POPULARITY
6 episodes with William Temple
4 episodes with William Temple
2 episodes with William Temple
2 episodes with William Temple
2 episodes with William Temple
William Temple, a nineteenth-century English bishop, once concluded a sermon to Oxford students with the words of the hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” But he cautioned against taking the song lightly. “If you mean [the words] with all your hearts, sing them as loud as you can,” Temple said. “If you don’t mean them at all, keep silent. If you mean them even a little, and want to mean them more, sing them very softly.” The crowd went quiet as everyone eyed the lyrics. Slowly, thousands of voices began to sing in a whisper, mouthing the final lines with gravity: “Love so amazing, so divine / Demands my soul, my life, my all.” Those Oxford students understood the reality that believing in and following Jesus is a serious choice, because it means saying yes to a radical love that demands everything from us. Following Christ requires our entire life, our whole being. He plainly told His disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). No one should make this choice flippantly. Yet, following Jesus is also the way to our deepest joy. Life with Him, we’ll discover, is the life we truly desire. It appears a great paradox. However, if we respond to God’s love, believe in Christ, and relinquish our selfish, shortsighted demands, we’ll find the life our soul craves (v. 25).
CROSS-REFERENCES:- 1 Kings 8:39- 1 Corinthians 6:19-20- 2 Corinthians 6:16- Ephesians 4:26-27- Hebrews 1:8-9- Revelation 3:19William Temple, renowned archbishop of Cantebury, as defining worship as “quickening the conscience by the holiness of God, feeding the mind with the truth of God, purging the imagination by the beauty of God, opening the heart to the love of God, and devoting the will to the purpose of God.”G. Campbell Morgan – “God seeks and values the gifts we bring Him—gifts of praise, thanksgiving, service, and material offerings. In all such giving at the altar we enter into the highest experiences of fellowship. But the gift is acceptable to God in the measure to which the one who offers it is in fellowship with Him in character and conduct; and the test of this is in our relationships with our fellow men. We are thus charged to postpone giving to God until right relationships are established with others. Could the neglect of this be the explanation of barrenness of our worship?” (Matthew 5:24)“Man's affections may be stirred, man's intelligence informed, man's conscience convicted. But still God cannot trust him.”
Psalm 24 The Range of Worship (vv. 1-2) The fullness of worship The foundation of worship The Requirements of Worship (vv. 3-6) Our part Pure hands Pure heart His part Blessing Righteousness The Reception of Worship (vv. 7-10) Lift up our heads: attention Lift up our doors: welcome More to Consider What is worship? Worship is to feel in your heart and express in some appropriate manner a humbling but delightful sense of admiring awe and astonished wonder and overpowering love in the presence of that most ancient Mystery, that Majesty which philosophers call the First Cause, but which we call Our Father Which Are in Heaven. A.W. Tozer, quoted in D.J. Fant, A.W. Tozer, Christian Publications, 1964, p. 90. True biblical worship so satisfies our total personality that we don't have to shop around for man-made substitutes. William Temple made this clear in his masterful definition of worship: For worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose -- and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our sin and the source of all actual sin. Warren W. Wiersbe,The Integrity Crisis, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1991. Barclay quotes William Temple, the renowned archbishop of Canterbury, as defining worship as quickening the conscience by the holiness of God, feeding the mind with the truth of God, purging the imagination by the beauty of God, opening the heart to the love of God, and devoting the will to the purpose of God Matthew R. Mounce. I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. If it were possible for a created soul fully to 'appreciate,' that is, to love and delight in, the worthiest object of all, and simultaneously at every moment to give this delight perfect expression, then that soul would be in supreme blessedness. To praise God fully we must suppose ourselves to be in perfect love with God, drowned in, dissolved by that delight which, far from remaining pent up within ourselves as incommunicable bliss, flows out from us incessantly again in effortless and perfect expression. Our joy is no more separable from the praise in which it liberates and utters itself than the brightness a mirror receives is separable from the brightness it sheds. C.S. Lewis.
Evening Prayer for Wednesday, November 6, 2024 (Proper 26; William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury and Teacher of the Faith, 1944). Psalm and Scripture readings (60-day Psalter): Psalm 18:21-50 Isaiah 19 Mark 13:14-37 Click here to access the text for the Daily Office at DailyOffice2019.com. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dailyofficepodcast/support
Morning Prayer for Wednesday, November 6, 2024 (Proper 26; William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury and Teacher of the Faith, 1944). Psalm and Scripture readings (60-day Psalter): Psalm 18:1-20 2 Kings 20 Acts 11:1-18 Click here to access the text for the Daily Office at DailyOffice2019.com. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dailyofficepodcast/support
Fr. Paul tells the story of a modern Archbishop of Canterbury who left a lasting impact on the Church and all of English society.
We have to align ourselves with the way God sees the world and he commissioned the church to do it's part of his great rescue mission! God sees and hears his people! And his heart breaks for the Israelites back then, but also for his heart is breaking today for the people of Little Rock. What does he do? He acts! And his call to us is to be a part of what God is doing.“For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.”2 Corinthians 2:15“The Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.”-William Temple
Prepare to immerse yourself in the profound significance of Advent, a term derived from Latin, encapsulating 'coming' or 'arrival', it holds a deep-seated meaning in the Christian faith. Not only does it signify the first and second coming of Christ, it also marks the period of preparation before Christmas - a time to introspect, distance ourselves from distractions, and make room for Christ in our hearts. Join us on a spiritual journey as we explore the power of worship and its role in fostering a sense of anticipation for God's work in our lives. Glean wisdom from the likes of William Temple and Charles Spurgeon, as we discuss how beginning each day with worship and praise can open our hearts to God's love and purpose. The celebration of Christmas is more than just the birth of Jesus; it's about keeping our hearts and minds receptive to the ways He continues to reveal Himself to us and to be prepared for His return! So ready yourself to embrace the wonders of God's goodness and grace this season with hearts full of hope and eyes open to His divine work.
Prepare to immerse yourself in the profound significance of Advent, a term derived from Latin, encapsulating 'coming' or 'arrival', it holds a deep-seated meaning in the Christian faith. Not only does it signify the first and second coming of Christ, it also marks the period of preparation before Christmas - a time to introspect, distance ourselves from distractions, and make room for Christ in our hearts. Join us on a spiritual journey as we explore the power of worship and its role in fostering a sense of anticipation for God's work in our lives. Glean wisdom from the likes of William Temple and Charles Spurgeon, as we discuss how beginning each day with worship and praise can open our hearts to God's love and purpose. The celebration of Christmas is more than just the birth of Jesus; it's about keeping our hearts and minds receptive to the ways He continues to reveal Himself to us and to be prepared for His return! So ready yourself to embrace the wonders of God's goodness and grace this season with hearts full of hope and eyes open to His divine work.
Morning Prayer for Monday, November 6, 2023 (Proper 26; William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury and Teacher of the Faith, 1944). Psalm and Scripture readings (60-day Psalter): Psalm 18:1-20 2 Kings 20 Acts 11:1-18 Click here to access the text for Morning Prayer at DailyOffice2019.com. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dailyofficepodcast/support
Evening Prayer for Monday, November 6, 2023 (Proper 26; William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury and Teacher of the Faith, 1944). Psalm and Scripture readings (60-day Psalter): Psalm 18:21-50 Isaiah 19 Mark 13:14-37 Click here to access the text for Morning Prayer at DailyOffice2019.com. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dailyofficepodcast/support
In 1951, “Nature, Man, and God” by William Temple was published much later than I thought. In this book, the finest description of the heart of true Christian worship can be found: “Quicken your conscience with the Holiness of God. Feed your mind with the Word of God. Purge your imagination with the Beauty of God. Open your heart with the Love of God. Devote you will to the Purpose of God.” The verbatim prayer I pray each day, and add: “Teach me today of Thee Thyself. Help me to live: At peace with the Church. Admonish the unruly. Encourage the faint hearted. Help the weak. Seek after that which is good for all men.” This prayer is my early meditation on who God is and what He has called me to do. Temple's description is at least an example of the majesty of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which invigorate our daily walk with our Savior. "What a man is on his knees before God, that he is and nothing more." Robert Murray M'Cheyne Assistant Editor: Seven Jefferson Gossard www.frponprayer.com freerangeprayer@gmail.com Facebook - Free Range Preacher Ministries Instagram: freerangeministries All our Scripture quotes are drawn from the NASB 1977 edition. For access to the Voice Over services of Richard Durrington, please visit RichardDurrington.com or email him at Durringtonr@gmail.com Our podcast art was designed by @sammmmmmmmm23 Instagram Season 005 Episode 078
A sermon by Jamie Howison for Easter Sunday, 2023, on the resurrection account from the Gospel according to John. Subscribe to the show wherever you listen to audio and recommend this episode to your friends. We invite you to rate us or write a review of what we are doing on Apple Podcasts. Reviews help others join the conversation.* * *This podcast is created at saint benedict's table, a congregation of the Anglican Church of Canada in Winnipeg, where we've been making great audio since 2006. Listen to other recent episodes on our website and see our entire catalogue of over 600 shows on our hosting page.Our MissionTo provide rich and stimulating audio resources to the wider church and engage topics and issues relevant to the concerns and questions of the larger culture in which we live.
This week on The Literary Life podcast our hosts introduce the 2023 Reading Challenge! Angelina, Cindy and Thomas are excited to share with you about all the categories on this year's Literary Life Bingo Reading Challenge! You can download your own copy of the challenge here, as well as check out our past reading challenges. Scroll down in the show notes to see a list of the links and books mentioned in this episode. You can use the hashtag #LitLifeBingo on social media so we can all see what everyone is reading in 2023! Don't forget to shop the House of Humane Letters Christmas Sale now through the end of the year. The Literary Life Back to School online conference recordings are also on sale at Morning Time for Moms right now. Commonplace Quotes: Much that we call Victorian is known to us only because the Victorians laughed at it. George Malcolm Young, from Portrait of an Age I think that beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there. Annie Dillard, from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Reading is to the mind as exercise is to the body. Joseph Addison Thunderstorms by William H. Davies My mind has thunderstorms, That brood for heavy hours: Until they rain me words, My thoughts are drooping flowers And sulking, silent birds. Yet come, dark thunderstorms, And brood your heavy hours; For when you rain me words, My thoughts are dancing flowers And joyful singing birds. Book and Link List: Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie Episode 14: “The Adventures of a Shilling” by Joseph Addison Episode 3: The Importance of Detective Fiction Episode 16: “Why I Write” by George Orwell Reading Challenge Downloads The Letters of Jane Austen by Jane Austen Abigail Adams: Letters ed. by Edith Gelles The Letters of Dorothy Osborne to William Temple ed. by G. C. Moore Smith Few Eggs and No Oranges by Vere Hodgson Letters to an American Lady by C. S. Lewis Letters of C. S. Lewis by C. S. Lewis Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor ed. by Sally Fitzgerald Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman by Lord Chesterfield The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer The Aeneid by Virgil The Saga of the Volsungs by Anonymous The Vision of Sir Launfal by James Russell Lowell Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The Ramayana of Valmiki ed. and trans. by Robert and Sally Goldman The Prelude by William Wordsworth Ballad of the White Horse by G. K. Chesterton P. D. James Edmund Crispin Alan Bradley Patricia Moyes Peter Granger Rex Stout Sir Walter Scott The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke Mythos by Stephen Fry The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell Coming Up for Air by George Orwell P. G. Wodehouse The Last Days of Socrates by Plato The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis Champagne for the Soul by Mike Mason Edges of His Ways by Amy Carmichael The Footsteps at the Lock by Ronald Knox Queen Victoria by Lytton Strachey Jane Austen Patrick Leigh Fermor Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes by Robert Louis Stevenson Heroes by Stephen Fry Troy by Stephen Fry Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman The Mabinogion trans. by Sioned Davies The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson Cindy's List of Literature of Honor for Boys (archived webpage) Bleak House by Charles Dickens David Copperfield by Charles Dickens Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens The Man Who Knew Too Much by G. K. Chesterton The 39 Steps by John Buchan Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith The Well Read Poem An Experiment in Criticism by C. S. Lewis The Truth and the Beauty by Andrew Klavan The Magic Apple Tree by Susan Hill Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill Jacob's Room is Full of Books by Susan Hill The Medieval Mind of C. S. Lewis by Jason Baxter 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff Q's Legacy by Helene Hanff Support The Literary Life: Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support! Connect with Us: You can find Angelina and Thomas at HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram @angelinastanford, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/ Find Cindy at morningtimeformoms.com, on Instagram @cindyordoamoris and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cindyrollins.net/. Check out Cindy's own Patreon page also! Follow The Literary Life on Instagram, and jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let's get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB
Morning Prayer for Sunday, November 6, 2022 (Proper 27; All Saints' Sunday; William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury and Teacher of the Faith, 1944). Psalm and Scripture readings (2-year lectionary; 60-day Psalter): Psalms 18:1-20 Isaiah 19 Mark 13:14-37 Click here to access the text for Morning Prayer at DailyOffice2019.com. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dailyofficepodcast/support
What happens when all of someone else's stuff becomes your stuff? That's a predicament Lisa and Will Olson, two recent transplants from Michigan, found themselves in after buying a home in Willcox. Support the show: https://www.myheraldreview.com/site/forms/subscription_services/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
William Temple (1881-1944), arcebispo de Cantuária, acreditava que todo sistema econômico é, para o bem ou para o mal, uma imensa influência educativa.
