought to wash your feet. 5 And since you've honoured your servant with this visit, let me prepare some food to refresh you before you continue on your journey.”“All right,” they said. “Do as you have said.”6 So Abraham ran back to the tent and said to Sarah, “Hurry! Get three large measures of your best flour, knead it into dough, and bake some bread.” ...8 When the food was ready, Abraham took some yogurt and milk and the roasted meat, and he served it to the men. As they ate, Abraham waited on them in the shade of the trees.Music: "Rest in the Shadow" by Julian & Melissa Wiggins,Used with permission.

Sermon on Genesis 18:1-15 titled Laughing By The Oaks of Mamre. It was preached by Pastor Brian Hough on September 15th 2024 at Manhattan Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Manhattan, Kansas. You can learn more at ManhattanPres.com

In Genesis 18: 1 we read, “The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby…”Later a conversation between them goes like this: “Where is your wife, Sarah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he said. Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said, “Yes, you did laugh” (Gen 18: 9 – 15).They say laughter is the best medicine, but Sarah's response to the Lord in this story is not one of joy or amusement. This is a laugh of disbelief, almost sarcasm, “Oh sure, that at age one hundred, I would enjoy intimacy with my husband, and that things in my very old body might start working again, like they did many moons ago, so that I may bear a child! I'm old enough to be a great, great grandmother!”What hasn't hit her yet is that we are talking about Almighty God here. Is anything too hard for the Lord?I wonder how easily you and I turn to disbelief, even sarcasm. “Oh right! (some might say) So you expect me to just ‘let go' and sail along in some bliss-filled imaginary, Christian bubble, forgetting the fact that the money is due tomorrow, and I have zero dollars in my account.” Is anything too hard for the Lord?“I have tried all those things you are talking about. They don't work. Nothing works!”Is anything too hard for the Lord?“It's funny, I used to have faith like you. I prayed all the time. I still believe of course, but in my own way. God helps those who help themselves” Is anything too hard for the Lord? No, nothing is too hard for the Lord. He can bring new life to a hundred-year-old woman, he can cause that baby to grow and eventually become a father himself. The Lord can form the generations that follow into a bigger and bigger family until they become a nation. He can mould that nation into a people he calls his own and he can birth his own substance as God incarnate, Jesus Christ, His Son right in the heart of that nation and into the middle of history.  And he can cause that Son to do something so unexpected, so profound, so universe changing as to provide salvation and new life through his willing death on the cross and then powerful resurrection from the dead. God can take a hundred-year-old lady and create children for himself so numerous as to be beyond counting. Is anything too hard for the Lord?

Remember the Goal - Obedience over SacrificeWebsite: http://www.battle4freedom.comNetwork: https://www.mojo50.comStreaming: https://www.rumble.com/Battle4Freedom1 Samuel 15:22"Does Adonai delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Adonai Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay heed than the fat of rams."https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1Sam.15.22&version=TLVhttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt5066818/Remember the Goal movie.https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2014&version=TLVGenesis 14Tree of Life Version14 Now it came about in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, 2 that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (this is Zoar). 3 All of these kings joined forces in the Valley of the Siddim (this is the Salt Sea). 4 For 12 years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer came with the kings who were with him, and they defeated the Rephaim in Ashterot-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiryataim, 6 and the Horites in the hill country of Seir as far as El-Paran, which is beside the wilderness. 7 Then they came again to En-mishpat (this is Kadesh), and they subdued all the territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who live in Hazazon-tamar.8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (this is Zoar) went out and lined themselves up for battle with them in the Valley of the Siddim, 9 against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar: four kings against five. 10 Now the Valley of the Siddim was full of tar pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them, and those who remained fled to the hills. 11 So they took all of Sodom and Gomorrah's possessions and their food and left. 12 They also took Lot, Abram's nephew, and his possessions, and they left (as he was living in Sodom).13 Then a survivor came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was dwelling by the large trees belonging to Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eschol and the brother of Aner—they were Abram's allies. 14 When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he rallied his trained men, those born in his household, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15 Then he divided his servants against them at night, and he defeated them and pursued them as far as Hovah, which is north of Damascus. 16 He brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his kinsman Lot and his possessions, as well as the women and the other people.17 Now after he returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (this is the King's Valley). 18 Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine—he was a priest of El Elyon. 19 He blessed him and said,"Blessed be Abram by El Elyon,Creator of heaven and earth,20 and blessed be El Elyon,Who gave over your enemies into your hand."Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people—the possessions take for yourself."22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I raise my hand in oath to Adonai, El Elyon, Creator of heaven and earth. 23 Not a thread or even a sandal strap of all that is yours will I take, so you will not say, 'I've made Abram rich!' 24 I claim nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me—Aner, Eschol, and Mamre—let them take their share."

Fiebig, Sebastian www.deutschlandfunk.de, Morgenandacht

The great turn about - Grace after RepentanceWebsite: http://www.battle4freedom.com/studio/?the-great-turn-aboutNetwork: https://www.mojo50.comStreaming: https://www.rumble.com/Battle4Freedomhttps://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20chronicles%207%3A14&version=CJBRepentance Rewarded2 Chronicles 7:14then, if my people, who bear my name, will humble themselves, pray, seek my face and turn from their evil ways, I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land.https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2013%3A1-4&version=CJBProdigal Son ReturnsGenesis 13:1-4Avram went up from Egypt — he, his wife and everything he had, and Lot with him — into the Negev. Avram became wealthy, with much cattle, silver and gold. As he went on his travels from the Negev, he came to Beit-El, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beit-El and 'Ai, where he had first built the altar; and there Avram called on the name of Adonai.https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2013%3A5-7&version=CJBAnchors of DisobedienceGenesis 13:5-7Lot, who was traveling with Avram, also had flocks, herds and tents. But the land could not support their living together, because their possessions were too great for them to remain together. Moreover, quarreling arose between Avram's and Lot's herdsmen. The Kena'ani and the P'rizi were then living in the land.https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%2012%3A1-3&version=CJBG_d's first command to Avram.Genesis 12:1-3Now Adonai said to Avram, "Get yourself out of your country, away from your kinsmen and away from your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, I will bless you, and I will make your name great; and you are to be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, but I will curse anyone who curses you; and by you all the families of the earth will be blessed."https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2013%3A8-9&version=CJBObedience Requires ActionGenesis 13:8-9Avram said to Lot, "Please, let's not have quarreling between me and you, or between my herdsmen and yours, since we're kinsmen. Isn't the whole land there in front of you? Please separate yourself from me — if you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left." https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2013%3A10-13&version=CJBParasites Seeking Greener GrassGenesis 13:10-13Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Yarden was well watered everywhere, before Adonai destroyed S'dom and 'Amora, like the garden of Adonai, like the land of Egypt in the direction of Tzo'ar. So Lot chose all the plain of the Yarden for himself, and Lot traveled eastward; thus they separated themselves from each other. Avram lived in the land of Kena'an; and Lot lived in the cities of the plain, setting up his tent near S'dom. Now the men of S'dom were evil, committing great sins against Adonai.https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2024%3A1&version=CJBIt all belongs to Adonai!Psalm 24:1The earth is Adonai's, with all that is in it, the world and those who live there;https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2013%3A14-17&version=CJBRecognized for ObedienceGenesis 13:14-17Adonai said to Avram, after Lot had moved away from him, "Look all around you from where you are, to the north, the south, the east and the west. All the land you see I will give to you and your descendants forever, and I will make your descendants as numerous as the specks of dust on the earth — so that if a person can count the specks of dust on the earth, then your descendants can be counted. Get up and walk through the length and breadth of the land, because I will give it to you."https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMjKcCfBtfIExamples of Grassland Restoration - Excerpt from Talk by Allan Savory at Tufts Universityhttps://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2013%3A18&version=CJBA posture of worship!Genesis 13:18Avram moved his tent and came to live by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hevron. There he built an altar to Adonai.

Study Passage: Genesis 49:29-50:1429 Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 in the cave that is in the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah— 32 the field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites.” 33 When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people. Then Joseph fell on his father's face and wept over him and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days. 4 And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5 ‘My father made me swear, saying, “I am about to die: in my tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me.” Now therefore, let me please go up and bury my father. Then I will return.'” 6 And Pharaoh answered, “Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear.” 7 So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father's household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. 9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company. 10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and grievous lamentation, and he made a mourning for his father seven days. 11 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan. 12 Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them, 13 for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. 14 After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

Preacher: Kathy Maskell Scripture: Genesis 23:1-6 Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. 2 She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her. 3 Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said, 4 “I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.” 5 The Hittites replied to Abraham, 6 “Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead.” Genesis 25:5-11 5 Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. 6 But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east. 7 Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. 8 Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. 9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, 10 the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. 11 After Abraham's death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi.

