By faith…

By faith Abraham offered Isaac when he was tested. The one who received the promises was offering his only son. He had been told concerning him, Your legitimate descendants will come from Isaac. He figured that God could even raise him from the dead. So in a way he did receive him back from the dead.
By faith Isaac also blessed Jacob and Esau concerning their future.
By faith Jacob blessed each of Joseph’s sons as he was dying and bowed in worship over the head of his staff.
By faith Joseph recalled the exodus of the Israelites at the end of his life, and gave instructions about burying his bones.
By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months when he was born, because they saw that the child was beautiful and they weren’t afraid of the king’s orders.
By faith Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter when he was grown up. He chose to be mistreated with God’s people instead of having the temporary pleasures of sin. He thought that the abuses he suffered for Christ were more valuable than the treasures of Egypt, since he was looking forward to the reward.
By faith he left Egypt without being afraid of the king’s anger. He kept on going as if he could see what is invisible.
By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, in order that the destroyer could not touch their firstborn children. (Hebrews 11:17-28, CEB)

Abraham offered his only offspring as a sacrifice, trusting God would not let this happen. How many of us would take our only child to the mountain top and bind them to sacrifice them to God when we waited so long for the promise of them to be born? Abraham trusted God to wait for Isaac, even though he questioned God as he waited, and then he trusted God to bind him and prepare to hand him back.

All of those listed here faced terrible things, but trusted God.

Do you trust God with your life?

How are you living by faith?

By faith!

Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don’t see. The elders in the past were approved because they showed faith.
By faith we understand that the universe has been created by a word from God so that the visible came into existence from the invisible.
By faith Abel offered a better sacrifice to God than Cain, which showed that he was righteous, since God gave approval to him for his gift. Though he died, he’s still speaking through faith.
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he didn’t see death, and he wasn’t found because God took him up. He was given approval for having pleased God before he was taken up. It’s impossible to please God without faith because the one who draws near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards people who try to find him.
By faith Noah responded with godly fear when he was warned about events he hadn’t seen yet. He built an ark to deliver his household. With his faith, he criticized the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes from faith. (Hebrews 11:1-7, CEB)

By faith all these things happened.

By trusting in the promises that God has made and knowing they will come to be because of all God has said They would do and have already done.

Faith is the reality of what we hope for. The proof that God will do what They promised to do.

Live in faith.

Breaks in…

“Don’t be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights in giving you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to those in need. Make for yourselves wallets that don’t wear out—a treasure in heaven that never runs out. No thief comes near there, and no moth destroys. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be too. “Be dressed for service and keep your lamps lit. Be like people waiting for their master to come home from a wedding celebration, who can immediately open the door for him when he arrives and knocks on the door. Happy are those servants whom the master finds waiting up when he arrives. I assure you that, when he arrives, he will dress himself to serve, seat them at the table as honored guests, and wait on them. Happy are those whom he finds alert, even if he comes at midnight or just before dawn. But know this, if the homeowner had known what time the thief was coming, he wouldn’t have allowed his home to be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Human One is coming at a time when you don’t expect him.” (Luke 12:32-40, CEB)

This passage ends by comparing Jesus to a thief.
“But know this, if the homeowner had known what time the thief was coming, he wouldn’t have allowed his home to be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Human One is coming at a time when you don’t expect him.”

If the homeowner knew when the thief would come, they would not have allowed the thief to enter. So, if we know when Jesus is coming, will we keep Him from getting in? E. Trey Clark in his commentary on workingpreacher.org, said, “How might we be receptive rather than resistant to Jesus’ coming into our life as we grow as vigilant disciples?” You see, Jesus as a thief is not one who breaks in to steal. He breaks in to make us more than we were. He comes unexpectedly and gives us a life that we have never had. And Jesus does not steal the treasure if we have placed it in the purse in heaven, He is protecting it, and helping us to follow where He leads.

As He said at the beginning of this passage, “Do not continue in fear, it is God’s good pleasure to give you the kindom. Sell your possessions and have mercy and compassion. Place your treasure in God’s hands, and your heart will follow God’s leading.” (Pastor Jerry’s paraphrase)

We need to put our lives and everything we hold dear in God’s hands, and our hearts will follow. We have to understand that Jesus comes unexpectedly and we will never truly be ready, but must work to follow and do what God has called us to do and be. Love all, have compassion, and trust that God will care for you and give you what you need.