Psalm 92.1-3 NLT 'It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to the Most High. It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning, your faithfulness in the evening, accompanied by a ten-stringed instrument, a harp, and the melody of a lyre.' Throughout the Psalms, we are continually reminded of how good it is to worship God. In Psalm 84.10 the psalmist says that he would rather spend a single day in the presence of God than a thousand anywhere else! Our verses today remind us of the importance of worshipping God throughout the day. Worship needs to be woven into the fabric of our lives. It isn't something that we can do occasionally or half-heartedly. It needs to claim the best of our energies and attention. Worship is of such huge importance because absolutely every aspect of life is affected by it. The thought of worship being confined to a couple of hours in church once a week is completely foreign to the Bible. When we worship, we declare the greatness of God and seek to bring our lives into line with his will. One of the most comprehensive definitions of worship was provided by William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury during the Second World War. He wrote, “To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God.” Those challenging words are worthy of very careful reflection because, all too easily, what we do in church can be cheapened. Whatever style of worship we are used to, it is so easy for it to become a performance which we judge by our own particular musical preferences. Although worship needs to be focused entirely on God, it is very easy for us to focus on the people who lead us and our reactions to their gifts and idiosyncrasies. True worship of the living God brings us to life in a way that nothing else can, and so we need to make sure that it becomes increasingly central to our lives, however busy we happen to be. Question: Give yourself a few minutes to think this through. How central is worship in your life? Prayer: Lord God, I ask you in the power of your Holy Spirit to give me a constantly renewed desire to worship you with all of my heart. Amen
What is worship? Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose – and all of this gathered up in adoration. – William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you. – St. Augustine Worship does not satisfy our hunger for God; it whets our appetite. – Eugene H. Peterson Luke 4:14-16 Then Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread throughout the entire vicinity. He was teaching in their synagogues, being praised by everyone. He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As usual, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day Jesus modeled a life of worship Jesus' practice of worship was REGULAR, INTENTIONAL, PRIVATE, and PUBLIC Worship is a sacrifice of praise with our lips and our lives Hebrews 13:15,16 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Worship is an offering of our entire being, ignited by the Holy Spirit, as a living sacrifice to God. Romans 12:1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Worship is an experience of Spirit and Truth. John 4:23-24 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” Discussion Questions: What is worship and why is it important for you personally and corporately? Would you say that worship is something that characterizes your life? What are some ways that you have made worship a “regular practice” in your life? If worship is about holistically engaging with God (Heart, Soul, Mind, Strength) What area is the easiest for you? What is the hardest area for you?
Henry starts with a quick review of several topics: fear of the Lord, Inward/Outward, the Kingdom of God. and true Repentance. He then reads the 15th proposition from Robert Barclay's Apology for the True Christian Divinity. This was followed by an excerpt from a work by William Temple. Finally there follows by a reading of the tract A Concise Account of the Religious Society of Friends by Thomas Evans. This tract is the focus of this and subsequent sessions. Henry then returns to a discussion from last week on the fruits of the Spirit. In response to a question, He explains the difference between a subjective wrong and an objective wrong. A participant tells the story of a mother and her children as an example of the danger of acting in one's own power. There is a potential cost for a true faith. The discussion focuses on those in history who have willingly paid that cost. The vastness of time and space highlights our insignificance and reminds us of eternal life. A Life that can and should begin before death. Henry explains the connection between the word savior, and the word heal. He then points out the fallacy in thinking that assenting to a belief or beliefs alone can bring salvation. The word “redeem" is explained. Henry proceeds to the meaning of the word “Christ" as the “Anointed one" and that this anointing is initially in everyone as a seed. The session finishes with a reading from 1John 2:27 which supports the truth of this Inward Anointing.
We can take things for granted. Even hope. William Temple paints a bleak picture of not having any hope, nor any belief in the source of hope, God: “for man's moral and spiritual life is in this world a baffled and thwarted enterprise; and the scene of our endeavor is slowly becoming uninhabitable, so that … Continue reading Don’t take hope for granted
Morning Prayer for Saturday, November 6, 2021 (Proper 26; William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury and Teacher of the Faith, 1944). Psalm and Scripture readings: Psalm 18:1-20 2 Kings 20 Acts 11:1-18 Click here to access the text for Morning Prayer at DailyOffice2019.com. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dailyofficepodcast/support
Psalm 18:1-20; 2 Kings 20; Benedicite, Omnia Opera Domini --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/christanglican-hotsprings/support
Psalm 18:21-52; Isaiah 19; Mark 13:14-37 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/christanglican-hotsprings/support
William Temple said, “One who faces his own failures is steadily advancing on the pilgrim's way.”Pastor Ray shares a message on finding victory after you've failed.
Louvor e Adoração “Adorar é vivificar a consciência com a santidade de Deus, suprir a mente com a verdade de Deus, purificar a imaginação com a beleza de Deus, abrir o coração ao amor de Deus, consagrar a vontade ao propósito de Deus.” - Wiliam Temple Foi a partir dessa definição que eu pedi para a Rachel Novaes começar o episódio, mas deixa eu te falar que ela foi muito MUITO além (com todo respeito ao padre anglicano do século 19)! Ela fala com paixão, convicção e profundidade e foi um prazer enorme para mim conversar com ela e estou animada em compartilhar isso com todos vocês! Sobre o que conversamos? A Rachel começou definindo e explicando o louvor e a adoração a partir da definição do William Temple, citada pelo Foster no livro "Celebrando as Disciplinas". Ela pegou o versículo de João 4:23 "(...) os verdadeiros adoradores adorarão o Pai em espírito e em verdade. São estes os adoradores que o Pai procura." e falou sobre três aspectos específicos dele. A Rachel compartilhou um momento recente de dificuldade e relata o que ela aprendeu sobre alegria e adoração. Recursos Mencionados Para estar por dentro de todas as novidades que a Rachel Novaes citou, você pode acompanha-la no instagram @rachelnovaesoficial onde ela e a família seguem fazendo lives de louvor semanais. Você também pode ouvir as músicas dela no Spotify. Falamos bastante sobre o livro do Richard Foster, "A Celebração das Disciplinas". Ela citou também vários livros. Aqui estão os títulos e os links onde você pode encontrá-los: "O Coração do Artista" e "O Artista Adorador", ambos do Rory Noland "Em Busca de Deus" do John Piper "Escolha a Alegria" da Kay Warren Como faço para me inscrever? Você sempre tem a opção de escutar diretamente aqui do site, mas o que eu sugiro é que você siga as instruções para receber os episódios diretamente no seu celular. Esse episódio tem duração de 1 hora e 4 minutos, então o ideal seria você poder escutar enquanto está dirigindo, fazendo exercício, na fila do banco, fazendo compras no mercado ou guardando os mesmo brinquedos pela vigésima vez! Então se você ainda não configurou tudo no seu celular para baixar os episódios automaticamente (sem usar dados móveis) e nem sabe como fazer isso, clique aqui se você tem android, ou aqui se você tem um iPhone. Se você estiver visualizando nesse momento do seu celular, você pode clicar nas palavras roxinhas logo abaixo do player no topo do post. Se você tiver um iPhone, clica em “Apple Podcasts” e se tiver um Android, clica em “Android”. Ou… claro… sempre tem a opção de só clicar no botão de PLAY aqui no site mesmo
William Temple said: “The Church exists primarily for the sake of those who are still outside it.” Is that true? And if it is, what are the implications for those of us inside it? As we inch our way back to a new normal after a surreal year, it is time to remind ourselves of the mission Jesus gave to His church. The post Our Mission first appeared on White Pine Community Church.
William Temple said “The Church is the only organisation that does not exist for itself, but for those who live outside of it.” Before we engage it is vital that we understand who the church is and what the local church is here for. Dan encourages us to revisit our calling and purpose as a […]
Sunday Sermon link - https://www.zumc.org/sermons/2021/3/14/jesusOur current message series at Zionsville United Methodist Church and this episode of One Thing More is based on the book, Long Story Short by Josh McNall. The book can be purchased through the publishing company Seedbed: https://my.seedbed.com/product/long-story-short/Dave Williamson - Dave Williamson is the Senior Pastor of Zionsville United Methodist Church. Kentucky-born and Tennessee-raised, Dave is a graduate of Davidson College and Duke Divinity School. He has served several Indiana churches including Milroy UMC, St. Luke's UMC (Indianapolis), and now Zionsville UMC. Dave and his wife, Jamalyn, have also served as missionaries in Fondwa, Haiti.Seth Neckers - Seth Neckers is the Pastor Disciples and Young Adult Ministries at Zionsville United Methodist Church. You can find him on Facebook at https://fb.com/seth.neckers and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/sethneckers Zionsville United Methodist Church - https://www.zumc.orgMaintenance-Minded vs. Mission-Minded Churches - Mission-minded churches are driven by the mission—their primary concern is to share the good news of Jesus Christ with all who need to hear it. Maintenance-minded churches, in contrast, are focused on survival. They reverse the movement of the Holy Spirit. Instead of reaching out to bring others in, they instead turn inwards and “close ranks,” and put up walls to keep unwanted elements out. https://bit.ly/3cUY2N1 Church Vision Meetings (What's Next) - Planning for what comes next is critical to the mission of the church. In the ever-changing world of our community and denomination we want to lay out what we want our church to be known for and the priorities we want to make. To this end, church leaders joined together for a five-week vision process, during the months of January and February. Our focus was on clarifying values, discerning direction, and setting priorities for our church's ministry in the coming years. If you'd like to read through the work that was done over a 5-week time period, you can do so at https://www.zumc.org/next.Group Work Camps - Group Mission Trips offers youth home repair mission trips known as Group Workcamps. At Group Workcamps, hundreds of teenagers from youth groups across the country repair and transform homes while deepening their faith and building new relationships with their peers and youth leaders. https://groupmissiontrips.com/trip-types/home-repair Family Promise - We are a partnership of congregations and community organizations responding to the crisis of children and their families who are homeless. We work to eliminate homelessness in Greater Indianapolis. Https://www.fpgi.org Story of the Paralytic - when you start bringing people to Jesus, sometimes the building gets messy. You can find the story of the paralytic man in the Gospel of Luke 5:18-25 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%205%3A18-25&version=NIV William Temple - Archbishop of Canterbury during the World War II - “The Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.” https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Temple
Steve looks at what happens to work in Genesis 3 as humanity decide to define good and evil for themselves.“The worst things that happen do not happen because a few people are monstrously wicked, but because most people are like us. When we grasp that, we begin to realise that our need is not for moving quietly on in the way we are going; our need is for radical change, to find a power that is going to turn us into somebody else.”― William Temple
••• Bible Study Verses: I Samuel 18:6-9, I Samuel 8:4-5, 1 Sam. 14:24, 1 Sam. 13:44-15-24, 1 Sam. 18:7-11,1 Sam. 20:33, Luke 9:46, Judges 6:15, Numbers 13:31, Romans 12:1-2. ••• “One who faces his own failures is steadily advancing on the pilgrim's way” William Temple † ••• “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he" Proverbs 23.7, KJV ••• What is the difference between winners and losers? ••• Why Do People Fail in Life? ••• What are 5-General Reasons For Failure? ••• What failure coping mechanism often leads to a burdened heart? ••• What were 5-reasons why King Saul should have not been a failure? ••• What were the 5-reasons why King Saul failed? ••• What was the critical personal sin at the root of King Saul’s failure? ••• What is insecurity? ••• What are 5-reasons for insecurity? ••• What are 5-signs of insecurity? ••• What are 5-dangers of insecurity? ••• What are 5-life actions to defeat insecurity in one’s life? ••• What sucks the energy out of your body, mind and soul? ••• How does the worldy Evolutionary Hypothesis lead to mass insecurity for so many? ••• Are you going ask your prayer group to pray that insecurity is defeated in your life through the power of Our Creator, The Lord Christ Jesus? ••• Pastor Godwin Otuno expounds on this and much more on the exciting journey of Fresh Encounters Radio Podcast originally aired on February 13, 2021 on WNQM, Nashville Quality Ministries and WWCR World Wide Christian Radio broadcast to all 7-continents on this big beautiful blue marble, earth, floating through space. Please be prayerful before studying The Word of God so that you will receive the most inspiration possible. ••• This Discipleship Teaching Podcast is brought to you by Christian Leadership International and all the beloved of God who believe in it’s mission through prayer and support. Thank you. ••• Study Guides at: https://shows.acast.com/fresh-encounter-radio-podcast/episodes ••• Exceeding Thanks to Photos by Whoislimos Photography, art direction by gil on his mac. ••• † https://www.allchristianquotes.org/authors/624/William_Temple/ ••• Podcaster Website: http://www.lifelonganointing.com/ ••• FERP210213 Episode #159 GOT210213ep159 Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/fresh-encounter-radio-podcast. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
selected passages January 3, 2021 preached by Pastor Doug Cooper Download Time of Reflection Quotations Religion is what you do with your solitude. ~ William Temple (1881-1944), English Anglican priest Prayer is the way we work our way out of the comfortable but cramped world of self, and into the spacious world of God. ~ […]
selected passages January 3, 2021 preached by Pastor Doug Cooper Download Time of Reflection Quotations Religion is what you do with your solitude. ~ William Temple (1881-1944), English Anglican priest Prayer is the way we work our way out of the comfortable but cramped world of self, and into the spacious world of God. ~ […]
Psalm 30; 2 Kings 20; Kyrie Pantokrator --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/christanglican-hotsprings/support
Psalm 31; Isaiah 19; Mark 13:14-37 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/christanglican-hotsprings/support
True worship sets our lives on fire in a way that no substitute can compare. But what is true worship? William Temple defined it like this: For worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose -- and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin. Listen to this message discover what worship looks like in heaven!
How am I supposed to live in this world?State, Economic Order, Family.READING RESPONSIBLYWe can’t just read Peter’s words as timeless principles to be applied. There is a vastly different context that his original hearers were in compared to the context we are in, as his contemporary hearers.THEY HAD NO VOICE.The Christians to whom Peter was writing were a tiny minority with no responsibility whatsoever for the political order.THEY HAD NO HISTORY.Between them and us there lies the whole story of the rise and disintegration of Christendom.THEY HAD NO OPTION.The dissolution of the given element (State, Work, Arranged Marriage)Let’s talk about our relationship with the State. Politics would be the top topic of conversation this summer if it weren’t for COVID-19.6 months until election.What can we say?1 . As submitted people, neither revolting nor withdrawing, but Humbly Engaged.Not revolting…“Being the representatives of the new order of God’s new creation does not mean that we are free from the old creation, free to overturn the old order. On the contrary, we are to “be subject for the lord’s sake to every human institution”. That is a remarkably all-embracing instructionNot withdrawing…“Submit” can be opposite of revolting, but also is the opposite of withdraw. Finding and occupying ones place in society.Their danger wasn’t in being rebellious but in being absent.William Temple, “Christianity is the most materialistic of the world’s great religions.”How do we do this? 3 words: “With great difficulty.”Local is a key.“A thing must be local to be real.” - G.K. Chesterton2. As people freed not for self-determination, but freed for service.We hear Freedom as self-determination. Freedom is for service.Freedom - exodus background freedom is for service. “The point of exodus is not freedom in the sense of self-determination, but service, the service of the loving , redeeming, and delivering God of Israel” rather than the proud and self-serving Pharoah.Martin Luther’s 2 Theses of a book on Freedom. “The Christian is the most free lord of all and subject to none. The Christian is the most dutiful servant of all and subject to everyone.”Both statements are true. Both of them at full strength and not, as is so often he case, a tasteless mixture of the two.3. As people who see everything and everyone in relative relationship to Christ the Redeemer.vs. 17 Honor everyone… Honor the emperor.