Rdz. 13 (1) Abram wyruszył więc z Egiptu wraz z żoną i całym swoim dobytkiem. Towarzyszył im także Lot. Skierowali się do Negebu. (2) Abram zaś posiadał wiele stad, srebra oraz złota. (3) Zatrzymując się po drodze, wędrował z Negebu do Betel, do miejsca, w którym obozował na początku, między Betel a Aj, (4) gdzie też zbudował swój pierwszy ołtarz i wzywał imienia PANA. (5) Lot, który wędrował z Abramem, również miał owce i bydło. Rozstawiał on własne namioty. (6) Dobytek obu stał się tak wielki, że nie mogli obozować obok siebie, brakowało na to miejsca. (7) Na tym tle doszło do sporu między pasterzami stad Abrama a pasterzami stad Lota. W kraju mieszkali wówczas Kananejczycy i Peryzyci. (8) Abram zwrócił się więc do Lota: Nie dopuśćmy do sporu między nami. Niech też nie kłócą się nasi pasterze. Ostatecznie jesteśmy braćmi. (9) Czyż cały ten kraj nie stoi przed tobą otworem? Rozstańmy się. Jeśli zechcesz pójść w lewo, ja udam się w prawo, a jeśli postanowisz iść w prawo, ja wyruszę w lewo. (10) Lot podniósł oczy i przyjrzał się obszarom nad Jordanem. A działo się to, zanim PAN zniszczył Sodomę i Gomorę. Cały ten okręg, aż po Soar, był dobrze nawodniony, niczym ogród PANA, niczym ziemia egipska. (11) Lot wybrał więc okręg nadjordański i wyruszył na wschód — tak się ze sobą rozstali. (12) Abram zamieszkał w ziemi kananejskiej, a Lot trzymał się miast nadjordańskich i rozbijał namioty aż po Sodomę, (13) miasto, którego mieszkańcy byli bardzo zepsuci i grzeszni w stosunku do PANA. (14) Po odejściu Lota PAN powiedział do Abrama: Podnieś oczy i z miejsca, w którym jesteś, spójrz na północ, na południe, na wschód i na zachód. (15) Całą tę ziemię, którą widzisz, dam tobie i twojemu potomstwu — na wieki. (16) Uczynię też twoje potomstwo niczym proch ziemi. Trudno będzie je zliczyć, tak jak trudno jest zliczyć proch ziemi. (17) Wstań, przejdź tę ziemię wzdłuż i wszerz, bo właśnie tobie ją dam. (18) Wtedy Abram zwinął namioty i przybył zamieszkać pośród dębów Mamre pod Hebronem. Tam też zbudował ołtarz PANU. Nauczanie z dnia 28 lipca 2024

“The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give back my people who were captured. But you may keep for yourself all the goods you have recovered.” Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I solemnly swear to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, that I will not take so much as a single thread or sandal thong from what belongs to you. Otherwise you might say, ‘I am the one who made Abram rich.' I will accept only what my young warriors have already eaten, and I request that you give a fair share of the goods to my allies—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre.” - ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭14‬:‭21‬-‭24‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Big Idea: The Rebirth of a Nation. In the Beginning: Jacob Genesis 35:16-29 CSB I. What's in a name?   16-20 They set out from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult. During her difficult labor, the midwife said to her, "Don't be afraid, for you have another son." With her last breath-for she was dying-she named him Ben-oni (son of my sorrow), but his father called him Benjamin (son of my right hand). So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). Jacob set up a marker on her grave; it is the marker at Rachel's grave still today. II. A blessed and dysfunctional family.   21-26 Israel set out again and pitched his tent beyond the Tower of Eder. While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father's concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons: Leah's sons were Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. Rachel's sons were Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Rachel's slave Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali. The sons of Leah's slave Zilpah were Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram. III. Celebration of life.   27-29 Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. Isaac lived 180 years. He took his last breath and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him. Next Steps:  Believe: I need a rebirth of the Holy Spirit to change my heart. Become: Today I will not let strife and contention separate me from the things of Christ. Be Sent: I want a renewed interest in experiencing God this week. Group Discussion Questions:  Do you think a rebirth is needed in our world today? If so, how do you think it should be done? How does God's affirmation of renaming Jacob to Israel reflect God's faithfulness to Abraham's descendants? How does Jacob's situation challenge us to balance obedience to God with managing complex family relationships and personal challenges? How does God's command to Jacob to build altars inspire us to create space for worship in our lives? How do you handle the emotions of joy and sorrow, as Jacob did upon the birth of Benjamin and the death of Rachel? How can we lean on God's faithfulness in times of personal and family trials? Pray for a spiritual regeneration of the body of Christ in a chaotic world.

Enjoy this fantastic teaching offered by Angie Barker-Jackson, built around the story of God visiting Abraham under the trees of Mamre. Profound insights here!