Have faith, not fear. Trust God is with you, and know that you will always have what you need.

Do not continue in fear, but wait for the breaking in that will change the world forever.

Who do you serve?

“Stop collecting treasures for your own benefit on earth, where moth and rust eat them and where thieves break in and steal them. Instead, collect treasures for yourselves in heaven, where moth and rust don’t eat them and where thieves don’t break in and steal them. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how terrible that darkness will be! No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. (Matthew 6:19-24,CEB)

Where is your treasure? First, to answer this, you need to know what your treasure is. Treasure is not always financial. It is time and yourself. If we place these things into God’s hands, our hearts will follow where God is leading us.

I have said many times that if you show me your checkbook register, I can tell you what and where your treasure is, who/what is your idol, and your god.

We need to give all our treasure over to God, where it will be safely held, and so our hearts follow. We can’t get our hearts in line and then know our treasure will follow; it is really the other way around. Place your treasure in God’s hands and know your heart will follow.

Who do you serve?

Truth…

The high priest asked, “Are these accusations true?”

Stephen responded, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran. God told him, ‘Leave your homeland and kin, and go to the land that I will show you.’ So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After Abraham’s father died, God had him resettle in this land where you now live. God didn’t give him an inheritance here, not even a square foot of land. However, God did promise to give the land as his possession to him and to his descendants, even though Abraham had no child. God put it this way: His descendants will be strangers in a land that belongs to others, who will enslave them and abuse them for four hundred years. And I will condemn the nation they serve as slaves, God said, and afterward they will leave that land and serve me in this place. God gave him the covenant confirmed through circumcision. Accordingly, eight days after Isaac’s birth, Abraham circumcised him. Isaac did the same with Jacob, and Jacob with the twelve patriarchs. (Acts 7:1-8, CEB)

“So what I told you is true… from a certain point of view.” Ob1 Kenobi.

This was followed by, “You’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.“

Our point of view greatly impacts the way we see things and how we believe them. This is evident in society today, specifically the USA society, where half of the people believe the lies being told by the administration, and the other half do not believe them. Stephen here answers a request for accusations being true with a history lesson, one that those accusing knew but probably did not know or understand from Stephen’s point of view.

How can we get the world view truth to be the truth from the biblical understanding, but then we also need to define who gets to say what the biblical truth is? Truth is a fact or belief that is accepted as true. But what is accepted as true today?

And I say that Jesus died and rose from the dead is truth, but I have friends who would say that is a myth.


So what is truth?

descendants

I’m speaking the truth in Christ—I’m not lying, as my conscience assures me with the Holy Spirit: I have great sadness and constant pain in my heart. I wish I could be cursed, cut off from Christ if it helped my brothers and sisters, who are my flesh-and-blood relatives. They are Israelites. The adoption as God’s children, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship, and the promises belong to them. The Jewish ancestors are theirs, and the Christ descended from those ancestors. He is the one who rules over all things, who is God, and who is blessed forever. Amen. But it’s not as though God’s word has failed. Not all who are descended from Israel are part of Israel. Not all of Abraham’s children are called Abraham’s descendants, but instead your descendants will be named through Isaac. That means it isn’t the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children from the promise who are counted as descendants. The words in the promise were: A year from now I will return, and Sarah will have a son. (Romans 9:1-9, CEB)

Not all of Abraham’s children are called Abraham’s descendants. It is not enough to be a child to be included. We all know parents who disown their children. Usually for uber conservative reasons, which is completely wrong, but I digress.

Abraham’s descendants are named through his son. As God’s descendants are named through Their Son.

You are a descendant of God through the Son.

Help all of God’s children see this.