Psalm 33:12, Proverbs 14:34, Exodus 19:5, I Peter 2:9, I Timothy 2:1ff, Matt. 22:21, Acts 17:24ff, Psalm 2:1-13, 2 Chronicles 7:14, Matt. 24:7, Acts 2:5, Isaiah 40:15, Matthew 28:19, Revelation 5:9ff, Proverbs 28:12, 29:18What does God say about nations, people, politics, leaders, citizens / citizenship, and "the" church and "our" church and the future?"To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God."William Temple
Outward Bound inspires and encourages folks to take on the seemingly impossible, awakens the service ethic, and connects young people and adults to the earth which sustains us in life. The founder of Outward Bound, Kurt Hahn wrote 80 years ago: “Five social diseases surround the young, even in early childhood. There is the decline in fitness, due to modern methods of locomotion; the decline in initiative, due to the widespread disease of spectatoritis; the decline in care and skill, due to the weakened tradition of craftsmanship; the decline in self-discipline, due to the ever-present availability of tranquilizers and stimulants; and the decline of compassion, which William Temple called ‘spiritual death.’ I regard it as the foremost task of education to insure the survival of these qualities: an enterprising curiosity, an indefatigable spirit, tenacity in pursuit, readiness for sensible self-denial, and, above all, compassion." For 18 years Dr. John Huie served as Director of the NC Outward Bound School, now headquartered in Swannanoa. He initiated the Environmental Leadership Center of Warren Wilson College in 1995 and laid the foundation for Muddy Sneakers in 2006, an environmental program for fifth grade public school students now spreading across the state. John has served as teacher, coach, headmaster and professor of education in Tennessee, Minnesota, Texas, and Ontario. He has served for the last decade as an Educational Consultant and Life Coach helping families nationwide in crisis with struggling teenagers and young adults. He holds degrees from Davidson and Emory. His Ph.D. is from the University of California, Santa Barbara. John and his wife, Jaan Ferree, live in Asheville and are parents of six children.
“Revolutionary Words”12/15/19Luke 1:46-56Core Belief: Authority of the Bible I believe the Bible is the Word of God and has the right to command my belief and action.2 Timothy 3:16-17 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.Scripture: Luke 1:46-5646 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53he has filled the hungry with good things,and the rich he has sent away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” 56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.The Message of this Passage:From the Communicator’s Commentary: “Mary’s hymn of response to the angel is the famous Magnificat, so named by the Roman church for the key word in the Latin translation of the first line of this prayer of praise offered by Mary.Mary, in her naturalness, unself-consciousness and humility, was now able to sing about how proud she was that God had chosen her. In her true humility, she praised God that she was especially blessed.There is a danger in trying to spiritualize the Magnificat.These are the most revolutionary words ever spoken.Through the Messiah, the mighty will be brought low; the humble, the lowly, will be exalted.William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, warned his missionaries to India never to read the Magnificat in public. Christians were already suspect in that country and they were cautioned against reading verses so inflammatory.Jesus, the ultimate revolutionary, completely reverses all human values. What Mary was prophesying about her unborn son is terrifying to the establishment, whoever and wherever they are. They cannot hear these words gladly. We may attempt instead to spiritualize these verses, but deep down we all know that Jesus has come to instigate the kind of revolution we need.Henry James, great novelist of the past, said in Ivan Turgenieff, ‘Life is, in fact, a battle. Evil is insolent and strong; beauty enchanting but rare; goodness very apt to be weak; folly very apt to be defiant; wickedness to carry the day; imbeciles to be in great places; people of sense in small (a comforting thought); and mankind generally unhappy, but the world as it stands is no illusion, no fanaticism, no evil dream of the night; we wake up to it again forever and ever; we can neither forget it nor deny it nor dispense with it; that’s what the world is.’José Ortega y Gasset, one of the greatest of all Spanish writers, said, ‘Before long there will be heard throughout the planet a formidable cry rising like the howling of innumerable dogs to the stars asking for someone or something to take command.’ And that’s why Jesus has come—to take command to lead the revolution, an incredible revolution, unlike Mao’s or Marx’s or Castro’s; a revolution of love.”I was interviewed once by a reporter who had covered Mother Teresa’s visit to Boys Town. I asked him about that visit and her reactions. He said, “They showed her all over the grounds of Boys Town, the dormitories, the classrooms, the gymnasium, the dining hall. At the end of the tour, she turned to the head priest and said, ‘You have all this, but do you really love them?’ Jesus loves us. This is the strategy of this ultimate social revolutionary. And God of the impossible is leading His people in this revolution.Answering Interpretive Questions:Why was it important that Mary was a humble person? What if she had been proud? Could God have used her in the same way? Why or why not?What does Mary do which proves to us she believed what the Angel of the Lord told her?Name some of the things Mary said about God in these words of praise:1.2.3.4.5.6.According to verses 50-53 how does God deal with those who fear him, the humble, and the hungry?In contrast, how does he deal with those who are proud, the rulers, the rich?How does reflecting on God’s attributes affect the way you worship?Someone has said, “You can be too big for God to use, but you can never be too small?How does that square with the teaching of this text?What are some of the telltale signs that we are too proud for him to use?The proof of belief is what you do, not just what you feel. What will you do today as a result of what you have learned in this passage?NOTES:
In this episode, I present the origin and reason why I chose to name this podcast "My Ghost in the Machine". The episode explores the relationship between Cartesian dualism and Gilbert Ryle's characterization of Descartes' philosophy as "the dogma of the ghost in the machine". This episode also presents and discusses the dreams that inspired Descartes to develop his philosophy and why the Bishop of Manchester, William Temple, would later describe the dreams as “the most disastrous moment in the history of Europe”.
How do we make sense of the good things that happen in life which are beyond our control? Do we put them down to luck or is God involved somehow? “When I pray, coincidences happen; when I don’t, they don’t.” William Temple pic.twitter.com/0XmpodIG3c — Salford Elim Church (@SalfordElim) 17 November 2019
Ampotech, a spin-off from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), has developed a smart power-monitoring device compatible with existing homes that can track how much energy each household appliance consumes. To tell us more is founder of Ampotech, William Temple.
The Archbishop of Canterbury delivered the William Temple Foundation's annual lecture on Monday, at Lambeth Palace. It was entitled Reimagining Britain: Faith and the Common Good. The William Temple Foundation's director of research, Professor Chris Baker, described it as “a realistic but hopeful assessment of the state of the nation, the place of the church and religion, and the prospects for a revitalised social and public sphere. It was a lecture brimming with intellectual and theological ideas, but also characterised by down-to-earth and personal anecdotes.”
Bernard Rose, Preces & ResponsesTertius Noble in B minorEdward Elgar, Give unto the LordGary Davison, A Prayer of Self-Dedication
In this episode, a 17th-century tale of true love and extreme patience. Dorothy Osborne and William Temple fell deeply in love, but her family forbade the match. For years, while Dorothy’s creepily overbearing brother presented her with suitor after suitor of his own choosing, Dorothy and William faithfully sent each other secret love letters. Dorothy’s letters survive, and reveal the story of her escape from the clutches of her possessive brother in pursuit of “happily … The post THE TRUE LOVE Dorothy Osborne appeared first on What'shername.
REFLECTION QUOTES “Forever is composed of nows.” ~Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), American poet “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.” ~John Wesley (1703-1791), Anglican clergyman credited with founding the Methodist Church “I asked her what was so scary about unmerited free grace? She replied something like this: ‘If I was saved by my good works – then there would be a limit to what God could ask of me or put me through. I would be like a taxpayer with rights. I would have done my duty and now I would deserve a certain quality of life. But if it is really true that I am a sinner saved by sheer grace – at God's infinite cost – then there's nothing he cannot ask of me.'” ~Timothy Keller, The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith “We shall be judged according to our works – this is why we are exhorted to do good works. The Bible assuredly knows nothing of those qualms about good works, by which we only try to excuse ourselves and justify our evil works. The Bible never draws the antithesis between faith and good works so sharply as to maintain that good works undermine faith. No, it is evil works rather than good works which hinder and destroy faith. Grace and active obedience are complementary. There is no faith without good works, and no good works apart from faith.” ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), The Cost of Discipleship “‘There cannot be a God of love,' people say, ‘because if there was, and he looked upon the world, his heart would break.' The church points to the Cross and says, ‘It did break.'” ~William Temple (1881-1944), Archbishop of Canterbury SERMON PASSAGE Ephesians 2 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Titus 2 11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, 14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. 15 These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you. Titus 3 3 For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. 4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable… Galatians 6 9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. 10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith. 1 Peter 2 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Institute of Historical Research Founding the Welfare State: The Collective Biography of William Beveridge, R. H. Tawney and William Temple Lawrence Goldman (Institute of Historical Research, London) This paper will examine the close personal...
Brad Sullivan 4 Epiphany, Year C January 31, 2016 Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX Luke 4:21-30 Giving God Away So, the people of Nazareth weren’t all that taken with Jesus, were they? In Matthew and Mark’s gospels they were scandalized by Jesus as soon as he started preaching to them. He was from Nazareth and they didn’t think the hometown kid could really make it so good; who was he, preaching to them? In Luke’s gospel, however, we get a very different picture of what happened. The people of Nazareth were awed and amazed at what Jesus had taught them, and by the works he had performed in Capernaum. They note that Jesus was Joseph’s son, and they seem to be especially proud that a hometown boy was there, proclaiming fulfillment of Isaiah’s words of God’s grace. “This is fantastic!” They thought. “We’ve always been a kind of nothing little town, and now we’ve got one of our own who’s already done great things and will do even greater things for us. He’s one of us. Now we’re gonna be great!” Then, Jesus kind of let them down with what he said next. “Yes, I’m from here, but my mission, and God’s grace is not just for you. Heck, it’s not even primarily for you. Just like Elijah and Elisha, I’m going to bring God’s grace to everyone, Jew and Gentile.” As if that wasn’t bad enough, he was basically telling the people, that while it was the year of the Lord’s favor, it wasn’t necessarily going to be too terribly favorable for them. See, the stories he told of Elijah and Elisha were about both of those prophets preaching and healing folks who weren’t Israelites, folks who were Gentiles, and Elijah and Elisha were preaching to and healing Gentiles because they had been rejected by Israel. Israel at the time was under the rule of some pretty bad kings, and they were no longer faithful to God, so God was taking his salvation elsewhere. “Like Israel of old,” Jesus was saying, “y’all aren’t really as faithful to God as you’ve led yourselves to believe, and the good news is going to reach the Gentiles with much greater effectiveness than y’all. Essentially, you’ve squandered God’s grace, so it’s moving on.” So at that point, yeah, they got pretty upset at the hometown kid telling them that the year of the Lord’s favor had come, that they were basically going to ignore and reject it, and that the year of the Lord’s favor was going to be accepted by Gentiles rather than by them. He was telling them, “y’all seem to want this all for yourself, for your own benefit only, and that’s not the way God’s kingdom works. Y’all are supposed to be introducing God to the nations, not despising the nations because they don’t have God.” They’d shut God up in a box, and God was springing out of it. God was already there with the Gentiles, and Israel was supposed to let them know that. So, Jesus was going to let the nations know that. This fact apparently didn’t sit well with the people of Nazareth. “We want you all for ourselves. We want to control the outcome of this new prophet. God is supposed to behave the way we want him to, the way our religion tells us he will.” So they became angry enough to try to kill Jesus. Their anger may have stemmed from the fact that deep inside, they knew Jesus was correct. When we’re shamed, we often react with anger, and we’re only shamed by something if we believe there is truth to it. The people of Nazareth seemed to know the truth of Jesus’ words, that they hadn’t been living as a light to the nations. They hadn’t been bringing good news to the poor, release to the captive, freedom for the oppressed, and recovery of sight to the blind (even if that sight was given by another persons’ eyes, taking the blind alongside with them). They hadn’t been living they ways that Isaiah prophesied, and then they expected Jesus to be good news primarily for them. To be fair, that’s not an uncommon trap that people who experience grace and good news fall into. Even Jesus’ first disciples fell into the same trap. As Bishop Doyle points out in his book, A Generous Community, Peter and James and John wanted to build booths when they saw Jesus transfigured. They wanted to keep control over that event and, then they could bring others there. They would have control over that moment of grace. Additionally, at one point when little children were trying to see Jesus, they disciples didn’t want the little children coming to Jesus. They wanted to control access to him and to keep their places of power and authority, but Jesus wasn’t having it with them any more than the people of Nazareth. “Let the little children come to me,” Jesus said, “For it is to such as them that the Kingdom of God belongs.” Jesus and the Kingdom of God were never meant to be kept as a prize for one’s own benefit. Jesus and the Kingdom of God were always meant to be given away. As former Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, famously said, "The Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members." Now he didn’t say only. The church doesn’t only exist for the benefit of those who are not its members. The church exists for both its members and for those who are not its members, but do we sometimes find ourselves in the same trap as the disciples and the people of Nazareth, wanting Jesus primarily for ourselves, working first and foremost for us? If you’re anything like me, there are times when the answer is yes. I’m guessing all of us have times when we primarily want Jesus for ourselves, and the thought of giving Jesus and the Kingdom of God away doesn’t seem right, especially if we’re giving it away to people who seem undeserving in our eyes. Further, giving Jesus and his kingdom away raises fears that there won’t be enough for us. If we as a church do too much work for those outside, will there still be enough Jesus left for us? The truth is, Jesus, his kingdom, and his grace have no limits. There is always enough Jesus to go around. I asked last week when the good news or release from captivity has happened to us, and who was Jesus for us when that happened. Jesus has ministered to us in all kinds of ways and through all kinds of people, and Jesus is out there too, ministering to all kinds of people in all kinds of ways and places, and he is using all kinds of people to do his ministry. Sometimes people know that Jesus is ministering to them, and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes people believe in Jesus when he is ministering to them and through them, and sometimes they don’t. We heard in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians this morning, “Faith, hope, and love abide, these three, and the greatest of these is love.” If you have faith enough to move mountains but do not have love, you are nothing. Hearts of love are even more beautiful and important to God than are hearts of faith. “When did we see you naked and hungry and we clothed and fed you, Jesus?” “Whenever you did so to the least people,” Jesus responded, “whenever your hearts were full of love and compassion for others.” We are called as the church, as Jesus disciples to be people of love, people who give our love to other people. If you listen to much Christian media lately, there seems to be a divide between people of faith, and the bad people who don’t believe. That may work for our polarized society, but it is not what Jesus was about. Jesus loved people, whether Jew or Gentile. He brought faith to those who didn’t have it. He brought hope to those who were without it. He loved extravagantly. Our joy is that we too, as Jesus’ disciples get to love extravagantly, to bring hope with our love to people of faith and to people without faith. We get to invite people to be here with us, and we get to be out there where Jesus already is, sharing love, faith, and hope, serving others as Jesus’ disciples. In looking at the church, who we are and who we will become, Bishop Doyle writes: The God that we choose to follow is a God who is out and among the people. The God we follow bids us to make a Church that is…out and among the people…This God cannot be contained. God’s mission cannot be contained…We must become a generation of church-makers who play in the waters of baptism and in the Scriptures and around God’s altar. This is sacred and holy play through which we reenact – inside and outside church building, and in our lives – the great story of God’s creation. We are to be about making the world into a different place…with all the tools at our disposal. Most especially we are to make it new with God’s love, grace, forgiveness, and mercy. We are to share and open up our church and walk out into the sweet-smelling and lush garden of creation. We are to invite, welcome, and connect with others. We are to share the message that God says to all people – “Come unto me all you who travail and are heave laden and I will refresh you.”…Don’t keep the little children away. Don’t keep away those who have tried to follow Jesus and believe they have failed. Don’t keep [from God] those who have drifted away from church…Give God away. By all means let them all come. And let us go. And let us make the church together. Amen.