Planet X / Asteroid and Effects (2) (audio) David Eells 5/17/24 (David's notes in red where applicable) Please follow along these updates as things unfolded. Please notice what would have happened except for the mercy, grace and Love of God that has just been revealed. For that I am very happy. We are going to cover, what was, would have been, and will be. (Note: I was told by the Lord not to warn of this until told to.) I was shown by the Lord on 3-27-24 that: *”An asteroid will show up beside the Sun on 4-15-24.” (President Trump, Whom we were in contact with, said their astronomers confirmed this came to pass.) *”The asteroid will be 10 days ahead of Planet X - Nibiru.” *”Planet X will show up beside the Sun 4-25-24” (because it is front and side lighted by the Sun). “It will show best at 4pm EDT and it will look like a star on the left side of the Sun.” (Moments after that time we saw it.) (On 4-25-24: Michael and I had one pair of these paper and plastic eclipse glasses passing them back and forth. We saw the same thing at the 8 o'clock position on the Sun and very close to the Sun but we think we were only seeing the half of it that was facing the Sun because it was lighted. I have heard that infrared would show the whole thing. At one point I could barely see 3 very small dots positioned on the face and edge of the Sun in a semicircle facing this thing at the 8 o'clock position. I thought it could be orbitals or moons of P-X, which we have had dreams of. They soon disappeared as they moved and were no longer in front of the Sun. President Trump was watching too as He spoke with us.  He said their astronomers said, “It is there”.  I asked President Trump if he would try to get us professional pictures and He said he would try. After leaving the Sun it will be hard to see until its closer and far bigger to our view. Possibly because infrared is needed to see it in space.) The Lord said, “The powers that be will attempt to cloud up the sky but the angels will sweep the clouds away.” (This is exactly what happened as we all watched.) The Sun was clear and distinct, like I haven't seen it in a long time, and it was with clear sky. Usually it's so diffused with the garbage they spray in our atmosphere you can't make it out. Shortly after we saw what we did the clouds moved back in.) So we could have just got our 40 day warning like Jonah, who said, “In 40 days Nineveh will be destroyed.” We will revisit this later. *”The asteroid will hit earth 40 days from first sighting on 5-25-24.” (This is the same day years ago, 5-25, that Virginia Boldea saw 3 pieces hit the earth in her revelation.) *”Planet X will fly by earth 40 days after the first sighting on 6-4-24, hence a 40 day warning.” *Update: The Lord said, “P-X would eventually fly 10 times faster than earth does in its orbit.”  However this is very slow for P-X. The Lord said, “When P-X was attempting to leave the Sun, its gravity was pulling it back causing it to begin to slow down. The Lord said, “It is not escaping the gravity but will turn and fall into orbit around the Sun.” So P-X is leaving its orbital plane and joining the Sun's orbitals plane. Later He said, “The orbit will be between Earth and Venus.” I asked President Trump if his astronomers see that P-X was turning to fall into orbit. He said, “Yes, it is.”  I asked the Lord if the timings we were given at the first will still be right and He said, “Yes.” So it could orbit the Sun once at a greater speed and will come up 10 days behind the asteroid as P-X affects the earth. I believe P-X is constantly slowing down and eventually would settle into orbit, as the Lord said, at a speed of 10 times that of earth, Which would make an orbit in approximately 36 ½  days. It would orbit the Sun many times for 3 ½  years of the Tribulation. The Dragon beast lasted for 3 ½ years of the tribulation. Could the P-X Dragon do the same? Before God's mercy and grace just revealed I believe so. The Damage Has Been Seen The Lord said, “This is a direct result of P-X.” Indeed, P-X was passing by in orbit when this erupted.  Fri. 10 May 2024 Catastrophic Solar Storm Threatens Earth: The Biggest Solar Storm in Years Approaches, Threatening Our Electric World! Disruptions to Mobile Phones, GPS, and Power Systems Nationwide expected. (NOAA) has issued a Severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm Watch, the first since 2005 Geomagnetic Storm upgraded to G5 - the strongest level available and the first G5 level storm to strike Earth since October 2003. The most powerful solar storm in the  last two decades recently hit Earth. This event was caused by a group of sunspots about 16  times the size of Earth. They released several X-class solar flares and coronal mass ejections directly toward our planet. These solar emissions led to severe geomagnetic storms, ranked at the highest intensity level of G5, marking the most intense storms since the 2003 Halloween storms. Elon Musk noted that the Starlink satellite service was experiencing issues due to the storm. He wrote on the social platform X that its satellites were "under a lot of pressure but holding up so far." The storms also disrupted power grids, GPS systems, and high-frequency communications in certain areas. These events suggest that the solar maximum, a period of peak solar activity in the Sun's 11-year cycle, might arrive earlier than anticipated. As the Sun's magnetic field flips, we can expect more geomagnetic storms in the coming months. They could further disrupt radio  communications and electrical infrastructure. The reason behind the recent solar storm is the sunspot group named AR 3664. … The AR 3664 cluster rotated  into view of Earth a few days ago. At that time, it looked fairly normal. But then, it grew quickly to become 16.times as wide as our planet. Spanning 200,000  km or 125,000 miles, it became one of the largest sunspots of the current solar cycle. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center issued warnings of increased solar flare risk from AR  3664 at the beginning of the month. AR 3664 emitted a total of 75 M-class flares and 10 X-class flares within a week, accounting  for 50% of the X-class flares this year. ..     Geomagnetic storms can have significant  impacts on our electrical power grids and satellite infrastructure. … This can cause transformers to become saturated and overheat. Specifically, transformers may fail. In severe cases, these issues can result in large-scale blackouts. … In 2022, a flare from the Sun resulted in the loss  of 40 newly launched Starlink satellites. Currently, the sunspot group known as AR 3664 has moved behind the Sun's disk, (May 11th) making it temporarily invisible from Earth. This means that any solar emissions from this group will not affect our planet for the next two weeks. Based on past behaviors observed in sunspots, there is a possibility that this group could remain active once it becomes visible again. Just before it rotated out of view, on May 11, AR 3664 produced significant solar activity, including …  a much larger X 5.8 flare, the latter of which was associated with a CME. This activity suggests that AR 3664 could still produce more solar flares in the future and indicates that its cycle of activity isn't over yet.   AR 3664 is no ordinary sunspot. It's so big that it can be seen from Earth without magnification. The size of AR 3664 is comparable to the sunspot that caused the Carrington Event in 1859…   From history & science of P-X what COULD happen? *It could cause extreme earthquakes and tsunamis to cross America and the world, CME's, all of which we have been warned of. *It could cause an earth tide and slip the crust on the mantle which could bring earthquakes around the world as it turns before this extreme gravitational planet. *It could draw the South Pole towards it pointing the northern hemisphere into darkness for a few days. *It could slow earth's rotation causing the equatorial waters to rush north and south. This is because the earth spins at over 1000 mph causing a bulge at the equator. The 13+ miles of extra feet of earth and water held at the equator would flood the earth. *Earth's orbit would eventually bring it through Planet X's tail as it leaves, which is full of asteroids, meteorites and boulders and this would cause fireballs to rain on earth for about an hour or more depending on the angle of departure. (I am not an astronomer, as you can see, and I claim no titles, I just want to obey the Lord, and for people to be spared to be a part of the coming revival in tribulation and I know this will now happen. I will explain.) *President Trump confirmed that these specific dates are within the boundaries of the government astronomers calculations, which I did not know. *The first confirmation by President Trump, was that the asteroid did appear by the Sun on 4-15-24, as I told him it would. *He agreed that if the 10 days between the Asteroid and Planet X were correct, that Planet X would show up next to the Sun on 4-25-24. The Lord said, “It will look like a star on the left side of the sun,” and a very huge Sun it is. As we saw, It showed up, confirmed by his astronomers! *We have received many dreams that an asteroid would enter the atmosphere and break into 3 pieces. One piece will hit the North American Plate's southern boundary, causing a huge slip fault, which could shake the United States fault lines loose. P-X is only 10 days behind this and would be adding to the earthquake, volcanic, CME, and tsunami troubles. *Our dreams, which were five, have said that an East Coast Faultline that goes from New York through Washington DC, to Alabama to the Gulf will be the first to quake, then to the New Madrid fault to split the country and dump the Great Lakes. Then it will go out to the West Coast and simultaneously back to Tennessee. *Dreams and revelations can be delayed by repentance as it was with Nineveh or just for a plea of Mercy as it was with Amos. At any rate, those who repent will be spared. Reasonable Comments: *Do not move by fear of this revelation. Fear is faith in reverse. Fear only God. Seek the Lord for His directions for you and trust Him. *Angels would remove some people from dangerous areas. We would see water in places never before seen in our lifetime. Seek high ground as the Lord leads. The Military used to advise their retirees to settle at least 400 feet above sea level. *People should be gone from the East Coast, Gulf Coast, New Madrid Zone, Mississippi River Valley, and the West Coast before 5-25-24! Don't wait until there is a bottle neck or you won't get out. I have seen many sit through hurricanes stuck in their vehicles on the interstate because they waited too late to leave the Gulf Coast. Tsunami's are far more deadly. I-95 bridge and Galveston bridge were destroyed, being prepared as a death trap for those waiting too late, as the Lord revealed to others. * Those of you on the West Coast of Africa and Europe; beware of tsunami's. God will use these two catastrophes to judge the wicked! (Make sure you are not one of them.) Confess your sins according to (1Jn 1:9)  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  Ask the Lord to save you and fill you with His Holy Spirit. The Man-child reformer ministry is coming to lead us through the wilderness created by these things.   Ancient History of Planet X   The Kolbrin Bible - 21st Century Master Edition - (Thanks to Marshall Masters for letting us read from the Kolbrin) Comprised of 11 books, the first 6 were written by Egyptian academics and scribes after the Exodus. The five remaining books were penned by the Celtic priests of early Britain after the death of Jesus. (What we see in these historic writings is a flyby which is worse than an orbit passing. Flyby is the last encounter before P-X goes back into outer space. We are already seeing God's mercy, Nineveh.) Egyptian Historians {Manuscripts 3:1} Men forget the days of the Destroyer. Only the wise know where it went and that it will return in its appointed hour. {2} ... It was as a billowing cloud of smoke enwrapped in a ruddy glow, not distinguishable in joint or limb. Its mouth was an abyss from which came flame, smoke and hot cinders. {3} When ages pass, certain laws operate upon the stars in the Heavens. Their ways change; there is movement and restlessness, they are no longer constant and a great light appears redly in the skies. {4} When blood drops upon the Earth, the Destroyer will appear, and mountains will open up and belch forth fire and ashes. Trees will be destroyed and all living things engulfed. Waters will be swallowed up by the land, and seas will boil. ... {6} The people will scatter in madness. They will hear the trumpet and battle-cry (It makes noise) of the DESTROYER and will seek refuge within dens in the Earth. Terror will eat away their hearts, and their courage will flow from them like water from a broken pitcher. They will be eaten up in the flames of wrath and consumed by the breath of the DESTROYER. ... {9} ...the hour of the DESTROYER is at hand. {10} In those days, men will have the Great Book before them [upon its return], wisdom will be revealed, the few will be gathered for the stand, it is the hour of trial. The dauntless ones (the stouthearted) will survive ... {Manuscripts 5:1} ... IT TWISTED ABOUT ITSELF LIKE A COIL ... It was not a great comet or a loosened star, being more like a fiery body of flame. ... {4} This was the aspect of the DOOMSHAPE called the DESTROYER, when it appeared in days long gone by, in olden times... {5} The DOOMSHAPE is like a circling ball of flame which scatters small fiery offspring in its train. It covers about a fifth part of the sky and sends writhing, snakelike fingers down to Earth ... {Manuscripts 6:1} THE DARK DAYS BEGAN WITH THE LAST VISITATION OF THE DESTROYER ... foretold by strange omens in the skies... {3} These were days of ominous calm, when the people waited for they knew not what ... {5} The days of stillness were followed by a time when the noise of trumpeting and shrilling was heard in the Heavens ... {6} The people spoke of the god of the slaves (The Hebrews at the Passover, Red Sea, etc.)