Desire

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Therefore, I say to you, don’t worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. There is more to life than food and more to the body than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither plant nor harvest, they have no silo or barn, yet God feeds them. You are worth so much more than birds! Who among you by worrying can add a single moment to your life? If you can’t do such a small thing, why worry about the rest? Notice how the lilies grow. They don’t wear themselves out with work, and they don’t spin cloth. But I say to you that even Solomon in all his splendor wasn’t dressed like one of these. If God dresses grass in the field so beautifully, even though it’s alive today and tomorrow it’s thrown into the furnace, how much more will God do for you, you people of weak faith! Don’t chase after what you will eat and what you will drink. Stop worrying. All the nations of the world long for these things. Your Father knows that you need them. Instead, desire his kingdom and these things will be given to you as well. (Luke 12:22-31, CEB)

Desire is a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen.

What do you desire?

As I typed the title to this devotion, I thought of the song below. Desire by U2. Desire is something that can drive us and make us do things we would not normally do. And that is really the point of the last sentence of the reading.

Desire makes us do things we would not normally do for an outcome. When I type this, I think of doing bad things or things that might be wrong, maybe because I have been watching reruns of Criminal Minds lately, or do you do the same? We are motivated to get what we want and sometimes do things out of character, but if we desire the kingdom of God, we will also possibly do things out of character, great things. Things that bring love and mercy.

And when we desire God’s kingdom, everything will fall into place.

So what do you desire?

Pray

Keep on praying and guard your prayers with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray for us also. Pray that God would open a door for the word so we can preach the secret plan of Christ—which is why I’m in chains. Pray that I might be able to make it as clear as I ought to when I preach. Act wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Your speech should always be gracious and sprinkled with insight so that you may know how to respond to every person. (Colossians 4:2-6, CEB)

Pray, and guard your hearts and prayers with thanksgiving for all God has done for you. And pray for the rest of the body of Christ and the world.

We need to be in constant prayer and speak graciously to show what God has done for you and for the world.

Gracious, insightful responses to the world.

Show the world love and pray for all.

for the Lord…

Wives, submit to your husbands in a way that is appropriate in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and don’t be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, because this pleases the Lord. Parents, don’t provoke your children in a way that ends up discouraging them. Slaves, obey your masters on earth in everything. Don’t just obey like people pleasers when they are watching. Instead, obey with the single motivation of fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do it from the heart for the Lord and not for people. You know that you will receive an inheritance as a reward. You serve the Lord Christ. But evildoers will receive their reward for their evil actions. There is no discrimination. Masters, be just and fair to your slaves, knowing that you yourselves have a master in heaven. (Colossians 3:18— 4:1, CEB)

I must say I have issue with this section of this disputed letter of Paul. I do not believe Paul wrote this, and the person writing it was using Paul’s name to make sure power stayed in the hands of rich men.

Men who owned other people and this says those who are owned should follow all directions from their owners as if they are doing it for God.

Saying you are living as property and doing it for God does not make it right. Saying the bible says it does not mean it is immoral or hateful.

The word of God is not only the Bible. It is living and breathing and moving us closer to the love that God means for us to show in all of our lives every day. Do not think that a book written by and put together by men for a specific purpose is the only means of God speaking to us. The Bible was used and still is used to keep a power structure and we as followers of God need to see that and do something about it.

Morality does not come from a book and love needs to be the first and foremost reason we do something.

Love for the Lord.

greed

Someone from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus said to him, “Man, who appointed me as judge or referee between you and your brother?” Then Jesus said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourself against all kinds of greed. After all, one’s life isn’t determined by one’s possessions, even when someone is very wealthy.” Then he told them a parable: “A certain rich man’s land produced a bountiful crop. He said to himself, What will I do? I have no place to store my harvest! Then he thought, Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. That’s where I’ll store all my grain and goods. I’ll say to myself, You have stored up plenty of goods, enough for several years. Take it easy! Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself. But God said to him, ‘Fool, tonight you will die. Now who will get the things you have prepared for yourself?’ This is the way it will be for those who hoard things for themselves and aren’t rich toward God.” (Luke 12:13-21, CEB)

What good does a bunch of stuff do anyone?

I think as I type this, and the things I collect that gather dust. Things I have that are still in boxes now because I am between calls and do not have a place to display them. And why do I need to display them?

Well, that is kind of what we are talking about here. But more than that are we determined to keep our wealth ourselves, or do we share with those around us and give to those we see in need?

Life is not about bigger barns or stuff. It should be about love and not greed.

Not keeping everything for ourselves but living in love.

Get rid of greed and show love.