Brad Sullivan 4 Epiphany, Year C January 31, 2016 Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX Luke 4:21-30 Giving God Away So, the people of Nazareth weren’t all that taken with Jesus, were they? In Matthew and Mark’s gospels they were scandalized by Jesus as soon as he started preaching to them. He was from Nazareth and they didn’t think the hometown kid could really make it so good; who was he, preaching to them? In Luke’s gospel, however, we get a very different picture of what happened. The people of Nazareth were awed and amazed at what Jesus had taught them, and by the works he had performed in Capernaum. They note that Jesus was Joseph’s son, and they seem to be especially proud that a hometown boy was there, proclaiming fulfillment of Isaiah’s words of God’s grace. “This is fantastic!” They thought. “We’ve always been a kind of nothing little town, and now we’ve got one of our own who’s already done great things and will do even greater things for us. He’s one of us. Now we’re gonna be great!” Then, Jesus kind of let them down with what he said next. “Yes, I’m from here, but my mission, and God’s grace is not just for you. Heck, it’s not even primarily for you. Just like Elijah and Elisha, I’m going to bring God’s grace to everyone, Jew and Gentile.” As if that wasn’t bad enough, he was basically telling the people, that while it was the year of the Lord’s favor, it wasn’t necessarily going to be too terribly favorable for them. See, the stories he told of Elijah and Elisha were about both of those prophets preaching and healing folks who weren’t Israelites, folks who were Gentiles, and Elijah and Elisha were preaching to and healing Gentiles because they had been rejected by Israel. Israel at the time was under the rule of some pretty bad kings, and they were no longer faithful to God, so God was taking his salvation elsewhere. “Like Israel of old,” Jesus was saying, “y’all aren’t really as faithful to God as you’ve led yourselves to believe, and the good news is going to reach the Gentiles with much greater effectiveness than y’all. Essentially, you’ve squandered God’s grace, so it’s moving on.” So at that point, yeah, they got pretty upset at the hometown kid telling them that the year of the Lord’s favor had come, that they were basically going to ignore and reject it, and that the year of the Lord’s favor was going to be accepted by Gentiles rather than by them. He was telling them, “y’all seem to want this all for yourself, for your own benefit only, and that’s not the way God’s kingdom works. Y’all are supposed to be introducing God to the nations, not despising the nations because they don’t have God.” They’d shut God up in a box, and God was springing out of it. God was already there with the Gentiles, and Israel was supposed to let them know that. So, Jesus was going to let the nations know that. This fact apparently didn’t sit well with the people of Nazareth. “We want you all for ourselves. We want to control the outcome of this new prophet. God is supposed to behave the way we want him to, the way our religion tells us he will.” So they became angry enough to try to kill Jesus. Their anger may have stemmed from the fact that deep inside, they knew Jesus was correct. When we’re shamed, we often react with anger, and we’re only shamed by something if we believe there is truth to it. The people of Nazareth seemed to know the truth of Jesus’ words, that they hadn’t been living as a light to the nations. They hadn’t been bringing good news to the poor, release to the captive, freedom for the oppressed, and recovery of sight to the blind (even if that sight was given by another persons’ eyes, taking the blind alongside with them). They hadn’t been living they ways that Isaiah prophesied, and then they expected Jesus to be good news primarily for them. To be fair, that’s not an uncommon trap that people who experience grace and good news fall into. Even Jesus’ first disciples fell into the same trap. As Bishop Doyle points out in his book, A Generous Community, Peter and James and John wanted to build booths when they saw Jesus transfigured. They wanted to keep control over that event and, then they could bring others there. They would have control over that moment of grace. Additionally, at one point when little children were trying to see Jesus, they disciples didn’t want the little children coming to Jesus. They wanted to control access to him and to keep their places of power and authority, but Jesus wasn’t having it with them any more than the people of Nazareth. “Let the little children come to me,” Jesus said, “For it is to such as them that the Kingdom of God belongs.” Jesus and the Kingdom of God were never meant to be kept as a prize for one’s own benefit. Jesus and the Kingdom of God were always meant to be given away. As former Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, famously said, "The Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members." Now he didn’t say only. The church doesn’t only exist for the benefit of those who are not its members. The church exists for both its members and for those who are not its members, but do we sometimes find ourselves in the same trap as the disciples and the people of Nazareth, wanting Jesus primarily for ourselves, working first and foremost for us? If you’re anything like me, there are times when the answer is yes. I’m guessing all of us have times when we primarily want Jesus for ourselves, and the thought of giving Jesus and the Kingdom of God away doesn’t seem right, especially if we’re giving it away to people who seem undeserving in our eyes. Further, giving Jesus and his kingdom away raises fears that there won’t be enough for us. If we as a church do too much work for those outside, will there still be enough Jesus left for us? The truth is, Jesus, his kingdom, and his grace have no limits. There is always enough Jesus to go around. I asked last week when the good news or release from captivity has happened to us, and who was Jesus for us when that happened. Jesus has ministered to us in all kinds of ways and through all kinds of people, and Jesus is out there too, ministering to all kinds of people in all kinds of ways and places, and he is using all kinds of people to do his ministry. Sometimes people know that Jesus is ministering to them, and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes people believe in Jesus when he is ministering to them and through them, and sometimes they don’t. We heard in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians this morning, “Faith, hope, and love abide, these three, and the greatest of these is love.” If you have faith enough to move mountains but do not have love, you are nothing. Hearts of love are even more beautiful and important to God than are hearts of faith. “When did we see you naked and hungry and we clothed and fed you, Jesus?” “Whenever you did so to the least people,” Jesus responded, “whenever your hearts were full of love and compassion for others.” We are called as the church, as Jesus disciples to be people of love, people who give our love to other people. If you listen to much Christian media lately, there seems to be a divide between people of faith, and the bad people who don’t believe. That may work for our polarized society, but it is not what Jesus was about. Jesus loved people, whether Jew or Gentile. He brought faith to those who didn’t have it. He brought hope to those who were without it. He loved extravagantly. Our joy is that we too, as Jesus’ disciples get to love extravagantly, to bring hope with our love to people of faith and to people without faith. We get to invite people to be here with us, and we get to be out there where Jesus already is, sharing love, faith, and hope, serving others as Jesus’ disciples. In looking at the church, who we are and who we will become, Bishop Doyle writes: The God that we choose to follow is a God who is out and among the people. The God we follow bids us to make a Church that is…out and among the people…This God cannot be contained. God’s mission cannot be contained…We must become a generation of church-makers who play in the waters of baptism and in the Scriptures and around God’s altar. This is sacred and holy play through which we reenact – inside and outside church building, and in our lives – the great story of God’s creation. We are to be about making the world into a different place…with all the tools at our disposal. Most especially we are to make it new with God’s love, grace, forgiveness, and mercy. We are to share and open up our church and walk out into the sweet-smelling and lush garden of creation. We are to invite, welcome, and connect with others. We are to share the message that God says to all people – “Come unto me all you who travail and are heave laden and I will refresh you.”…Don’t keep the little children away. Don’t keep away those who have tried to follow Jesus and believe they have failed. Don’t keep [from God] those who have drifted away from church…Give God away. By all means let them all come. And let us go. And let us make the church together. Amen.
¿Qué nos enseñen los siguientes textos acerca de la condición de la humanidad en la muerte? Sal. 146:4; Ecl. 9:5, 6; Juan 11:11-14; Hech. 2:34. __________________________________________________________ La inspiración nos enseña que solo Dios es inmortal (1 Tim. 6:16) y que los seres humanos, separados de Dios, están sujetos a la muerte. Jesús enseñó que la muerte es un sueño que termina en una de las dos resurrecciones: una resurrección para vida o una resurrección de condenación (Juan 5:28, 29). William Temple, arzobispo de Canterbury, reconoció esto cuando escribió: “El hombre no es inmortal por naturaleza o por derecho; pero es capaz de ser inmortal, y se le ha ofrecido la resurrección de los muertos y la vida eterna, si la recibe de Dios y en los términos de Dios”–Nature, Man and God, p. 472. ¿De qué modo debemos entender textos como el de Mateo 25:46 y Apocalipsis 14:9 al 11? ¿Enseñan estos el tormento eterno en el infierno? __________________________________________________________ La idea de la inmortalidad humana se encuentra en todas las religiones primitivas, animistas y politeístas. También era un concepto importante en la filosofía griega, que concebía el Hades (el mundo de los muertos) como un mundo subterráneo, de fantasmas, en el cual el alma vivía una existencia crepuscular. Los griegos consideraban a los seres humanos como consistentes de materia y alma. A la muerte, ellos creían que la materia y el alma se separan, liberando el alma de la prisión de la materia, hacia una existencia independiente. En Mateo 25 y Apocalipsis 14, las palabras traducidas como “eterno” y “para siempre” no significan necesariamente algo que no tiene fin. Las palabras griegas aión y aiónios expresan duración tan larga como lo permite el sujeto. Por ejemplo, en Judas 7 se nos dice que las ciudades de Sodoma y Gomorra estaban sufriendo el castigo del fuego eterno (aiónios). No obstante, en 2 Pedro 2:6 dice que se transformaron en cenizas. Cuando el sujeto de las palabras “eterno” o “para siempre” es la vida de los redimidos que han recibido la inmortalidad, la palabra significa un tiempo sin fin. Cuando se refiere al castigo de los malvados, que no reciben la inmortalidad, la palabra tiene el significado de un período limitado de tiempo. Tanto los predicadores populares como las películas populares, el mundo, están inundados con el espiritismo (bajado en la idea de que los muertos viven ahora en otra existencia). ¿De qué modo nuestra comprensión del estado de los muertos nos da una protección poderosa contra este terrible engaño?