... His manifestation was in the Heavens for all men to see, but they did not see with understanding ... {11} Dust and smoke clouds darkened the sky and colored the waters upon which they fell with a bloody hue. Plague was throughout the land, the river was bloody and blood was everywhere [red ash mixed with water]. {12} In the glow of the DESTROYER the Earth was filled with redness. Vermin bred and filled the air and face of the Earth with loathsomeness. {13} ... THE FACE OF THE LAND WAS BATTERED AND DEVASTATED BY A HAIL OF STONES WHICH SMASHED DOWN ALL THAT STOOD IN THE PATH OF THE TORRENT ... {Manuscripts 6:14} The fish of the river died in the polluted waters; worms, insects and reptiles sprang up from the Earth in huge numbers. Great gusts of wind brought swarms of locusts which covered the sky ... {15} The darkness was not the clean blackness of night, but a thick darkness in which the breath of men was stopped in their throats. Men gasped in a hot cloud of vapor which enveloped all the land and snuffed out all lamps and fires ... {16} The Earth turned over [during a pole shift], as clay spun upon a potter's wheel. The whole land was filled with uproar from the thunder of the DESTROYER ... {19} On the great night of the DESTROYER's wrath ... there was a hail of rocks ... {21} The land writhed under the wrath of the DESTROYER and groaned with the agony of Egypt. It shook itself ... {22} There were nine days of darkness and upheaval, while a tempest raged such as never had been known before ... {24} The slaves spared by the DESTROYER left the accursed land forthwith. Many Egyptians attached themselves to the host, for one who was great led them forth, a priest prince (Moses) of the inner courtyard. {25} Fire mounted up on high and its burning left with the enemies of Egypt. It rose up from the ground as a fountain and hung as a curtain in the sky. {26} In seven days, by Remwar the accursed ones journeyed to the waters. (Seven days is accurate to the Red Sea) They crossed the heaving wilderness while the hills melted around them; above, the skies were torn with lightning ... {28} Pharaoh had gathered his army and followed the slaves ... {30} The host of Pharaoh came upon the slaves by the saltwater shores, but was held back from them by a breath of fire. A great cloud was spread over the hosts and darkened the sky …{31} A whirlwind arose in the East and swept over the encamped hosts ... There was a strange silence and then, in the gloom, it was seen that the waters had parted, leaving a passage between ... {32} The slaves had been making sacrifices in despair ... Then, in exaltation, their leader [Moses] led them into the midst of the waters through the confusion ... {35} Then the fury departed and there was silence ... the captains went forward and the host rose up behind them ... Pharaoh fought against the hindmost of the slaves ... {37} ... The Heavens roared as with a thousand thunders, the bowels of the Earth were sundered and Earth shrieked its agony... The dry ground fell beneath the waters and great waves broke upon the shore …{38} The great surge of rocks and waters overwhelmed the chariots of the Egyptians who went before the footmen. ... {39} Tidings of the disaster came back by Rageb, son of Thomat, who hastened on ahead of the terrified survivors because of his burning ... {40} The broken land lay helpless and invaders came out of the gloom like carrion ... {46} ... The air was purified, the breath of the DESTROYER passed away and the land became filled again with growing things... {Gleanings 6:30} ... One hundred generations had passed since the overwhelming deluge and ten generations since The DESTROYER last appeared. {Creation 3:2} ...God caused a [celestial] DRAGON from out of Heaven to come and encompass her about ... The seas were loosened from their cradles and rose up, pouring across the land [creating giant tsunamis] ... {3} Men, stricken with terror, went mad at the awful sight in the Heavens. The breath was sucked from their bodies and they were burnt with a strange ash. {4} Then it passed, leaving Earth enwrapped within a dark and glowering mantle, which was ruddily lit up inside. The bowels of the Earth were torn open in great writhing upheavals ... {5} The Earth vomited forth great gusts of foul breath from awful mouths opening up in the midst of the land. The evil breath bit at the throat before it drove men mad and killed them ... {8} ... only sky boulders and red earth remained where once they were but amidst all the desolation a few survived, for man is not easily destroyed ... {10} Then the great canopy of dust and cloud, which encompassed the Earth, enshrouding it in heavy darkness, was pierced by ruddy light, and the canopy swept down in great cloudbursts and raging storm-waters ... {11} When the light of the sun pierced the Earth's shroud ... The foul air was purified and new air clothed the REBORN EARTH, shielding her from the dark hostile void of Heaven. {12} The rainstorms ceased to beat upon the faces of the land and the waters stilled their turmoil. Earthquakes no longer tore the Earth open, nor was it burned and buried by hot rocks ... {13} The waters were purified, the sediment sank and life increased in abundance ... The sun was not as it had been and a moon had been taken away ... {14} Man found the NEW EARTH firm and the Heavens fixed. He rejoiced but also feared, for he lived in dread that the Heavens would again bring forth monsters and crash about him. {15} When men came forth from their hiding places and refuges, the world their fathers had known was gone forever. The face of the land was changed...when the structure of Heaven collapsed ... {Creation 4:5} Then ... God caused a sign to appear in the Heavens, so that men should know the Earth would be afflicted, and the sign was a STRANGE STAR. {6} THE STAR grew and waxed to a great brightness and was awesome to behold. IT PUT FORTH HORNS and sang, being unlike any other ever seen ... {Scrolls 33:12} Great Mistress of the stars, let us abide in peace, for we fear the REVELATION OF YOUR HORNS ... {Origins 8:3} ... THEY WORSHIPPED IN ERROR, THE MALIGNANT HORNED STAR AND HER ESCORTS ... In his 1999 book Exodus to Arthur, Mike Ballie {wrote} "... Lydus, was in the opinion that if the Earth ever again ran into Typhon, the former would be destroyed in the encounter ... there were close associations between the plagues of the Exodus and the phenomena associated with Typhon". Typhon was the Destroyer of the Exodus. Yes; during its last fly-by, Typhon affected Earth by nudging it into a slightly larger orbit around the sun.... So, five days had to be added to the calendar! ... (Which he points out was commonly 360 days as it was with the Hebrews) The Destroyer was known as...: 'Nibiru' by the Sumerians 'Destroyer' by the Egyptians and Hebrews 'Phaeton' by the Greeks 'Typhon' by Pliny 'Frightener' by the Celts Did you notice this: “Lydus, was in the opinion that if the Earth ever again ran into Typhon, the former would be destroyed in the encounter.”  The Earth would be destroyed? But the earth has to have a Tribulation to manifest the sons of God. Accordingly, The Lord just said to me, “I will destroy both P-X and the asteroid.” I was told “The asteroid will veer off into space. P-X will not make the first complete orbit to return.” I don't know how this would happen. Would it dive into the Sun or would solar flares and CME's take it out??   Let me share with you what brought us to this point. After Planet X / Asteroid and Effects (1), I was somewhat grieved that we tried but were not able to reach the people in harm's way, especially the Islands and coasts with this warning. No doubt some on our e-list reached relatives and friends but most would not listen or consider this sort of thing, which is normal lost human behavior. These are the people we want to live to see the wonderful revival about to start.   The Lord had just given me a teaching of Abraham interceding for Lot and family when the angels came to Sodom to bring them out so God could destroy the evil sodomites of the plain. God heard Abraham's request because of his friendship and reasoning of justice for the few righteous, so God had mercy. Also the angels were going to destroy Zoar like all the rest of the cities and for the same reason. But God had mercy on those pagans for the sake of Lot's little family going there.   Everyone wonders why did all of the Assyrians listen to Jonah, a Jew, when they had a different God and were enemies of the Jews. Some have the theory that when they looked up they saw P-X come up beside the Sun, and it was 40 days away, so they believed Jonah when he said, “In 40 days Nineveh will be destroyed.   The President had the military spread out to defend about 300 to 360 cities from the anarchists. And they are spread all over the world fighting the DS rulers. They would be needed to do evacuations and many would not cooperate to leave. He considered Tucker getting the Word out but he still would have to stop the war at a very bad time. But God ultimately brought the only solution.   In part (1) I heard that the President would back off from the GCR redistribution of wealth because the money would be needed to restore vital services after P-X and the asteroid came through. When I spoke to him of this he confirmed it. And immediately the GCR went on the back burner. Then more recently after the update above, which movements were confirmed by the President's Astronomers, the GCR got hot again. So I asked the Lord what happened and he said, “I took P-X out of his mind.” So I contacted him and he told me the same thing with the same words. President Trump said, “David I don't know what happened, P-X was just taken out of my mind.” So when I questioned the Lord He said, “I will destroy both P-X and the asteroid.”   Jonah said for God, “In 40 days Nineveh will be destroyed,” but it wasn't. Amos had the same experience with God. The people repented and God had mercy. Years ago in a vivid dream I saw myself standing over the Gulf of Mexico looking down on the U.S. whose borders had sides like a swimming pool. The inside was full of water with fish swimming everywhere. I looked up Nineveh which was the head of the Assyrian Beast Empire which matched the U.S. being the head of the world beast. Nineveh was written ideographically as a fish in an enclosure. There was a huge bomb hanging above the U.S./Nineveh by a string with a bow tied in it. Obviously, we were in great danger of judgment. It did not fall and I knew it was the delay of judgment. But now I am seeing that it was prophetically also speaking of mercy in this time.  But it is always possible that Father gives you individually mercy. This will be a Psalm 91 Passover for the Saints. Of course, this is grace and absolutely wonderful news.   Some might say, But David you made such a good case that God would use P-X to take down the DS enemy. But the collateral damage and death would be tremendous. Whereas one angel took out 185,000 men in one night and there was no collateral death. In George Washington's vision of three wars here the first two were exactly right and the third we are fighting now. In this war the patriots were out gunned by the invaders but the angels came beside them and they conquered the invaders. This is God's solution, The angels will take down the invaders in every nation when the chastening is sufficient, with no collateral damage.   Some say they saw the Rev. 12 sign in the heavens on Sep.23, 2017. In that case Saturn was seen as the Dragon. Saturn is also a type of Satan. In the Rev 12 scenario, Satan is the Dragon Beast who has a body made up of people, seven heads and ten horns. If this sign has come up since then I don't know.  I haven't been keeping up with it. The star software's would not show this planetary system anyway for its head is a rogue sister to our Sun that is not admitted by the powers that be since they first discovered it and bragged about it. They quickly backtracked so they could make it to their bunkers without us. The Man-child mentioned in the sign is a corporate world-wide body of people just like the woman, the harlot, the beast, the false prophet, etc.. The Lord showed me that the history of the early Church must repeat but on a larger scale with many more people as the actors. Like Moses and Jesus these Man-childs are a first-fruits body of reformers that will lead the Church through the wilderness tribulation. {Rev. 12:1} And a great sign was seen in heaven: a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars (Doctrine of the 12 apostles.); {2} and she was with child; and she crieth out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered. {3} And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon (This is the Dragon Beast but look at the parallel. NASA called the planetary system, of which P-X is a part of, the Nemesis system. Nemesis means - one that inflicts retribution or vengeance. Nemesis is the central solar planet of this system, which never reached nuclear ability. We are a binary, two star system like almost all systems seen. The DS doesn't want you to see these things so you won't from them. It also needs infrared to be seen and is very far away except for P-X, which goes through our solar system.) Please understand this:  There are two Dragons. One is the historic P-X Dragon. The other is the end time Dragon Beast in Rev 12 identified as the body of Satan. That body has seven heads, identified in the Bible as seven world ruling beasts who ruled over God's people and whose seed are all with us in the end time. It also had ten horns representing ten continental divisions of the world. In short it is the whole world in Satan but outside of Christ. These two Dragons have a symbolic relationship as we will see. Notice in our text of Rev 12:3 that the Dragon Beast is being called the “great red dragon” and that is because there is a lesser red dragon. Our Rev 12 context goes on to say, having seven heads (Notice the two Beasts in symbolism are related. Nemesis has 7 orbitals - the outermost one is Planet X, which passes through our solar system. It is the lesser red dragon, and is called this because it is a head of the dragon body.) and ten horns (It was called the Horned Planet by the ancient historians because it appears to have horns or wings as it flies through space.), and upon his heads seven diadems. {4} And his tail draweth the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth The P-X Dragon tail is full of asteroids, meteors, and boulders which look like stars falling to earth when earth passes through it. The Greek word for “star” here is aster from which we get the word asteroid. Physically speaking, If one star fell to the earth, that would be the end of earth. (Watching the stars on the horizon as A pole/crustal shift of 1/3 turn of the earth happens, which also speaks of 1/3 the stars as the seed of Abraham falling away. A pole shift can return to its original position after P-X is gone but the crustal shift will stay and we personally will be closer to the equator when it's over. Continuing with {4}… and the dragon standeth before the woman that is about to be delivered (The Dragon Beast opposes the Woman Church.), that when she is delivered he may devour her child. {5} And she was delivered of a son, a man-child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and unto his throne. {6} And the woman fled into the wilderness (The woman Church is going into the wilderness tribulation chased by the Dragon Beast at the beginning of Rev.12, which is the beginning of the first 3 ½ years and the Dragon Beast with seven heads and ten horns only lasts 3 ½ years for Rev.13 starts the second 3 ½ years, which is the non-descript Beast, now with the seven heads and ten horns and the dragon is gone. Would the P-X Dragon also last that long. Thankfully, because of the grace of God, we now know it will not.), where she hath a place prepared of God, that there they may nourish her a thousand two hundred and threescore days.  So I asked the Lord if there would still be earthquakes and got a Yes. I asked if the other dates that were also associated with promises still be right and got a Yes. I asked if the angels were taking down the factious in Church and state who are not elect and got, Magnificently. The bad news is, we are now headed towards civil war. Rev 6:4 And another horse came forth, a red horse: and to him that sat thereon it was given to take peace from the earth, and that they should slay one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. Ministering Angels David Eells – 5/19/24 Heb 1:13-14 But of which of the angels hath he said at any time, Sit thou on my right hand, Till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet?  14  Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation? (Who relates best to angels and needs the most angels? What is their ministry and service to us?)   (John was told the heavenly Jerusalem was the Bride coming down out of heaven. And here they are fellowshipping with innumerable hosts of angels.)  Heb 12:22 but ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels. (Who relates best to the angels who lead the obedient Christians to the Bride city of God?)   Deu 7:20 Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee by the way (I asked Baruch, whom the Lord said was the head of the UBM angels, Are you this angel to me? He said, Yes. Many times the enemy has tried to harm or even kill me but like Psa 91 says he keeps us from injury. My angel, Baruch, has saved me many times. And what is this angel for?), and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. (He keeps us and brings us to our promised land, physical and spiritual. I.e. conquering our flesh man and his spirits until we have rest from our enemies as we obey God through him. Let's see..)    21 Take ye heed before him, and hearken unto his voice; provoke him not (As we will see, If we don't listen to him, he is provoked.); for he will not pardon your transgression: (He will spank us when we do not listen. Sometimes people call this an accident but it is not.) for my name is in him (Name means the nature, character and authority of the Lord is in Him. He represents the Lord to you and must be respected.). 22 But if thou shalt indeed hearken unto his voice, and do all that I speak (Notice: God speaks to us through His angel who speaks to us through our conscience and and to give direction from the Lord. Many “entertain angels unawares”. Satan tells the wicked that angels don't converse with men, which flies in the face of the whole Bible. These people don't believe in angels because they speak against them and their sins, which they witness every day. So if we listen to the Lord through His angel, God goes on to say >); then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. (We are always to try the spirits to see if they agree with the Word.)    23 For mine angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: and I will cut them off.  (He cuts off the old man of our land and the factious enemies who attempt to deceive, control, and spiritually or physically harm us. The Lord said to me, “A Christian who falls into faction no longer has a good angel but is under fallen angels or demons as Hermas' revelation says. And of course the enemies cannot match wits nor power with God's angels.) 24 Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, (I.e. Do not serve the lusts of their demons) nor do after their works; but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and break in pieces their pillars.    25 And ye shall serve Jehovah your God, and he will bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. 26  There shall none cast her young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil. 27 I will send my terror before thee (We just read that our angel is before us), and will discomfit (Meaning: To confuse, scatter, frustrate the plans of, embarrass, defeat) all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee. (Meaning, they will run from us for they are uncomfortable around us.) 28 And I will send the hornet before thee,(Notice Father will send - the angel, terror, and the hornet, which is also terror, before us against our enemies. The angel will manifest terror and fear to our enemies. The Lord has spoken to me several times concerning the faction saying, “They fear you David.” One reason for this is because they have seen what the Lord's angels have done to destroy them and their friends. We are always sad to see this and pray they will repent and be saved but we have no authority to wrestle with flesh and blood. We can only agree with the Lord so they should fear HIM.) which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.    (Notice the human enemies and their god's, the fallen angels, cannot stand before the Angels of God when we are in obedience. Psa 103:20-21 Bless Jehovah, ye his angels, That are mighty in strength, that fulfil his word, Hearkening unto the voice of his word.  21  Bless Jehovah, all ye his hosts, Ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.)   29 I will not drive them out from before thee in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply against thee. (Father keeps us humble by giving us an enemy so we are not lifted up by pride and are dependent and submissive to Him. Satan was very proud of his beauty and authority and became puffed up wanting to take God's place or usurp authority. Every factious person receives witchcraft, faction, and slander. This witchcraft is rebellion and attempts to domineer others.)    30 By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, (This method of driving the enemies out keeps us humble and dependent on God.) until thou be increased, and inherit the land. (The land here is twofold; the natural land that the Lord has promised us will be rid of the enemies. And the spiritual land of the natural man must be delivered from the lusts of the flesh.) 31 … for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand: and thou shalt drive them out before thee. 32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. (I.e. Have no agreement with their idols and unfruitful works of darkness. Shun them as commanded or they will leaven you.)    33 They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me; for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee. (Fortunately they always run to their own kind when discovered. 2Jn 1:10-11  If any one cometh unto you, and bringeth not this teaching, receive him not into your house, and give him no greeting:  11  for he that giveth him greeting partaketh in his evil works. Notice: even a greeting can cause you to be infected with their demons.) (Angels appeared to bring promises to Abraham and to hear his requests.) Gen 18:1 And Jehovah appeared unto him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; 2 and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood over against him (As we will see one was the Lord and two were angels and all were manifest in apparent flesh.): and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth, 3 and said, My lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: 4 let now a little water be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: 5 and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and strengthen ye your heart; after that ye shall pass on: forasmuch as ye are come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said. (So here we see that Abraham spoke to the Lord and the angels and they answered him. The factious agree we can't talk to angels but they talk to and hear from fallen angels.) 6 And Abraham hastened… (to prepare a meal for them which they ate.)…10 And he said, I will certainly return unto thee when the season cometh round; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. …12 And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? 13 And Jehovah said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, who am old? 14 Is anything too hard for Jehovah? (The Lord and His angels object to unbelief.) …16 And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. 17 And Jehovah said, Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do; (Obviously not, and because he raised his children who came after him to know and follow the Lord as we see here.) 18 seeing that Abraham had surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?   19 For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Jehovah, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. (Fathers gave charges to their children after them and when they obeyed they received the promises.) 20 And Jehovah said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; (As we will see they were full of lust and were sexual perverts just as many in the faction in church and state are now.) 21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. 22 And the men turned from thence, and went toward Sodom (The two angels went to judge Sodom.): but Abraham stood yet before Jehovah (The Lord was distinguished from the other two “men”.). 23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou consume the righteous with the wicked? (Abraham who was called “God's friend” reasoned with Him. He still listens to His friends.) 24 Peradventure there are fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? 25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from thee: shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (The Lord listened to His faithful friend.) 26 And Jehovah said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake. (Abraham was pretty nervy and not satisfied until got the Lord down to ten but because he was a faithful friend the Lord listened.. and probably did what He planned to do all along. There weren't 10 righteous there but He spared them. :0) 33 And Jehovah went his way, as soon as he had left off communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place. Gen 19:1 And the two angels (So the Lord left the judgment to the angels.) came to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face to the earth; 2 and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn aside, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, (He knew the city and the predators. We warn of the predators too.) and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your way. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. (Do you suppose they wanted him to see that He shouldn't live and raise children in such a place? Neither should we have fellowship with predators.) 3 And he urged them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.  4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; (Young and old, all were demonized perverted predators like we have known and they pass it on to their whole families.)  5 and they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men that came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. 6 And Lot went out unto them to the door, and shut the door after him. 7 And he said, I pray you, my brethren, do not so wickedly. 8 Behold now, I have two daughters that have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing, forasmuch as they are come under the shadow of my roof. (Lot didn't know the power of God over these devils or this would not have been an alternative.)  9 And they said, Stand back. And they said, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. (They accused him of judging them and rightly so. So they admitted they would do evil to them all and that was because they had no conscience just as it is today.) And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and drew near to break the door. 10 But the men (angels) put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. 11 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness (They are all smitten with spiritual blindness justifying themselves.), both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door. 12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whomsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of the place: (So the angels were going to spare their relatives and friends from the destruction of Sodom. All such places shall be judged. The angels can get your relatives, friends and Christians out of there before it happens.) 