Andy Davis preaches another expository sermon on Genesis 24. The main subject of the sermon is how God provided a wife for Isaac after his mother's death. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - I. Introduction This is our second week of looking at this, the longest chapter in Genesis. And as I was thinking about the lessons and just the truth that there is in this chapter, I was thinking about the theme of guidance, and it reminded me of a story that I heard from the mission field, a while ago, concerning Hudson Taylor, who may have been the greatest missionary in church history or in the 19th century, at least, founder of China Inland Mission, a great man of God. And as he was en route to the mission field — he was heading there — the ship that he was sailing on was heading towards some sunken reefs off the coast of New Guinea. The charts were unmistakable, the captain knew that that's right where they were heading. The problem was there was no wind. And without any wind, the ship was in the hands of the currents in the sea, and they were bringing the ship right toward the sunken reefs. The captain did everything he could think to do to turn the ship but there just was no control without any wind. And so he said to Hudson Taylor that, “We've done everything that we can,” and he said, "No, sir, we haven't. Four of us are Christians, and we're going to go pray that God would give us wind." So they went down to their berth rooms and they got down on their knees, each in their own room, Hudson Taylor prayed a very brief time. And when he got done, he was absolutely convinced that God was going to send the wind and do it quickly, so he went up to the top and talked to the first officer who was steering the ship at that point. He was a godless man, had no faith in Christ, no interest in the Gospel. Hudson Taylor told the sailor, "You should let down the main sail in preparation for wind." He said, "What good is that? There's no wind." And he said, "Well, the wind is about to come because God is going to send it." And the sailor swore at Hudson Taylor, cursed at him and said, "I'd rather see a wind I can see, than hear about one that comes by prayer." Right as he was saying those words, the top most sail started to flap gently in the breeze. The guy looked up and said, "Well, it's only a cat's paw", that means only a puff of wind, but he didn't believe it. And so he went and loosened the main sail and tied it down just in time for a pretty strong gale that came along. It wasn't long before that ship was moving along at six or seven knots. They were able to miss the sunken reefs and go on to China. And this was the lesson that Hudson Taylor learned from that experience. "Thus did God encourage me before landing on China shores to bring every variety of need to him in prayer, and to expect that he would honor the name of Jesus Christ and give me help, the help that each emergency required.” Now, as I think about that ship, just kind of adrift and just being carried by the currents of the sea, no control and all that, and then in answer to prayer, along comes a God-given wind, directing it exactly where it needs to go, I get a picture of Genesis 24. And not just in the creation of a godly home, in marriage, as a direct answer to a specific prayer, as we saw last week — not just that — but just all the issues of our lives. Now, I know this morning that I'm speaking to a group of people, among a larger group, a group of people that are anxious about the spouse that God will bring into their lives. Some of you are in that category. Some of you remember the days when you were anxious about the spouse that God would bring into your lives. Some of you have children that are anxious about that. Others have other issues to do with marriage. But you know marriage as important a theme as it is in this chapter, and it will take a central role, is only a subset of God's larger sovereign control over the events of our lives to accomplish His end and His purpose. As I look, just speaking somewhat autobiographically, there have been few things in my life that I have prayed as fervently about as the things that led up to me being married to Christi. God really had me there for a while, and it's kind of like when God has you, he doesn't let you go quickly and easily. Put me back in the oven, I'm not done baking yet. And so there was so much prayer and so many things that went into us getting together as husband and wife. But again, that's just a subset of things that we still care about, even if we're married. We care about things concerning our children, about our church, about our nation, about our world, about loved ones and friends and co-workers that don't know the Lord. And the question is, is God still sending puffs of wind, strong breezes even an answer to a specific prayer? I say he does. So my enemy this morning is anxiety. I'm going after anxiety, that's my enemy, because I don't want you to be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, to present your request to God and let the peace of God transcend all understanding and bring you into a haven of peace as you rest in God. Now, that doesn't mean you're gonna get your spouse today. You might — I doubt it — but it doesn't mean that you will. But it does mean that God can put you at rest in his sovereignty, at peace in his guidance and control until it happens, that thing it is that you're concerned about. II. Review Now, last week, we saw in this account, it's the longest chapter in Genesis, 67 verses, and all I sought to do last week is just bring us through the text. So really, this is just the second half of last week's sermon, which I draw out theological principles and draw out applications from that, but that was last week, and I just need to remind you of some of the details of the text so that it will make sense to you. Some of you were not here last week. But in this chapter Abraham, aged, toward the end of his life, sees the hand of the Lord's blessing and everything that he's done, but knows there's something significant missing. His 40-year-old son, Isaac does not have a wife. And he knows this is absolutely foundational to the plan of God, the redemptive history. Isaac will not die a bachelor. That's not going to happen. He's got to have a wife, and so he calls in a servant and he puts the servant under an oath, commissions him to go get a wife from Abraham's home area, his home town, back in Mesopotamia. Abraham's servant takes the charge and goes, he makes his journey, and when he gets there, he prays a remarkable prayer. He prays specifically, concerning a well of water, and when the women, the young women would come, that if there would be one that would come and offer him some drink, if she would also offer drink to the camels, he would know that this was the one that God had chosen. And so, immediately after he finishes praying that prayer, Rebekah comes and the servant initiates with her and says, "Could I have some water?" And she says, "Yes, but also, could I water your camels?" Which amounted to, and I correct, 3200 pounds of water, not 320. Thank you for those of you that pointed that out, I do appreciate it. I have forgotten much of the math I learned at MIT, I'm ashamed to say it but I appreciate it. It's good to be humble. It's good to be humbled. 320 gallons, 3200 pounds of water. A big job nonetheless. And so she offered to do this, and it was this simple act of hospitality that led her into God's plan for her life. Remarkable. Little things matter. Little things are huge. Little acts of servanthood made all the difference for Rebekah. Well, the family learned of God's providence in 28-49, and they submitted to it gladly. The servant wanted to go immediately, the next day. They asked Rebekah, "Are you willing to go with this man?" She said, "I will go". By faith. Put yourself in Rebekah’s shoes, young ladies. Would you have gone to marry some man sight unseen back in some place somewhere? Her faith is significant. It's of a kind that's similar to Abraham's. "Leave your country and your people and go to the land I will show you. And I'll provide for you, I'll meet all your needs." And so she trusted God and went off and married this man who she had never met before. Isaac, for his part, went out into the field — he was meditating — he looks up, he sees the young woman; she covers herself with a veil — she's such a picture of purity and chastity — a beautiful picture there of righteousness. And the two come together, he brings her into his mother's tent as a sign, I believe, of her role that she's gonna play in that covenant community. She is taking Sarah's place in that way. The wedding ceremony itself is interestingly passed over in silence, but it, I believe, was there, and he pledged to marry her, and they had a covenant ceremony in that culture, whatever it was. Every culture is slightly different, but the core of it is the same. He pledged to be her husband and she to be his wife, and they were married. And it's so precious. At the end, it says that Isaac took Rebekah as his wife and he loved her. And he was comforted concerning the death of his mother. Just a beautiful picture. And that's the way it ends. That's the account of last week. III. Three Distinct Points of View for Applications Now, this week, first of all, I wanna change the order in your bulletin. What I wanna do is take three and do it at two and two at three. I wanna look first at three distinct points of view, the three different ways to understand this account. And this will stand somewhat as a paradigm for the way you can handle a lot of narrative accounts in the Book of Genesis. Secondly, we're going to look at five theological topics or spiritual issues connected with this account. And then third, we're gonna look some more at some specific applications. Let me tell you, the applications are gonna run right through the message for the most part. So it's not just at the end. I'll just probably be summarizing applications at the end. But listen throughout, I hope for God's wisdom to be speaking to you in your situation. Examples of Godliness First, let's look at three different ways of looking at this account. The first way of looking at this Old Testament historical narrative is just as examples of godliness, that we're gonna look through, and as we read this account, we're going to learn how to be godly people, godly men, godly women. We’re gonna just learn from the people in this account. Pictures of godliness. For example, Abraham. A godly man, submitted to God's work in his life, under the authority of God, seeing God's hand of blessing, but knowing something's lacking and wanting to be sure that the wife that is gotten for his son, Isaac, will be a godly woman who can carry on the work that God intends. And then you've got the servant. We don't have his name, we don't know for sure who it is, but the servant. So humble, so faithful, so obedient. A faith-filled man, a man of specific prayer, a man who loved to rejoice in what God was doing and to celebrate it openly, who would bow down before God in front of everyone and give praise and thanks to God. The servant. Or Rebekah, as we've mentioned. Again, humble. Again, hospitable, hard-working, faith-filled, chaste, in that no man had ever lain with her. Courageous, willing to allow her faith to be transferred into courageous, bold action. “I will go,” she says. A beautiful picture of a godly woman. And then you've got Isaac. We don't see much of him in this account, but we do see that he is submissive to God's will, he is a man of prayer and of meditation, he's a thinker. And I think if you look at the patriarchs and just the Old Testament accounts, he's one of the few men in the Old Testament who never married a rival wife. He was a one woman man. He loved Rebekah. It's not a small thing, at the end, when it says that Isaac loved Rebekah. He cherished her for their whole marriage; they had a delightful marriage. And then also we have an example of godly marriage as a whole, and we're gonna talk more about that as we go on. But if you wanna learn some things about marriage, this is a great chapter to go to in the Old Testament. So that's one kind of whole way to look at this account. Examples of righteousness. How can we be righteous like that? But let's remember that Abraham and Isaac were not just anybody in history. We are not Abraham, and neither are we Isaac, and so they were unique folks. Redemptive History And so the second way of looking at this is how God was fulfilling redemptive history. What is redemptive history? It is the unfolding of events in space and time that lead to Christ. That lead to the birth of Jesus Christ as a man. A man who humbled himself under the plan of God, who took on our sins, who died on the cross, and who was raised on the third day. This is the Gospel, and by belief in that gospel, forgiveness of sins is ours. But without Jesus having a human body, he could not have been a merciful and faithful high priest to us in service to God; he could not have offered himself as a sacrifice in our place for our sins. "What is redemptive history? It is the unfolding of events in space and time that lead to Christ. " And so the birth of Jesus was ultimately contingent upon a whole genealogy of marriages leading all the way up to this one that we're talking about here. Isaac and Rebekah. And so it isn't just anybody that's getting married here, but it's Isaac, the ancestor of Jesus Christ. And it isn't just any woman we're talking about here, no, this is Rebekah, the ancestor of Jesus Christ. And so here is God, faithful to His covenant promises to Abraham, fulfilling what he had said he would do, bringing Isaac a wife, who could carry on the lineage leading up to Christ. And if you are a saved person, this is, in part, your story. Not just that you would know how to be a godly husband or a godly wife, or how to find a spouse. That’s important. But that you would realize that this had happened, this happened, almost 4000 years ago, and as a result of that, you have salvation. Because in the fullness of time, Jesus Christ was born of a virgin and he took on a human body. So that's a second way of looking at this account. Spiritual Typology The third way is a little dicey, but it's really kind of fun, so I'm gonna go ahead and tell it to you. It’s the spiritual analogy way of looking at this text. There was, for a long time, a whole school or a system of interpretation, always looking for typologies and analogies in everything. But this one is kind of so clear and direct, I at least wanna bring it to your attention. The reason I feel that it's okay to talk about this marriage this way, namely as a picture of Christ in the church, because the Apostle Paul gives us permission to look at every marriage that way. In Ephesians Chapter 5, he says, “‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ This is a profound mystery [says Paul] — but I am talking about Christ and the church.” Did you hear that? Profound mystery. Marriage, then, is a picture of the beautiful relationship between Christ and the church. Oh, what a beautiful hymn that was earlier. Wasn't that pretty? I just love listening to that song. It always makes me cry, and that's tough right before I preach, but I was able to pull myself together and get up here and preach. But just the beauty of marriage, the beauty of the picture of Christ and the church, but do you see how beautiful the typology is here? You've got Abraham, the father, representing God the Father. You've got the servant representing the Holy Spirit. You've got Isaac representing Jesus Christ. You've got Rebekah representing the church. And you've got the mission that the servant goes, representing the worldwide evangelization. Under the direction of the Holy Spirit, you will receive power, when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and be my witnesses, and by the redemption and the regeneration of the spirit, the bride of Christ is assembled and brought to Christ. And so in Revelation 21, she's the bride beautifully prepared for her husband. It’s the Spirit that's given to prepare us, to wash us and make us clean, to redeem us and to bring us in. And so the servant brings the bride to Christ, and they are married, what a picture. So those are three different ways you can look at Genesis 24. And I think all of them contribute something to our understanding of what's happening in this chapter. IV. Five Theological Topics Covenant Faithfulness But now, what I'd like to do is zero in and look at specific topics that are important to this text, to this account, and that come forward that we can learn something about God. We can learn about his ways of dealing with us. The first is this idea of covenant faithfulness. It's in this account four times. The Hebrew word is hesed. Hesed — and it is sometimes translated kindness, covenant love, steadfast love, this kind of thing. Look at verse 12, for example, when the servant prays, “O LORD, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love [or lovingkindness, or something like that] to my master Abraham.’” Now, what is he talking about? Well, God, you made a covenant. Please uphold your covenant. The covenant is not complete yet. He’s going to have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. That means he's got to have a wife for Isaac, so remember your promise and get a wife for Isaac — covenant love. Be faithful to your promise. He does the same thing in verse 14. As he's praying, he says, “Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’ — let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love [or Hesed, covenant love] to my master.” Now, the basic idea is this. God operates with us on the basis of the covenant that he's made. The Old Covenant, the New Covenant. This was a covenant that he had made to Abraham under the stars, remember? The covenant cutting ceremony in Genesis 15. God had made a promise. Basically, on the basis of that promise, the servant is standing and saying, “God, fulfill your promise to Abraham.” And so also we have promises made to us in the New Covenant, don't we? How about this one for example? It says in John 6:39, “And this is the will of him who sent me [said Jesus], that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.” Is that not a covenant promise? He's made a promise to us that we will be raised up at the last day. We can pray that and say, “Oh Lord, I pray that I would not be lost, but that I would be raised up at the last day. And Lord, I pray that my children and that members of my church and then co-workers that are believers in Christ, that have made a pledge to Christ, that Christians who have trusted him would never, none of them be lost, but all of them raised up at the last day. You made the promise, Oh Lord, now, fulfill it.” Covenant faithfulness, our God makes promises and then he keeps them and they're very nitty-gritty. There's nuts and bolts to the promise. Isaac's gotta have a wife, and so please show your faithfulness in your covenant promise here and now. Please. We can pray like that and believe God is a covenant maker and keeper. God’s Accurate Guidance Secondly, is this topic of God's accurate guidance. Look at verses 26-27. It says, “Then the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD, saying, [This is the servant after God answered the prayer.] ‘Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast [covenant, Hesed] love, and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, [Listen!] the LORD has led me in the way to the house of my master's kinsmen.’” Oh, is this beautiful? What a strong testimony for the way that God navigates our lives, very much like that ship, once it had enough wind that the tiller started to respond. The ship gets navigated and goes wherever the helmsman wants it to go. And so God directs our lives. This is a huge issue. Do you realize that in an average year, Americans spend over $200 million in consultation with fortune tellers and astrologers? Isn't that incredible? $200 million. And what is it they're seeking from these charlatans? These instruments of the devil. What are they seeking? They're seeking