13 for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxed great before Jehovah: and Jehovah hath sent us to destroy it. 14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons-in-law, who married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for Jehovah will destroy the city. But he seemed unto his sons-in-law as one that mocked. (It seems they had become leavened by that evil place. Get out and don't raise children and grandchildren in such a place.) 15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters that are here (The others didn't believe or leave.), lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. 16 But he lingered; and the men (angels) laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters, Jehovah being merciful unto him; and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. (The angels didn't take NO for an answer because of the promise of the Lord to Abraham and because of Lot.) 17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the Plain (I.e. Pray for them but separate from among the perverted people or be destroyed with them. Don't look back in pity upon them. God is their enemy and yours.); escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. (Flee to the heavenly places above this world.)  18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my lord: 19 behold now, thy servant hath found favor (grace) in thy sight, (Did his wife count on this false grace when she willfully disobeyed and looked back?) and thou hast magnified thy lovingkindness, which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain (God saved him and he was still self-willed. He felt he couldn't reach the high place in God before judgment fell. He was told to go to high spiritual ground.), lest evil overtake me, and I die:  20 behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape thither (is it not a little one?)(A few will escape by grace.), and my soul shall live. 21 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which thou hast spoken. (Grace was given to one little city that was totally corrupt and would have been destroyed like the rest. It had angelic protection because of Lots covering from Abraham.) 22 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. (Just as Abraham was promised and God doesn't break His promises.) Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. (Meaning, Little, I.e. A small remnant escapes on low spiritual ground.) 23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot came unto Zoar. (Light from the Son was given before judgment fell but many ignored it as they are doing now.) 24 Then Jehovah rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven; 25 and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. (We have watched the angels destroy all of the factious sodomites, sexual perverts, liars, thieves, slanderers, very strongly since 2011. They descend into hell on earth in their reprobation. Mat 13:30  Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather up first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn. Mat 13:41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity,  42  and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. 26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. (She became a monumental warning to those who disobey and pity Sodom in any way. Salt is antiseptic, I.e. anti perverse demons.) 27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Jehovah: 28 and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the Plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace. (Notice they were utterly destroyed on the earth.) 29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, that God remembered Abraham (The righteous prayers are remembered with God.), and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt. (It was grace because Lot resisted his directions and you may know some like that.) 30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar (Because they had the same lowlife as the rest of the cities. He had learned his lesson and was tormented with that leaven in his daughters.):  and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. 31 And the first-born said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: 32 come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. … 36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. (The leaven of Sodom had infiltrated his daughters whom he foolishly raised there. Come out from among them and be ye separate. Pray for them long distance. The faction and Satanists do this to their children, sometimes physically but always spiritually.)  37 And the first-born bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. 38 And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day. (Ammon and Moab, were offspring of Sodom's spirits. They became factious against their own kin as Judas' and were judged. All these types are spiritual inbreds, which infects the brain and gene pool. Good words are the seeds of the sower that give life. Evil words are the seeds of Satan that bring death. Those who listen die.) An Angel Came to Daniel to Teach Him   Dan 9: 21  yea, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel (The head messenger angel), whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.  22  And he instructed me, and talked with me, (Its silly to say we cannot hear from or speak with angels since we see precedent all over scripture.) and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee wisdom and understanding. (Angels speak for God in word of wisdom, knowledge, and prophecy.) 23  At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment went forth, and I am come to tell thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision.  (So angels bring interpretation of visions and prophecies.)   24  Seventy weeks (of years) are decreed upon thy people and upon thy holy city, (I believe an angel from God gave me an interpretation to this that I never heard of men having. When Jesus came He began the New Covenant rejecting the Old Covenant. The New Covenant born again people are now Daniel's “people”.  Since they crucified the messenger of the covenant, Jerusalem was no longer called in scripture, the holy city. Instead the heavenly city is clearly the holy city. So 69 of the 70 weeks was “decreed upon” the Old Covenant people and city.   When Israel rejected the New Covenant, the 70th week is “decreed upon” the New Covenant people and Holy City including righteous Jews. So many are confused because they haven't made this connection.) to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins (The Law could not make perfect as Paul said so God sought a New Covenant. The blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin, only cover it. So Jesus took away sin.), and to make reconciliation for iniquity (Those sacrifices didn't reconcile or exchange us to God, Jesus did with the New Covenant.), and to bring in everlasting righteousness (The Law could not do this because it wasn't everlasting. It was only “until the seed should come to whom the promise was due”, and that seed was Jesus. We are righteous through the blood of Jesus),   and to seal up vision and prophecy (As we are seeing here, the New Testament is giving us the revelation of the shadows and types of the Old Testament parables that they did not have for it was sealed. For instance, Paul showed that Baptism is the fulfillment of circumcision. We are clearly told the Sabbatismos, meaning a continual Sabbath rest from man's works are demanded of us in Heb 4:9.), and to anoint the most holy (Jesus is the Christos, the most holy anointed one.)    25  Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the anointed one, the prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks (=69 weeks): it shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troublous times.  26  And after the threescore and two weeks shall the anointed one be cut off (Which was after the seven weeks in v-25, showing Jesus being crucified after the 69 weeks were up.) , and shall have nothing: (He had nothing in this world.)   and the people of the prince (Princes in Daniel are principalities not men. In chapter 10:13,20 we see the Prince of Persia and the Prince of Greece and Michael the Prince of the Lord's forces. All were principalities.) that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary (The Roman principality demon crucified Jesus and destroyed the city and sanctuary.  In Daniels vision of the beast the Roman principality continued all the way down the legs to the ten toes of the ten kings in the last week.); and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and even unto the end shall be war; desolations are determined. (As in 70AD so it will be today.)   (And the “covenant with many” starts the last week, the 70th week of seven years, with the same Roman Principality making that covenant. Notice: “And he” here >) 27  And he (The same principality) shall make a firm covenant with many for one week (Either you have a 2000 year old man here or he is a principality.): and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; and upon the wing (or pinnacle) of abominations shall come one (This speaks of “one” abomination above the rest.) that maketh desolate; (The mark of the beast is given to those who give up the crucified life. The mark is the abomination that maketh many of God's NT temple desolate of God for they are reprobated as Revelation says.)   and even unto the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out upon the desolate. (Notice: wrath be poured out is not on a building called the temple but a people who became desolate from the mark.  Notice: the desolate here are people who were part of the NT temple. Notice: unto the full end is the end of the tribulation/Day of the Lord. In the last half of the tribulation, in Rev 13, the beast makes war on the saints to purify them and separate the desolate from them. So we see that angels came to bring revelation and even interpretation of revelations to those who do not respect man's interpretations. Angels also bring to pass the written judgments.)   Act 8:26-35  But an angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza: the same is desert. (Angels can speak to us audibly but most often they speak to our mind of the spirit. In this case it was clear instruction and direction, but it could be discernment, revelation, word of knowledge or wisdom, correction, encouragement, promises, etc. Of course, it would be in agreement with the Word and nature of God for as we saw “My name is in him”. The word name means nature, character, and authority. In essence we are speaking to the Lord and can converse with Him. Commonly we hear from the Lord through our angel. We must be careful if we are in sin and have selfish motives, we could hear from another spirit.   And of course it was an important mission in that it was also a witness to Candace and Philip was anointed and successful.) 27  And he arose and went: and behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship;  28  and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.  29  And the Spirit (of God) said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.    30  And Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? …34  And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other?  35  And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached unto him Jesus.   (Angels speak in faith so that we agree with them and receive by faith what is said. Sometimes they speak faith and we wait to see it come to pass and it does not because we are walking by sight. We are tempted to believe they lied to us but the fault is ours. The angels expect us to believe the word of the Lord. For this reason they do not speak to some people.)   Luk 1:13-20  But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: because thy supplication is heard, and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. …and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.  16  And many of the children of Israel shall he turn unto the Lord their God.    …  18  And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.  19  And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and I was sent to speak unto thee, and to bring thee these good tidings.  20  And behold, thou shalt be silent and not able to speak (First notice that angels should be respected. Why shouldn't Zacharias speak? Because it would have been with unbelief, which would hinder the fulfillment of the prophecy. Don't speak unbelief in the promises.), until the day that these things shall come to pass, because thou believedst not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.   (Our faith in the blood of the Lamb and our confession of the promises empowers the angels to cast down our enemies.) Rev 12:7-11 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels going forth to war with the dragon; and the dragon warred and his angels;  8  and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9  And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.    (Notice that they lost their power along with the prince of the power of the air. Does this happen in a lesser way when we as disciples do what the early disciples did? It appears so. Luk 10:17-19  And the seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject unto us in thy name.  18  And he said unto them, I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven. So it happened back then with relatively new disciples so it should happen with us too.  Cast them down.  19  Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall in any wise hurt you. So what are the conditions whereby disciples can do this now?)   10  And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ (Most of God's people don't believe in their authority and power to cast down demons so they lose before they get started.): for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accuseth them before our God day and night.  11  And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb (Because of the blood sacrifice of Jesus we are covered and guiltless and have authority over sin.), and because of the word of their testimony (This is also the word “witness.” Because we have the confession or witness of our authority over “all the power of the enemy.”); and they loved not their life even unto death. (Because they are living the crucified life they have power for the old man is dead.)

Genesis 23:1-20 ESV Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites, “I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” The Hittites answered Abraham, “Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead.” Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. And he said to them, “If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.” Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city, “No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.” Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. And he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, “But if you will, hear me: I give the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there.” Ephron answered Abraham, “My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants. So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who went in at the gate of his city. After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.

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Rabash. And the Lord Appeared to Him at the Oaks of Mamre. 6 (1985)

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Support Common Prayer Daily @ PatreonVisit our Website for more www.commonprayerdaily.com_______________LentJesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”Mark 8:34 ConfessionOfficiant: Let us humbly confess our sins unto Almighty God.People: Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against your holy laws.We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done; and apart from your grace, there is no health in us. O Lord, have mercy upon us. Spare all those who confess their faults. Restore all those who are penitent, according to your promises declared to all people in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may now live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of your holy Name. Amen.Officiant: Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen. The Lord's PrayerOur Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. Invitatory & PsalmsOfficiant: O God, make speed to save us. People: O Lord, make haste to help us. Officiant & People: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. LentThe Lord is full of compassion and mery: Come let us adore him.Venite Psalm 95:1-7Come, let us sing to the Lord; *let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving * and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.For the Lord is a great God, *and a great King above all gods.In his hand are the caverns of the earth, * and the heights of the hills are his also.The sea is his, for he made it, *and his hands have molded the dry land.Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, * and kneel before the Lord our Maker.For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. * Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice!The Lord is full of compassion and mery: Come let us adore him. Psalm 104Benedic, anima mea1Bless the Lord, O my soul; *O Lord my God, how excellent is your greatness!you are clothed with majesty and splendor.2You wrap yourself with light as with a cloak *and spread out the heavens like a curtain.3You lay the beams of your chambers in the waters above; *you make the clouds your chariot;you ride on the wings of the wind.4You make the winds your messengers *and flames of fire your servants.5You have set the earth upon its foundations, *so that it never shall move at any time.6You covered it with the Deep as with a mantle; *the waters stood higher than the mountains.7At your rebuke they fled; *at the voice of your thunder they hastened away.8They went up into the hills and down to the valleys beneath, *to the places you had appointed for them.9You set the limits that they should not pass; *they shall not again cover the earth.10You send the springs into the valleys; *they flow between the mountains.11All the beasts of the field drink their fill from them, *and the wild asses quench their thirst.12Beside them the birds of the air make their nests *and sing among the branches.13You water the mountains from your dwelling on high; *the earth is fully satisfied by the fruit of your works.14You make grass grow for flocks and herds *and plants to serve mankind;15That they may bring forth food from the earth, *and wine to gladden our hearts,16Oil to make a cheerful countenance, *and bread to strengthen the heart.17The trees of the Lord are full of sap, *the cedars of Lebanon which he planted,18In which the birds build their nests, *and in whose tops the stork makes his dwelling.19The high hills are a refuge for the mountain goats, *and the stony cliffs for the rock badgers.20You appointed the moon to mark the seasons, *and the sun knows the time of its setting.21You make darkness that it may be night, *in which all the beasts of the forest prowl.22The lions roar after their prey *and seek their food from God.23The sun rises, and they slip away *and lay themselves down in their dens.24Man goes forth to his work *and to his labor until the evening.25O Lord, how manifold are your works! *in wisdom you have made them all;the earth is full of your creatures.26Yonder is the great and wide seawith its living things too many to number, *creatures both small and great.27There move the ships,and there is that Leviathan, *which you have made for the sport of it.28All of them look to you *to give them their food in due season.29You give it to them; they gather it; *you open your hand, and they are filled with good things.30You hide your face, and they are terrified; *you take away their breath,and they die and return to their dust.31You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; *and so you renew the face of the earth.32May the glory of the Lord endure for ever; *may the Lord rejoice in all his works.33He looks at the earth and it trembles; *he touches the mountains and they smoke.34I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; *I will praise my God while I have my being.35May these words of mine please him; *I will rejoice in the Lord.36Let sinners be consumed out of the earth, *and the wicked be no more.37Bless the Lord, O my soul. *Hallelujah! Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. The LessonsGenesis 49:33-50:26English Standard Version33 When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.50 Then Joseph fell on his father's face and wept over him and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.4 And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5 ‘My father made me swear, saying, “I am about to die: in my tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me.” Now therefore, let me please go up and bury my father. Then I will return.'” 6 And Pharaoh answered, “Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear.” 7 So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father's household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. 9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company. 10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and grievous lamentation, and he made a mourning for his father seven days. 11 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan. 12 Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them, 13 for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. 14 After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.15 When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” 16 So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: 17 ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”' And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. 21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.22 So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father's house. Joseph lived 110 years. 23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation. The children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were counted as Joseph's own. 24 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” 26 So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.Officiant: The Word of the LordPeople: Thanks be to God. A Song of Penitence(Kyrie Pantokrator)O Lord and Ruler of the hosts of heaven, * God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,and of all their righteous offspring:You made the heavens and the earth, * with all their vast array.All things quake with fear at your presence; * they tremble because of your power.But your merciful promise is beyond all measure; * it surpasses all that our minds can fathom.O Lord, you are full of compassion, * long-suffering, and abounding in mercy.You hold back your hand; *you do not punish as we deserve.In your great goodness, Lord,you have promised forgiveness to sinners, * that they may repent of their sin and be saved.And now, O Lord, I bend the knee of my heart, * and make my appeal, sure of your gracious goodness.I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, * and I know my wickedness only too well.Therefore I make this prayer to you: * Forgive me, Lord, forgive me.Do not let me perish in my sin, * nor condemn me to the depths of the earth.For you, O Lord, are the God of those who repent, * and in me you will show forth your goodness.Unworthy as I am, you will save me, in accordance with your great mercy, * and I will praise you without ceasing all the days of my life.For all the powers of heaven sing your praises, * and yours is the glory to ages of ages. Amen. 1 Corinthians 14:13-25English Standard Version13 Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. 15 What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. 16 Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? 17 For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. 18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. 21 In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.” 22 Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers. 23 If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? 24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, 25 the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.Officiant: The Word of the LordPeople: Thanks be to God. A Song of Praise(Benedictus es, Domine Song of the Three Young Men, 29-34)Glory to you, Lord God of our fathers; * you are worthy of praise; glory to you.Glory to you for the radiance of your holy Name; * we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.Glory to you in the splendor of your temple; * on the throne of your majesty, glory to you.Glory to you, seated between the Cherubim; * we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.Glory to you, beholding the depths; * in the high vault of heaven, glory to you.Glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; * we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever. The CreedI believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. The PrayersOfficiant: The Lord be with you.People: And also with you.Officiant: Let us pray The SuffragesShow us your mercy, O Lord;And grant us your salvation.Clothe your ministers with righteousness;Let your people sing with joy.Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;For only in you can we live in safety. Lord, keep this nation under your care;And guide us in the way of justice and truth. Let your way be known upon earth; Your saving health among all nations. Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten; Nor the hope of the poor be taken away. Create in us clean hearts, O God; And sustain us with your Holy Spirit.Take a moment at this time to reflect and pray for the needs of others. Fourth Sunday in LentGracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.A Collect for PeaceO God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.A Collect for GraceLord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.For MissionAlmighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. ThanksgivingsThe General ThanksgivingAlmighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.A Prayer of St. ChrysostomAlmighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen. ConclusionThe grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen. 2 Corinthians 13:14