guidance. They wanna know what they should do. They want direction and guidance. Some people navigate by reading weekly advice columns. Bad idea, okay? Dear Abby and Dear whatever, I don't know who has taken their place, but advice columns or Dr. Phil. Tune in. Some folks will just bare their souls and tell their problems, they want guidance; they wanna know. And then there's the whole self-help book industry and counselors of the non-Christian sort, psychologists and psychiatrists, that are giving advice. That's what they do. You know why? Because people are desperate for guidance. They wanna know what to do, tell me what to do, guide me. Life is terrifying without accurate navigation. But you know what? As a believer in Christ, you should know nothing of that terror. Nothing. You should be able to say, like the servant did, "The Lord led me and guided me here, he's guiding me." And there are verses that tell us that he'll do that. Isaiah 30:21 is one of my favorite. Where it says, “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’” Isn't that beautiful? This is the way, walk in it. Or in Proverbs 3:5-6, where it says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.” We should rely on that. God gives guidance. He gives it through the indwelling Holy Spirit. He gives it through the written word of God. He gives guidance to his children. “My sheep hear My voice, I know them and they follow me.” I give them eternal life. Guidance. God’s Sovereign Providence Thirdly, we see very closely related to that the doctrine of God's sovereign providence. Providence. Things happen, coincidences occur, things line up and get clicked in and connected. It’s the doctrine of providence and a marvelous one. In 1678, John Flavel published a book, The Mystery of Providence, asserting that God's sovereign rule extends to the smallest of details, and is essentially a mystery. And so it is taught in the Bible. It says in Proverbs 16:33, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.” Every dice roll comes up a five, or a two, or a one because God says so. God is jealous over His physical universe, He rules over all things, He's the King. Or how about this? Jesus said this, he said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny and yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from the will of your Father.” So what the Bible does is argue from those little things up to the greatest thing. If God cares how a lot is cast into the lap, if He cares about how a sparrow falls when it dies off the branch, how much more will He care about how a man and a woman get together in marriage? And how much more of the son of Abraham, Isaac himself? God rules over the events of our lives. It says in Ephesians 1:11, “In him we were also chosen, [it says] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.” Our God is a sovereign ruler and King, and it's a delightful thing to understand this doctrine of providence, this mystery of providence. Now, when it comes to dice, okay, no problem, I don't know why God would care whether it came up at five or a two or a one, but okay, I can give Him that. And birds, fine. But what about human beings? Does God actually rule over the thoughts and decisions and inclinations of the hearts of human beings? Well, look what happens in getting Isaac together with Rebekah. The servant prays a specific kind of prayer, and no sooner is he finished than Rebekah comes up and says, "Can I help you?” I mean, is that an accident? Like William Temple said, "The more I pray, the more coincidences happen. When I don't pray, coincidences stop happening.” And so, these coincidences. Now, either God laid that specific prayer on the servant's heart, or he laid the hospitality on Rebekah's heart, or can I suggest both? And he's working at both ends, so that the two of them get together. It's a beautiful thing to see. Henry Blackaby talks about this kind of thing in Experiencing God. He says that God lines up markers in your life, and that you just look and see back, how has God been dealing with me? What kinds of things has he been preparing me for? What is he getting me ready to do? The Providence of God, look for it. And if you don't see those kind of wonderful, spiritual coincidences happening in your life, I say that you're not praying the way the servant did, you're not out on the cutting edge, the front line of the advance of the kingdom of heaven. 'Cause when you're involved in evangelism and you're involved in missions and you're just doing these things, you start to see these beautiful coincidences happening and boy is it exciting. But God is a providential ruler. He rules over all things. Now, I will give you a caution, I believe it's hard to see and interpret properly the providence of God. It's hard to do. It's less certain than interpreting scripture. Interpreting scripture, I can say is something like this, but the thing David had done was displeasing to the Lord. Well, it says right there, and therefore, I know what God thought about David's adultery of Bathsheba. I don't have to worry about it or wonder, it says, but history doesn't tell us. When a tsunami happens, we can learn certain things from the Bible, but to specifically apply it to everything, is very difficult to do. William Cowper, the hymn writer in the early 19th century, was a man given to depression and discouragement. A great lover of Jesus Christ, a great poet, but he had, I think, probably some imbalances and issues in his life, and frequently struggled with deep depression. And at one point in his life, he was ready to kill himself, commit suicide. And he decided he was gonna do it by throwing himself into the Thames River in London. So he called for a cab, a driver, to take him down to the Thames River. However, thick fog came and surrounded the cabbie as he was driving the horse; they couldn't find the way to the river. After driving around for a long time, finally the cabbie says, “I don't know where we are. Get out.” He gets out right on his own doorstep. “Message received. You don't want me to kill myself.” And after that, he wrote the hymn that we're gonna be closing with today, “God Moves in a Mysterious Way.” And this is what he wrote: "God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take, the clouds ye so much dread, are big with mercy, and shall break in blessings on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace. Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face. Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter, and He will make things plain." Now, you can't scan all of God's work in history — providence — and interpret it all accurately. You’ll miss it, you'll get things wrong. But in the end, we will look back and see God's handiwork. Our God is sovereign, He's ruling over events of life. Godly Marriage Now, one of the main topics in this, of course, is how godly marriages are formed. And I wanna talk to you about four different things I get out of this text to understand how God puts marriages together. The first is a very simple principle. God makes marriages. Do you see it in this text? God put Isaac and Rebekah together. God makes marriages. The supporting text for this is Genesis 2:22. It says, “Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.” Now, I know some of you single guys are saying, "God, do it! Just do it! What is so hard? I mean, Adam had it easy. Wake up and there she is. I mean, there's no problem, right? And frankly, even Isaac had it easy. He just went out in the field to meditate and there she is. Do that. I like that. That's good. Bring her to me.” We'll talk more about that in a minute, but God makes marriages. A second supporting text for this is in Matthew 19:6, in which Jesus speaking about marriage says, “So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” Point of application: single people who are sorely tempted toward anxiety in this area, don't be anxious. Cast all your burdens and cares on Him because He cares for you. Trust in him to provide that spouse, that godly husband, that godly wife. But now, I just feel duty-bound to ask a tough question. Does God make every marriage? Does he make them all? That's a tough question. What if, for example, a Christian violates God's clear principle on spiritually mixed marriages? It says in 2 Corinthians 6:14, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. … For what fellowship does light have with darkness?” What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? Don't marry a non-Christian. And it's the same root word, “yoked together" that you get in Jesus's statement in Matthew 19:6, “…what God has joined together, let man not separate.” Now, my question is, did Jesus intend to say that God yokes together every marriage? What about those that it were done in violation to his clear scriptural principle? Well, this is not an easy question to answer. But coming at it pastorally, let's say I come to the conclusion that Matthew 19:6 doesn't refer to every marriage, just to some. These would be the matches made in heaven, "Oh, there are a match made in heaven." Do you see the gaping loophole through Matthew 19:6? Through which every troubled marriage will run? Every one? "Well, I don't think ours is a match made in heaven. I don't think God joined us together, and I think the sooner we get it separated, the better." I believe Jesus intended every marriage. Well then, what about those that were put together in violation to God's word? Well, I think that God acts differently in putting together godly marriages along the pattern of His commands, than He does in pronouncing a couple that is standing in front of witnesses and saying, "I will be her husband." She says, "I will be his wife. We are committing to each other." In every culture, there's a way to do that. In every culture, we call it marriage. When that pledge gets made, God yokes them together, and Paul calls it a mystery. A profound mystery. From that moment forward, he upholds the oath. He has yoked them together in his mind. He reckons them or considers them no longer two, but now one. And what he does when he does that, we may not, must not separate. Now you say, "Well, divorce is a big problem in our culture.” It’s true, and this is the whole challenge of pastoral ministry. You see, before any sin occurs, a faithful pastor has to do everything he can to warn people not to commit the sin. To labor so that people are protected from the great damage that sin causes. But then after the sin, a godly pastor will labor to bring somebody to a point of repentance, and then once that repentance is there and they repudiate the sin and call it by its biblical name, then they are assured of forgiveness and grace and mercy, and the blessings of God to go on. You see? It's a challenge for pastors, how do you do that in one sermon? How do you do both? Well, you just need to know where you're at in that continuum. If divorce has been part of your past, understand what the Bible really says. You do other folks no good service to undo Matthew 19:6 and say, it's not there anymore. Don't do that. Say, “We sinned. We did wrong things. But from this point forward, God has blessed our union and he will continue to do so.” You see? But for those who haven't been married yet or who are struggling in marriage, work it out. Be faithful to each other. God makes marriages. The second point I wanna make is that God makes marriages in the flow of everyday life and in a cultural context. What do I mean by that? Well, he puts marriages together in as wide a variety of ways as there are people. If we got all the married couples here and just had the rest of the afternoon and say, "Well, how did you meet? Well, how did you meet? Well, how about you? How did you guys meet?" Unbelievable. The variety of stories. Some people met, they were co-workers at a job, some people met in college, some people met in elementary school. Those are interesting folks, aren't they? Alright? But not a lot. But there are some, okay? Some people meet at an airport, some people were on a mission trip together, some people were in a prayer group together, some people just in a youth group or a college and career group. It's unbelievably varied. You never know how it's going to happen. And I'd say to you, godly brother, godly sister, God has got somebody for you, in the end, frankly, it's gonna amount about the same as it was for Adam and for Isaac. He's gonna bring her. Godly sister, he's gonna bring that husband. In the end, you will say, God did it. God did it. He brought us together. And so, it happens in the flow of life. It happens as you're living, as you're growing. The third point I wanna make is that special effort and preparation is required by people. God isn't going to just... You don't just stand still in rooms, I'm not moving until she comes. Okay, I'm right here. No, you're gonna live your life and you're going to prepare yourself. You know, I think someone once said, I think it's true: Marriage is not so much a matter of finding the right person as being the right person. God sees you, He knows where you're at in your physical and spiritual development, He knows what's happening, be faithful in little, and He will enable you to be faithful in much, you see. So be faithful in your relationships now, grow in grace in the knowledge of Christ, prepare yourself as a Christian. But I'm gonna go beyond that. Prepare yourself if you're a single person, even if you're youth, if you're in the youth group now, prepare yourself now for your future marriage. Start praying for your husband, young ladies. Start praying for your wife, even if you're 14, 12 years old. Pray for him, pray for her. Get ready. Parents, pray for your children. I mean, they come home from the hospital, start praying that prayer. Oh God, I don't know if he or she's born yet, but watch over her, watch over him, get them ready. Pray for these things And also learn about marriage. Study from the good godly marriages in the church, it's one of the great advantages of being in a local church. Prepare yourself, hang out with godly folks, see how their marriage is going, how It works, prepare yourself. And then finally, this special effort on your part should not in any way lead you to feel anxious. It doesn't undo the first point. God will prepare you. He will enable you to do the things you need to do in order to get ready for marriage. He'll prepare you and He will sustain you and He will strengthen you. Faith-Filled Prayer The final point I wanna make, generally, about the text before some final applications, is concerning faith-filled prayer. It says in Psalm 57:2, “I will cry to God Most High, To God who accomplishes all things for me.” Is your prayer life anything like Abraham's servant? "O Lord, may it be that if the next girl who comes along and says such and such, that I know she is the one"? I mean, that is incredible. It is God honoring, it's in the flow of redemptive history, it's fitting into the promises of God, it is specific and measurable, and it is a ground for great worship and praise when God answers. Do you pray like that? Do you have, like some saints like George Müller, in effect, a checkbook of unanswered prayers that you're waiting on to see what God will do? I think this is a remarkable thing. As Temple said, William Temple, "When I pray, coincidences happen. When I cease to pray, coincidences cease." "It is God honoring, it's in the flow of redemptive history, it's fitting into the promises of God, it is specific and measurable, and it is a ground for great worship and praise when God answers. Do you pray like that? " V. Application Understand God’s Role in Marriage Now, a couple of final applications and we’ll be done. We've understood or sought to understand God's role in marriage. I know that not every single person I'm speaking to is going to get married. It's not automatic. There are some people who are given the gift of singleness, and that's a great gift, Jesus said it that way. It's a great gift. But it is God's normal pattern. It is his normal pattern. I tell you this, God will give you one gift or the other. He doesn't give you no gift. So he will give you either singleness or he will give you a wife. Trust God to give you your gift. Value marriage Secondly, value marriage. This is so important in these days. Marriage is under great attack. I don't need to speak of the strange legislation in Massachusetts or some of the other odd things in San Francisco. I don't need to go into those things to say that marriage is under attack today. Marriage is under attack from divorce, it's under attack from feminism, which says that, at some point, in the '70s and '80s, that marriage would become obsolete. Well, it isn't. It's not going to become obsolete. And so we, as the church, we need to value and cherish marriage itself. Sometimes it may take courage. I read an article in a Christian young people's magazine talking about how it takes courage for young folks to still believe in marriage if their folks got a divorce. To say it didn't work out for them, they didn't follow God's ways, but I can get married and my marriage can be godly, it can be good. Key verse on this is Hebrews 13:4, “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure…” Honor marriage and keep the marriage bed pure. Husbands: Value your precious wives The final word I wanna say to you is really a word to husbands. Husbands, value your wives. I think that Rebekah is an incredible gift to Isaac. She's precious. She's special. She's wonderful, she's incredible. She’s going to be a fountain of blessing in his life for the rest of his life. He's gonna cherish her. It's so beautiful. Notice the odd order, different than America now. Different than America. The different order, it says that he married her and he loved her. We usually go the other way around, don't we? We love and then we get married. Well, I'm coming to the conclusion that the love that's mentioned here and the love that's in Ephesians 5 develops over years and years in a marriage. It's not cheap, it's not light, it's not easy. It's Christ's love for the church. A love that lays down yourself for your wife day after day. Have you told her that you love her? Have you told her that you cherish her? That she's special to you? God said that He would reward a cup of cold water given to one of the servants of God. He would never forget it, they never lose their reward. How many cups of cold water have you received from this wife? How many prayers? How many words of counsel? How many gifts of love? How many times has she offered herself to you? Body, spirit, soul, everything to help you and strengthen you in your marriage? Do you cherish her? And this community here, this believing community, this church, we are countercultural. We're flowing the opposite direction. We're upholding godly roles for men and for women. Well, I say to you, we must be a place that celebrates the role of a godly wife openly. We need to say it's a wonderful thing to be a godly wife. Indispensable. Indispensable to the sovereign plan of God. Without Rebekah, there's no Christ. And therefore, there needed to be a Rebekah. So what I'm saying is value and cherish your wives. Value and cherish them. Tell them that you love them. You hear about the husband that says, "You know, I told you I loved you the day we got married. And if anything changes, I'll let you know. Alright?" I don't wanna be a church like that. "Now women, we told you, your role is important. If anything changes, we'll let you know." I think there needs to be a constant stream of affirmation and encouragement of how vital Rebekah is to Isaac. Trust in Christ Final word, Jesus Christ. This is a picture of salvation, isn't it? This is a picture of Christ. Are you saved? Have you trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord? Are you trusting in Him to save your soul and not just get you a wife or a husband? Jesus Christ came into the world as a result of Isaac and Rebekah getting together. As a result of the twins, Jacob and Esau being born, as a result of a long chain of events, but the point is the salvation of your soul and mine. Are you trusting in Him today?