Pastor Cole Kirby   Genesis 18:1-15   February 24, 2023

Support Common Prayer Daily @ PatreonVisit our Website for more www.commonprayerdaily.com_______________QuinquagesimaO Lord, how manifold are your works! in wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.Psalm 104:25 (BCP) ConfessionOfficiant: Let us humbly confess our sins unto Almighty God.People: Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against your holy laws.We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done; and apart from your grace, there is no health in us. O Lord, have mercy upon us. Spare all those who confess their faults. Restore all those who are penitent, according to your promises declared to all people in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may now live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of your holy Name. Amen.Officiant: Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen. The Lord's PrayerOur Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. Invitatory & PsalmsOfficiant: O God, make speed to save us. People: O Lord, make haste to help us. Officiant & People: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. SeptuagesimaLord, you have been our refuge: From one generation to another. Venite Psalm 95:1-7Come, let us sing to the Lord; *let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving * and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.For the Lord is a great God, *and a great King above all gods.In his hand are the caverns of the earth, * and the heights of the hills are his also.The sea is his, for he made it, *and his hands have molded the dry land.Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, * and kneel before the Lord our Maker.For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. * Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice! Psalm 18 - Part I Diligam te, Domine.1I love you, O Lord my strength, *O Lord my stronghold, my crag, and my haven.2My God, my rock in whom I put my trust, *my shield, the horn of my salvation, and my refuge;you are worthy of praise.3I will call upon the Lord, *and so shall I be saved from my enemies.4The breakers of death rolled over me, *and the torrents of oblivion made me afraid.5The cords of hell entangled me, *and the snares of death were set for me.6I called upon the Lord in my distress *and cried out to my God for help.7He heard my voice from his heavenly dwelling; *my cry of anguish came to his ears.8The earth reeled and rocked; *the roots of the mountains shook;they reeled because of his anger.9Smoke rose from his nostrilsand a consuming fire out of his mouth; *hot burning coals blazed forth from him.10He parted the heavens and came down *with a storm cloud under his feet.11He mounted on cherubim and flew; *he swooped on the wings of the wind.12He wrapped darkness about him; *he made dark waters and thick clouds his pavilion.13From the brightness of his presence, through the clouds, *burst hailstones and coals of fire.14The Lord thundered out of heaven; *the Most High uttered his voice.15He loosed his arrows and scattered them; *he hurled thunderbolts and routed them.16The beds of the seas were uncovered,and the foundations of the world laid bare, *at your battle cry, O Lord,at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.17He reached down from on high and grasped me; *he drew me out of great waters.18He delivered me from my strong enemiesand from those who hated me; *for they were too mighty for me.19They confronted me in the day of my disaster; *but the Lord was my support.20He brought me out into an open place; *he rescued me because he delighted in me. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. The LessonsGenesis 18:1-16 English Standard Version18 And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. 2 He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth 3 and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, 5 while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” 6 And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” 7 And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. 8 Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.9 They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” 10 The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” 13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15 But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”16 Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way.Officiant: The Word of the LordPeople: Thanks be to God. You are God(Te Deum laudamus)You are God: we praise you;You are the Lord: we acclaim you;You are the eternal Father:All creation worships you.To you all angels, all the powers of heaven, Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,heaven and earth are full of your glory.The glorious company of apostles praise you.The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.The white-robed army of martyrs praise you. Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you;Father, of majesty unbounded,your true and only Son, worthy of all worship, and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.You, Christ, are the king of glory, the eternal Son of the Father.When you became man to set us free you did not shun the Virgin's womb. You overcame the sting of death and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. You are seated at God's right hand in glory.We believe that you will come and be our judge.Come then, Lord, and help your people, bought with the price of your own blood, and bring us with your saints to glory everlasting. Mark 9:38-50 English Standard Version38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 For the one who is not against us is for us. 41 For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.42 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 43 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, 48 ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.' 49 For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”Officiant: The Word of the LordPeople: Thanks be to God. A Song of Praise(Benedictus es, Domine Song of the Three Young Men, 29-34)Glory to you, Lord God of our fathers; * you are worthy of praise; glory to you.Glory to you for the radiance of your holy Name; * we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.Glory to you in the splendor of your temple; * on the throne of your majesty, glory to you.Glory to you, seated between the Cherubim; * we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.Glory to you, beholding the depths; * in the high vault of heaven, glory to you.Glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; * we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever. The CreedI believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. The PrayersOfficiant: The Lord be with you.People: And also with you.Officiant: Let us pray The SuffragesShow us your mercy, O Lord;And grant us your salvation.Clothe your ministers with righteousness;Let your people sing with joy.Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;For only in you can we live in safety. Lord, keep this nation under your care;And guide us in the way of justice and truth. Let your way be known upon earth; Your saving health among all nations. Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten; Nor the hope of the poor be taken away. Create in us clean hearts, O God; And sustain us with your Holy Spirit.Take a moment at this time to reflect and pray for the needs of others. Quinquagesima (Anglican Prayer Book)LORD God, you who have taught us that whatever we do without genuine love is worth nothing in your sight: Send your HOLY Spirit and pour into our hearts this most excellent gift of love, the true bond of peace and of all virtues; for without such love whoever lives is reckoned as dead before you: Grant this for the sake of your only Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.A Collect for PeaceO God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.A Collect for GraceLord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.For MissionAlmighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. ThanksgivingsThe General ThanksgivingAlmighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.A Prayer of St. ChrysostomAlmighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen. ConclusionThe grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen. 2 Corinthians 13:14

Support Common Prayer Daily @ PatreonVisit our Website for more www.commonprayerdaily.com_______________SexagesimaO Lord, how manifold are your works! in wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.Psalm 104:25 (BCP) ConfessionOfficiant: Let us humbly confess our sins unto Almighty God.People: Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against your holy laws.We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done; and apart from your grace, there is no health in us. O Lord, have mercy upon us. Spare all those who confess their faults. Restore all those who are penitent, according to your promises declared to all people in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may now live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of your holy Name. Amen.Officiant: Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen. The Lord's PrayerOur Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. Invitatory & PsalmsOfficiant: O God, make speed to save us. People: O Lord, make haste to help us. Officiant & People: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. SeptuagesimaLord, you have been our refuge: From one generation to another. Venite Psalm 95:1-7Come, let us sing to the Lord; *let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving * and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.For the Lord is a great God, *and a great King above all gods.In his hand are the caverns of the earth, * and the heights of the hills are his also.The sea is his, for he made it, *and his hands have molded the dry land.Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, * and kneel before the Lord our Maker.For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. * Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice! Psalm 16 Conserva me, Domine1Protect me, O God, for I take refuge in you; *I have said to the Lord, “You are my Lord,my good above all other.”2All my delight is upon the godly that are in the land, *upon those who are noble among the people.3But those who run after other gods *shall have their troubles multiplied.4Their libations of blood I will not offer, *nor take the names of their gods upon my lips.5O Lord, you are my portion and my cup; *it is you who uphold my lot.6My boundaries enclose a pleasant land; *indeed, I have a goodly heritage.7I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel; *my heart teaches me, night after night.8I have set the Lord always before me; *because he is at my right hand I shall not fall.9My heart, therefore, is glad, and my spirit rejoices; *my body also shall rest in hope.10For you will not abandon me to the grave, *nor let your holy one see the Pit.11You will show me the path of life; *in your presence there is fullness of joy,and in your right hand are pleasures for evermore. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. The LessonsGenesis 13:2 English Standard VersionNow Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.Genesis 13:5-18 English Standard VersionAnd Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.” And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.Officiant: The Word of the LordPeople: Thanks be to God. You are God(Te Deum laudamus)You are God: we praise you;You are the Lord: we acclaim you;You are the eternal Father:All creation worships you.To you all angels, all the powers of heaven, Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,heaven and earth are full of your glory.The glorious company of apostles praise you.The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.The white-robed army of martyrs praise you. Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you;Father, of majesty unbounded,your true and only Son, worthy of all worship, and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.You, Christ, are the king of glory, the eternal Son of the Father.When you became man to set us free you did not shun the Virgin's womb. You overcame the sting of death and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. You are seated at God's right hand in glory.We believe that you will come and be our judge.Come then, Lord, and help your people, bought with the price of your own blood, and bring us with your saints to glory everlasting. Mark 9:30-37 English Standard VersionThey went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”Officiant: The Word of the LordPeople: Thanks be to God. A Song of Praise(Benedictus es, Domine Song of the Three Young Men, 29-34)Glory to you, Lord God of our fathers; * you are worthy of praise; glory to you.Glory to you for the radiance of your holy Name; * we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.Glory to you in the splendor of your temple; * on the throne of your majesty, glory to you.Glory to you, seated between the Cherubim; * we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.Glory to you, beholding the depths; * in the high vault of heaven, glory to you.Glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; * we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever. The CreedI believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. The PrayersOfficiant: The Lord be with you.People: And also with you.Officiant: Let us pray The SuffragesShow us your mercy, O Lord;And grant us your salvation.Clothe your ministers with righteousness;Let your people sing with joy.Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;For only in you can we live in safety. Lord, keep this nation under your care;And guide us in the way of justice and truth. Let your way be known upon earth; Your saving health among all nations. Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten; Nor the hope of the poor be taken away. Create in us clean hearts, O God; And sustain us with your Holy Spirit.Take a moment at this time to reflect and pray for the needs of others. Sexagesima (Anglican Prayer Book)O LORD God, you who see that we do not put our trust in anything that we do: Mercifully grant that by your power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ our LORD. Amen.A Collect for PeaceO God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.A Collect for GraceLord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.For MissionAlmighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. ThanksgivingsThe General ThanksgivingAlmighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.A Prayer of St. ChrysostomAlmighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen. ConclusionThe grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen. 2 Corinthians 13:14