Pastor Andy Davis preaches an expository sermon on Genesis 24. The main subject of the sermon is how God provided a wife for Isaac after his mother's death. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - We're looking today, as you heard, at Genesis 24, and I stand before you, a blessed man. I'm thinking about Ephesians 1, in which it says that, as a Christian, I'm “blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” All of those spiritual blessings are mine, but I'm blessed in the earthly realms too by my wife, and the delight in having her as a wife is infinitely greater because I believe that God gave her to me. Not just that we stumbled on each other and as luck would have it, or like in some of those romance novels — which I don't read, but I imagine what they would be like — as boy meets girl and all that kind of thing, just the random swirling chance that puts a man and a woman together. I don't believe in that. I believe, rather, that God makes marriages. I believe he draws a man and a woman together, he puts them together. Now, I think it's mysterious, like it's very mysterious how God works, and I doubt that any of it, if I spoke to the married couples, those who have been married a long time or a short time, and I asked, How did you get together? I doubt that the watering of camels had anything to do with it. And if I were to follow the lives of single people and find out how you eventually got married, again, I don't think camels are gonna be involved. But yet there are some amazing principles here in Genesis 24. That show us that there's a God at work in this process, that God puts a man and a woman together, and yes, it's mysterious and yes, it's hard to understand. The wisest man who lived before Christ was Solomon. This what he wrote in Proverbs 30 — I love this — he says, “There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a maiden.” “I don't know how that works,” Solomon says, "I don't know how he's acting like he's never acted before, and how she's actually interested as a result and how the whole thing comes together. I don't know, it's a mystery to me," says Solomon. It’s a mystery to me as well. But I see the Father's hand in it, don't you? I. What God Joined Together: Isaac Marries Rebekah And Jesus told us when he was speaking on divorce in Matthew 19, He said, “…what God has joined together, let man not separate.” God makes marriages, that's a delightful thing, isn't it? And so therefore, the gift that I have in Christi, the gift that all of you have in your spouse, it's come to you from God, and that makes it a million times more precious. Amen? That's what Genesis 24 is about. It's about the sovereign hand of God. It’s about providence. It’s about how God causes specific things to happen at specific moments, so that a specific man knows a specific thing, and a couple gets together. Now we're gonna look at this chapter over two weeks, this morning, we're just gonna look at what happens in this, the longest chapter of Genesis. You know that there's no way I could preach 67 versus in a time you'd wanna listen to, okay? So, what we're gonna do is, we're just gonna go through 67 verses and just find out what's here. Next week, we're gonna look at five theological principles that come from this chapter; we’re gonna look at three different ways to look at this chapter, points of perspective, so that we can gain applications; and then we're gonna really draw out some applications on how it is that God makes marriages and how God works even today. Okay? So, let me just give a summary of the chapter as a whole. When Abraham grew very old, he sent a trusted servant to his ancestral homeland to find a wife for his unmarried son, Isaac. Once he was there, the servant prayed to God that a woman would offer him and his camels water, and that was to be a sign that that was the woman that Isaac was to marry. Rebekah at that moment, the beautiful granddaughter of Abraham's brother, came to the well, and when the servant asked for a drink, she gladly gave it to him and to his camels as well. She offered him and his camels shelter also for the night at her home. When the servant told the family why he was there, they said that the whole matter was obviously from the hand of the Lord, so what could they say one way or the other? That God was working this out. That night, the servant gave gifts of gold and silver to everyone in the family. In the morning, Rebekah said, “I will go”, and riding upon the camel, she and her maids followed the servant back to the land of Abraham. She and Isaac met and were happily married. That's the whole story, and it's a marvelous story, because in it, the sovereign hand of God is celebrated all the way through. And so, frankly, while the centerpiece is marriage, there's a bigger issue here, and that's just that God is sovereignly, providential at work in your life. And the things that you want the most, whether it's a spouse or for me, a fruitful evangelistically powerful, godly church, or any one of a number of good things you could desire, God works to bring those things about in answer to prayer. He's a powerful God. And so, yes, marriage is centerpiece, and we're gonna talk a lot about that, and next week we're gonna talk about principles of how God forms marriages and we're gonna get into those details. But the big picture is, a God who fulfills His promises, who is sovereign, who's at work in the details, the nitty-gritty of your life like watering camels (you don't have any camels, but anyway), the nitty-gritty of your life, He's at work in those things, fulfilling His purposes for you. Let's look at it piece by piece. God joined Isaac and Rebekah together. Jesus said so, as I mentioned in Matthew 19:6, “…what God has joined together, let man not separate.” The basic lesson here then is that God makes marriages, he's in the business of making marriages, and this was true from the very beginning. In Genesis 2:22, it says, “Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.” That's very similar to our chapter, isn't it? We'll talk more about that next week, but God put Adam and Eve together. He made that first marriage. Jesus understood that principle. Well, so also God was providing a woman, a wife for Isaac. Now, the context here is significant, this is Genesis, this is one of the last chapters of Abraham's life. Who was Abraham? Well, he was a specially-called instrument of God, and it says that God had blessed him in every way, but the first blessing was the call of God, that came. Genesis 12: “The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.’” That's the original call, Genesis 12. And later, God kind of unfolded and expanded. Abraham said, "Well, I'm gonna be a father of many nations and all that, but I don't have a son. And Eliezer of Damascus is my heir and you've not given us a child." And so God spoke in Genesis 15 said, ”This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.’ He took him outside and said, ‘Look up at the heavens and count the stars — if indeed you can count them.’ [And then He spoke the word of promise, what I would say is the word of gospel promise for Abraham.] Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ Abraham believed the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness.” And so, God would provide for Abraham descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. Well, Isaac in the course of time, was born a miracle baby to Abraham and Sarah when she was 90 years old, and Abraham was 100 years old. Now, however, Sarah is dead, she's died, she's been buried at Machpelah, the cave, and Isaac's 40 years old, and there's no indication of any worry that's saying, "We gotta get going here.” Alright, it's time for a wife. Absolutely essential to the redemptive plan of God. God is a God of means, and if through Isaac, all peoples on earth are gonna be blessed, he needs to have a wife. And so, Genesis 24, the longest chapter in Genesis is the answer to how Isaac, the next link from Abraham to blessing all nations got his wife. "God is a God of means, and if through Isaac, all peoples on earth are gonna be blessed, he needs to have a wife." II. Abraham Charges and Commissions His Servant Now, the first section is Abraham charging and commissioning a servant. That’s in verses 1-9. Look what it says in Verse 1-4, “Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way. He said to the chief servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, ‘Put your hand under my thigh. I want you to swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.’” Now, Abraham is old, doesn't know how much longer he will live, and his great concern is that Isaac, his son, will compromise and go the easy route and just marry one of the women that's around there somewhere. Now, notice the father's role in getting a wife for his son. He’s involved. And notice how much Isaac trusts his father in that process. And so there's a role there for the father in reference to the son, trusted his father's judgment. Now, Abraham's grandson, grandchildren must be brought up in the covenant, they must be brought up knowing about the Lord. This is absolutely essential. Remember what it said in Genesis 18, God speaking of Abraham, saying, “Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” In other words, essential to the choice, the calling of Abraham was the training of children, the training of Isaac, and then that Isaac would train also his children after him, so that they would remember and keep the way of the Lord and so bring about the promise. Every Sunday, as I've mentioned before, my children and I, we read a Psalm and talk about it as we drive into church — we have about a 20-25 minute drive. This morning, we read Psalm 78, and in Psalm 78, it talks about how one generation will commend God's mighty deeds to the next, so that they will learn to fear the Lord and trust in Him, and would not turn away like their ancestors did. And I said, "Do you see," (the children and I were talking) and I said, "Do you see how important it is for your mother and I to tell you the stories about Exodus and about God and about what happened with Abraham and Isaac, and the manna, and the quail, and the rebellion in the Red Sea, and all these stories that have been your mind since you were little. Do you see how vital it is?" "Yes." “Why is it vital?” Well, it says there in Psalm 78:7, "So that they would trust in the Lord, so that their sins would be forgiven, so that faith will be formed inside." Well, that is also in God's mind and it's in Abraham's mind too. And that kind of intensive training of children cannot really be done with a Canaanite wife, with an unbelieving, a pagan wife. And Abraham's very concerned about this, very difficult to do with a mixed marriage. Paul talks about this in Corinthians, talking about an unequally yoked situation: “What fellowship does a believer have with an unbeliever?” How in the world can you saturate your children's mind with the Word of God, if the two of you aren't pulling, yoked, in the same direction? Very tough. As a matter of fact, Isaac's own son, Esau, compromised, didn't he, and married some Hittite women. And Rebekah, Esau's mother says, "I'm disgusted with living because of these Hittite women that Esau's married. Please don't let my son Jacob get one of these Canaanite women for himself, but go back to the ancestral homeland and get a believing, a godly woman for him." So, it's the same concern; you see it. Abraham wants to be sure that Isaac has a godly and a believing wife. It's also vital in the redemptive plan that Isaac not be allowed to leave the Promised Land. He’s gotta stay there. The servant asked, "Now what if the woman's unwilling to go?" A big issue; we'll come back to it in a minute, "But what if she's not willing to come back, and should I bring your son there so that she can meet." They didn't have the internet back then or the pictures, you know all that. So, it's really gonna be very tough, you're asking a lot of a woman here. Can he go and so that they can meet and maybe she'll like him, maybe she won't, and we can work this thing out. And he said, "Make sure you do not take my son. He must stay here in the promised land." It's vital. Abraham is not willing to compromise in this. It’s essential to the redemptive plan of God. And so he solemnly commissions his servant with an oath: “Put your hand under my thigh and swear.” It's a very solemn, a very serious oath, sworn by the God of heaven and the God of earth, the sovereign Lord of all the universe, concerning this matter. Now, the servant has some questions. A very reasonable question, as I mentioned a moment ago, is what if she doesn't wanna come back? We are asking this young lady to leave her country and her people and her homeland, very much like Abraham did, and go across hundreds, if not a thousand miles or more of burning sand, and marry a man she's never seen before. What if she doesn't wanna do it? And I just love Abraham's answer. It’s so faith-filled, but it's also practical. Look at it, verses 7-8: “The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father's household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’ — he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.” Totally confident in God there, do you see? Do you see the similarity between this and his answer to Isaac, when Isaac said, "Here's wood and here's fire, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?" You remember what he said in Genesis 22: "God will provide the lamb, my son." And so he says to the servant, God will provide. He will send His angel and He will work this out; trust in Him. But practically speaking, I know you need to know. And so, he says in verse 8, “If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.” So he's adamant about this. He says, “You've got to go and you've gotta try. Trust in the Lord, watch what he does. Alright? But don't take my son back there." And so, the commission is given, the servant swears the oath, verse 9, “So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.” That's the first section. III. Abraham’s Servant: Journey and Model Prayer The second section is this the journey of the servant and his remarkable and model prayer, verses 10-14. Now Abraham has chosen the servant wisely. It was the chief servant in his household. Some commentators think it may have even been Eliezer of Damascus, but we don't know, it doesn't say. But he was a remarkable man. And clearly from the text, a believer in the Lord, the God of heaven and earth. And so, I think that Abraham had been evangelistic within his own household. He had led this servant to faith in the true God, the living God, and we see the servant's faith on display, don't we? It's not just Abraham who believes, but the servant is a believer. Abraham has chosen well. And so he get's sent out, he makes provisions for the journey, 10 camels, that's a lot of camel-age. We'll get to that again later, 'cause they're very thirsty, alright? But there's a lot of goods for the journey. They're taking provisions for the journey, but they're also taking a lot of good stuff. And why? Well, it's going to be a display of wealth to the young lady's father, so that he will release her to him. And so all kinds of good things are laden on this camel. Now, one thing you can't tell because the focus is so totally on this one servant, but there's a bunch of men that ride with him. They're mentioned in verse 32, so the men are there, and the image there that I get, like in World War II, when there were ships that were going over to besiege England from America, and there were Nazi submarines attacking and picking off these ships one at a time. So, what they did was they started having a convoy, surrounded by destroyers, so that they couldn't be picked off and sunk one at a time. It is a dangerous journey this servant's making. He's going across roads and deserts where there will be Highwaymen, robbers who are ready to pick off such a lavishly appointed train. So my guess is there's a lot of men involved here, and they're traveling back to the ancestral homeland. However, the real protection was not the men. They were there, it's reasonable to have them there, but like it says in Psalm 27, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.” And so they were trusting in God as they went, and God did protect them and watched over their journey. Now, the arduous journey itself passed over in silence, so there's no point in commenting, just that it was a difficult trip, it would not have taken a short time to get there, it was arduous and difficult. And so, they'd come to the town of Nahor, Abraham's father's name, where Abraham's brother Bethuel lived. Notice that the servant wastes no time searching anywhere else, he goes right back to Abraham's hometown. He feels very much that that's where God is going to provide a wife for Isaac. Now, when he gets there, he prays this faith-filled model prayer. Look at verses 11-14: “He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water. Then he prayed, ‘O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a girl, “Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,” and she says, “Drink, and I'll water your camels too” — let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.’” Now, there's some remarkable aspects of this prayer, I really love it. First of all, notice how faith-filled and specific it is. I think it's wonderful to teach children a prayer such as, "God bless the world." I'm glad that children can learn how to have a generally positive disposition toward the world and ask God that God would bless that. But I'll tell you something, you can never measure a prayer like that. Now, this prayer is specific: “May it be that when I ask such and such, that she says such and such.” That's remarkable, isn't it? Do you pray like that? Anything like that. Do you pray in such a way that you could tell whether there would be an answer or not? Faith-filled and specific prayer. It's remarkable. And by the way, what is he asking? It was a small thing that she would offer him a drink. That's no big deal. Common desert hospitality, "Could I have a drink?" "Sure, here you go." But to water the camels, now that's a whole different ball game. Had to do some research on this. It's true, I don't know much about what camels drink. Okay? But a thirsty camel can, it seems, drink up to 32 gallons of water. A gallon of water weighs a little over 8 pounds; with the ceramic jar you're talking 10 pounds for each gallon. That would be a total of 320 gallons, or sorry, 320 pounds of water that she's moving. Have you ever moved water? You remember when we had the ice storm? We're on a well and we had no water, and we had to go get water for certain necessities. Okay? So, we had to move water and it was heavy. It’s very heavy. So, he's asking something to God that he would never ask her directly, "Please, would you mind moving 320 pounds of water for me and my camels?" That's a thing that she must volunteer, and she does. That's a remarkable thing. Very specific prayer, it's based on his need for immediate identification of the young woman that God has chosen. IV. God’s Providential Answer: Rebekah Waters the Camels Well, God gives a providential answer. Look at verses 15-27. And by the way, one of the most amazing things about providence is not that miraculous things happen, such as as things suddenly pop out of thin air or whatever. It’s not that. What's amazing about providence is how common place things happen in remarkable timing; that's what it is. It's that ordinary things happen and they just click in at just the right moment. Now, that's what makes it so amazing. You have to know what to look for. And so it is that there's a remarkable answer here. Look at verse 15, “Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder.” I mean, God didn't waste any time. Before he'd finished praying, there she is. The first one that he interacts with. Amazing timing. "What's amazing about providence is how common place things happen in remarkable timing; that's what it is. It's that ordinary things happen and they just click in at just the right moment. " Now, when Rebekah came out so quickly, the servant was ready to move, he's ready to not just pray but to be an answer to prayer, be involved, he trusts in the sovereignty of God, but he knows he's got some acting to do too. And so in Verse 17, it says, “The servant hurried to meet her [so, he goes out to make himself available for God's answer to the prayer. He's energetic, he's going out, he's not just there like, "Lord, you gotta do it." No, no, no, he's gonna go out, he hurries, is she the one? Maybe she is. And so he says,] ‘Please give me a little water from your jar.’” Now, Rebekah's qualities are immediately put on display. She is a high quality woman, she is a good choice for Isaac. Now, the servant doesn't know this yet, but she's about to show what kind of person she is. First of all, her family origin: she was a daughter of Bethuel, Abraham's brother, as it turns out, Bethuel is Abraham's nephew and Isaac's cousin. That would make Rebekah Isaac's first cousin once removed. Now, if you think I know that kind of thing, I don't, but I went on the internet and found a chart where you can work it out, and she was his first cousin once removed, that was their relationship. But the key thing is she comes from the family ancestry that Abraham had in mind. He wanted somebody from home. So, family origin was there. Physical beauty — it says of the girl that she was very beautiful. We understand it says in 1 Peter 3, that the beauty of a woman comes from a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight, but God had also made Rebekah physically beautiful, and it mentions that Isaac would be very pleased when he saw her. It also speaks of her virginity; it says specifically, no man had ever lain with her. Nowadays, virginity is seen almost as a joke, it's almost like how quickly can we throw it away, but it's a precious and valuable thing, and that's why it's mentioned specifically here in the text, no man had ever lain with her. And so, that which is precious to God we should consider precious too, and we should protect. I'll talk about more about that next week, but it's listed as one of the qualities. It also speaks of her hard work. It says that she quickly worked doing a difficult task. She hurried. She drew enough water for all the camels — 320 pounds of water — a huge amount of work that she does cheerfully. We see also her hospitality; we see it many times in this account. First to offer him some water and then to extend it to the camels, and then to extend it to all of the entourage to stay with them. We see her respectfulness, she calls him, "My Lord." She uses an honorific title, she's a respectful young lady, gives him a title of honor. We see also her graciousness and her compassion, she's concerned for the needs that he may have and his entourage after their long travel. Eventually in the account toward the end, we're gonna see her courage and her faith. Now, young ladies, especially unmarried young ladies, would you have done what Rebekah did? Now, stop and think about it. Would you have just led by the Lord, traveled a thousand miles back to marry some guy you have never met, never seen, nothing, just because God was leading you to do it? That's remarkable. She had incredible faith and she had incredible courage. She was a great choice for Isaac. Now, Rebekah, the key thing with her, was her hospitality. And isn't it amazing how God can use a little thing like that, a character trait formed in her from her youngest days to be the issue which would click her together with her husband. If she had been surly or rude or lack compassion or inhospitable, she would never have been chosen, she would not have met the request that the servant prayed. She would have just said, "Here, have some water, I gotta be on my way." She would have been surly or brusque, but instead she was hospitable. God used that to bring her into His redemptive plan. Remarkable. And so it is, everyday life has significance, how you treat a single individual who makes a simple request of you, it has significance. Everything matters. There was no way she could have known that that request and the offer to water camels would eventually lead her to the Promised Land, but so it did. Well, her hospitable answer leads her to a bunch of work. The Bible says in Matthew 10:42, “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” What kind of reward is she gonna get for 320 pounds of water? So, she is working hard, working hard, but notice the servant, what does he do? He stands and watches her and doesn't say a word. What is he waiting for? He's waiting for her to finish the job. It doesn't count if she does it halfway or three-quarters of the way. He’s waiting to see if God has answered the prayer and he will not know until she has watered the last camel. And when she has watered the last camel, then he goes up and he asks some questions, verse 23: “Then he asked, ‘Whose daughter are you? [Kind of an important question. And then he says,] Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?’ She answered him, ‘I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milcah bore to Nahor.’ And she added, ‘We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.’” Now, here's the deal. The servant knew before anyone else. Isn't that wonderful? He knew before Abraham, he knew before Isaac, he knew before any of the men, he knew before Rebekah, he knew before Laban, he knew before anybody, she is gonna be Isaac's wife. And what does he do? He bows down and he worships the Lord God. He praises the Lord: “Then the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD, saying, ‘Praise be to the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives.’” I tell you, great joy comes from being in the center of God's will. Great joy comes from seeing remarkable coincidences happen to specific prayers done for the glory of God. Incredible joy comes from that. My first Christmas as a Christian, Christmas of 1982, I went on evangelism project with Campus Crusade for Christ in Philadelphia. And we went out witnessing. It was my first experience witnessing. I was terrified. We're going door to door in the streets of Philadelphia; we come to an inner city home, a town house. A lady opened the door. We talked to her about some things; she wanted to talk to us about the Lord, she invited us in. We came in and it was utter mayhem. There were, it seemed like, 50 kids in the house (there were probably more like four or five) but they're running around like little Indians. It was crazy — it was loud and the TV was blaring. And it was just very, very difficult. I felt there was no way we're gonna be able to talk to this lady, she was interested, but she didn't have a chance. We sat down at the table and my partner began witnessing to her, and I began to pray. I said, "Oh Lord," — I mean, I’m a new Christian — I said, "Lord, please, make these kids be quiet, make them... Or go out or something." Because I can't hear myself think and the lady was getting distracted every 30 seconds. Well, I don't remember, I think I got into the conversation with my partner and we're talking, but I notice about 10 minutes later, all five of them are sitting on the couch, ching, ching, ching, ching, ching. I looked over and the mother hadn't said anything in a while. She’s absorbed in the gospel. And one of the children, about six, seven years old, gets up, goes across the floor, turns the TV down and goes back and sits down. Now tell me, that's not a miracle! That was amazing! It was a specific answer to prayer. William Temple once said, "The more I pray, the more coincidences happen. And the less I pray, they stop happening." And so, that was a coincidence, wasn't it? No, it wasn't. It was an answer to prayer. And so it was, he's worshipping God. Let me tell you something, if you're missing joy in your life, maybe you're not stepping out in faith and serving, maybe you're not in the center of God's will, maybe you've kind of veered away from God's redemptive plan. Go out and take some risks for him, do some things that you wouldn't ordinarily do because you're a Christian and trust Him for some specific things and see the coincides start to happen in your life again. And see your joy go off the charts. Abraham's servant was the first to know, and he fell down, and he worshipped God. V. Rebekah’s Family Learns of God’s Providence Well, then the family learned about God's providence in verses 28-49. They noticed that Rebekah is a little different. First of all, she's wearing some jewelry. They hadn't seen that before — she's got the bracelet, she's got the nose ring... No comment, we'll just move on. She's got the bracelet, she got the nose ring, she’s just… looking good, in that culture. And then she goes and we meet this man for the first time named Laban. Laban is her older brother, and Laban is taking the role, it seems, of the head of the household. Now, I don't know if Bethuel is just too old or whatever, but it really seems that Laban is the one negotiating concerning Rebekah. Laban is the one who receives the gifts, and so he's taking that significant role. We will meet, God willing, in the future, Laban again, when Jacob goes to get a wife and he ends up with Laban's daughters, Leah and Rachel. And we find out what kind of man he is at that point. I'll tell you right now what kind of man he is. He is a conniver, he's a con-artist; he's the kind of man that God will use to change Jacob forever. But we'll get to Laban in due time. This is just right now, at this point, her older brother. And he finds out what's happening, he takes them in, the servant tells the story in verses 34-49, he goes over some details, and the bulk of this section is just a repetition of what we already knew. But he does focus on Abraham's wealth. He says, "The Lord has blessed him. He's got lots of sheep and cattle and donkeys, he's got silver and gold, he's got men servants and maid servants, he is very wealthy. And Isaac, the one that we have in mind here, is the sole inheritor. He's the sole heir, if that matters to you." Well, it mattered to Laban. In all seriousness, it's vital for a young man to be able to provide for a young woman, and the servant's message is, he can provide for your daughter, for your sister, he can meet her needs. And so the final confirmation in verses 47-48, “I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms, and I bowed down and worshiped the LORD. I praised the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master's brother for his son.” Now the servant pops the question. Verse 49: “Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn.” What is it? What's it going to be? Is it yes or no. VI. Rebekah and Her Family Submit to God’s Providence And so, Rebekah and her family submit to God's providence in verses 50-60. The first key to this is you have to recognize the hand of the Lord. You have to see it, you can't see events as just swirling mass of nothingness — luck and chance and all kinds of coincidences, no. This is the hand of the Lord. And so, the first thing they do is they say, "This is the hand of the Lord. We see it, we acknowledge that God is doing something." Just like Henry Blackaby in Experiencing God, to see where God is at work and join him. They could see that God was at work here. “This is from the LORD…” verse 50. And then they submit to the hand of the Lord, that's the next step. First, you got to see that God is acting, and then next you gotta submit to it. In verse 50-51, “We can say nothing to you one way or the other. Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master's son, as the LORD has… [literally, it says] as the Lord has spoken.” Now, there must have been a good deal of sadness here. The key is not just submission, as though it's grim, but glad submission. I really believe the essence of the kingdom of heaven is glad submission to Jesus as the king. That's the essence of the kingdom of heaven. But they submit to the hand of God, and I'm sure there must have been some sadness there. "I really believe the essence of the kingdom of heaven is glad submission to Jesus as the king." And then they rejoice verse 52:“When Abraham's servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the LORD. [And then, they profited from it. Verse 53] Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother.” Let me tell you something, weddings are expensive. I mean, they did a study recently, somebody… investigative reporters, and they said, "We're doing a retirement dinner for a boss and we wanna get a photographer, how much is it gonna cost?" A rate was given. They call back about an hour later and say, "We're having a wedding, etcetera." The rate was three times what it was for the retirement dinner. It's very expensive to have a wedding, everybody knows you're gonna spend a lot of money. In the United Arab Emirates, for example, a bridegroom can expect to spend an average of $75,000 to get married. Lavish gifts, parties, clothing, incredible. In every culture, it's expensive. And so we see these gifts, these material gifts. But then the time comes to complete the task without delay. The next morning the servant is ready to go back, and so he says, "I wanna go back and complete the task that the master has given." Well, they don't want her to leave so soon, and we're gonna see this pattern later in Genesis, in due time, in the future, God willing, but Laban doesn't want them to leave, and so he's bargaining for some more time. He say, "Well, let us stay for 10 days." Finally, they just put the matter to Rebekah. And by the way, it's the first time she's asked. You may find that interesting as 21st century people. She's not been asked up to this point, but now she's asked, "Will you go with this man or not?" And she says, "I will go." And with that word, you see her heart, you see her courage, you see her faith, her willingness to follow God. VII. Isaac Marries Rebekah Well, in verses 61-67, we see Isaac marrying Rebekah. “Then Rebekah and her maids got ready and mounted their camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left. Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel and asked the servant, "Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?" "He is my master," the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself. Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.” Now, the journey has passed over in silence again as they come back, but you can well imagine that Rebekah talked to the servant, "What kind of man is Isaac?” Do you think she was curious? Would you have been? I would have been, wondering what is this... What is he like? And so, I'm sure they had plenty of time to talk, and by the time she got back to that area, she was ready to meet him. It's a pretty dramatic first meeting. It’s more dramatic in the Hebrew than it is in any English translation. I've talked with Jeremy and others about whether I'm gonna tell you what it really says happened concerning the camel. But literally, it says, "She fell from her camel." Now, I know that that makes it seem undignified. It’s just a simple word, Hebrew word, for fall, so she sees him and down she goes. But let's let her light gracefully. Okay. So she comes down and lands, and then she finds out that it's Isaac. “It's my master,” and notice the servant calls him “my master”, because he's the sole heir, he is also his master. She covers herself chastely with a veil. The chastity, the purity, it's so beautiful. Then he, understanding who she is, talking to the servant, he does a remarkable thing. He brings her to his mother's tent, to Sarah's tent, and it says, "And he married her.” Now, what's remarkable about this account is that the wedding ceremony itself is passed over, I really believe with all my heart they had one. This was the same group of people that celebrated greatly with a big party when the child was weaned, when Isaac was weaned, so there's no way that they're gonna skip the wedding. It just doesn't say anything about it. What's remarkable is that Rebekah symbolically has now taken Sarah's place. She becomes somewhat the clan matriarch. She’s immediately given a position of honor, because she's going to be Rebekah, Isaac's wife, and he's the heir. And so, he takes her and she's set up in Sarah's tent. But there's one other thing. She has to some degree taken Sarah's place now in Isaac's heart. And this is really beautiful, isn't it? It says, the final word in the chapter is, “And so Isaac was comforted concerning the death of his mother, Sarah.” Let me tell you something, it must have been incredible to have Abraham as a father: he was called the friend of God, he was a faith-filled man, incredible life, the whole experience of Mount Moriah, but you know something, there were things that only Sarah could do for Isaac. The woman's touch, the woman's place, irreplaceable in Isaac's life, irreplaceable. And so, he's had an emptiness, a vacuum in his life ever since Sarah died, and now Rebekah has come to fill that place. And then, even more, to be an avenue of comfort and of blessing, and so she would be. Song of Songs 8:10 says, "I've become in his eyes like one bringing contentment." And that's exactly what she was, she was a fountain of contentment and a blessing. “A godly wife, who can find? Her worth is more precious than rubies or jewels.” She's essential to God's salvation plan. Without Rebekah, we don't get Jesus Christ. And that's where I wanna end this message today, Jesus Christ. We're gonna talk next week about theological implications and marriage and all those things in due time. But the center of this is God's faithfulness to keep his promises. Isaac needed a wife. Only God could have brought Isaac and Rebekah together in this way, to give Rebekah enough courage and faith to get on that camel and go back with the servant and marry a man she's never met before. But she does because God brought it about. God is sovereign. And all of God's promises, all of the flow of redemptive history, all of the words spoken to Abraham, and then Isaac and Jacob, all of it was pointed toward the coming of Jesus Christ. In Christ and in Christ alone are all the promises of God, yea and amen. Everything comes down to Jesus Christ. And my question is, just like Abraham's servant, do you have enough faith to trust in Jesus Christ, not just for the provision of an earthly spouse, not just for health or for physical prosperity. Oh no, I'm talking about something far greater than that. Do you have enough faith to trust in Jesus Christ for the resurrection of your body and the salvation of your soul? Where is your faith today? "And all of God's promises, all of the flow of redemptive history, all of the words spoken to Abraham, and then Isaac and Jacob, all of it was pointed toward the coming of Jesus Christ." And I believe I'm talking to two different categories of people right now. Those that have made a profession of faith in Christ already, but who perhaps are tempted to drift away from faith, I prayed for you this morning already. Perhaps already your hearts are getting a little hard. You’re turning away from Christ, you're drifting from Him. Can I urge you to come back to Christ? He is the lover of your soul. Come back again to the things you did at first, to prayer and Bible reading, to service in Him, to loving Christ. And then I believe in this large assembly, there must be some that have never trusted in Christ. Jesus Christ is a lover of your soul, He is the only savior there is, trust in Him. Put your faith in Him. All of the promises of God are focused on Him. Know Him and love Him today.
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
