Praise and Worship in ALL form

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While Paul and Silas were in prison, they were miraculously freed from their chains and the doors opened on their own which made the guard panic. Eventually Paul calmed him down and told him to believe in Yeshua and be saved. People have argued over Paul’s statement. Did he mean that if one family member believes, then the whole family gets saved or that everybody had to believe to get saved? While I believe that salvation is an individual decision, we ought to focus on the fact that it only requires us to BELIEVE in Yeshua selfless act on the cross and His resurrection, not on who gets saved !

 

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Sarah’s Laughter and Messiah​

After nearly 2,000 years, it seems laughable to imagine that Messiah is ready to return and that He may yet come this very day.

The mysterious visitor said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son” (Genesis 18:10). Sarah was inside her tent, and she overheard the conversation. She laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”

The Torah scholar Chofetz Chaim comments on this passage, saying that the story contains a hidden warning not to doubt the coming of the Messiah. Just as Sarah laughed at the notion that God would keep His promise to Abraham after so many fruitless years of waiting and hoping, we too are in danger of losing faith in the coming of the Messiah after so many years of waiting. After nearly 2,000 years, it seems laughable to imagine that Messiah is ready to return and that He may yet come this very day.

After decades of waiting for the promised child, Sarah had despaired of seeing the promise fulfilled. A similar situation occurred just before the redemption from Egypt. When Moses came to the Hebrew slaves, declaring the hour of their redemption, they did not believe him: “They did not listen to Moses on account of their despondency and cruel bondage” (Exodus 6:9). The long years of suffering in Egypt had crushed their hopes, and they no longer had the strength to believe in the promised redemption.

If one truly believes in the possibility of Mashiach’s imminent arrival, then he will constantly be in a state of spiritual preparation, through Torah, good deeds and repentance. If, however, such is not the case, then it is apparent that our talk of his imminent coming is mere lip service; in reality, our faith is quite miniscule. This is alluded to in the words told to Sarah, “No, you laughed indeed.” (Chofetz Chaim)

In a similar teaching, the Apostle Peter tells us:

Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:3-4)

When Sarah finally received the promise and held her baby in her arms, she laughed with joy rather than cynical incredulity: “Sarah said, ‘God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me’” (Genesis 21:6). “Then our mouth was filled with laughter,” (Palm 126:2).

 

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Ravi Zacharias: Is Truth Dead ?

 

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When young Jewish kids learn to read Hebrew, it is not uncommon for the teacher to place drops of honey on the letter board for the children to connect sweetness with learning. God’s word contains a lot of instructions that we too often see as limitations to our freedom when they really are guides to our growth in safety. The word of God isn’t just a laundry list of strict orders from a totalitarian God, it is a sweet love letter for his children, and as such, it only aims at protecting us and directing us towards the author, to have a personal and intimate relationship with Him

 

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Abraham's Great Test​

Life is full of tests, but tests are easier to pass when you already know the answers. Abraham knew the answers before he took the test.

Abraham's life was a life of faith, and the life of faith is a life of testing. At every juncture we are tested. Passing each test requires stubborn optimism, resolute confidence in God and steadfast obedience. Life's problems are opportunities to prove our faith and to improve our faithfulness. We fail life's tests when we give in to despair, lose confidence in God or turn away from obedience. Every difficulty and trial is a test of faith. Will we assess the problem through the eyes of faith or not? Will we respond in faith or faithlessness?

He said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you." (Genesis 22:2)

When God first called Abraham he said, "Go forth from your country." The Hebrew for "go forth" is lech-lecha (לך לך). That was the first test of Abraham's faith. Near the end of Abraham's life, the LORD again tells Abraham, "Lech-lecha." He commands him to bring his son Isaac to the land of Moriah. The land of Moriah is the area of Jerusalem. God tells Abraham to bring Isaac to "one of the mountains of which I will tell you." Mount Moriah is the mount on which King Solomon built the holy Temple. Abraham built his altar on the very spot where the Holy Temple would one day be built.

Abraham did not object to God's commandment. Instead he rose early in the morning to carry out the terrible duty. Remember that he also rose early in the morning to send off Hagar and Ishmael. When we have a commandment from God, even if it seems disagreeable, we should not procrastinate.

Abraham passed the test. He demonstrated his confidence in God.

When Isaac asked about the lamb for the sacrifice, Abraham confidently replied, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son" (Genesis 22:8).

He demonstrated he was willing to sacrifice Isaac, even binding him, placing him on the altar and taking the knife to slaughter him. How could a loving father do this? The writer of the book of Hebrews explains:

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said [in Genesis 21:12], "In Isaac your descendants shall be called." He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type. (Hebrews 11:17-19)

Abraham believed God with such absolute faith that he did not hesitate to obey. He knew God had made promises to bless and multiply his seed through Isaac, and He knew God would keep those promises, even if He had to raise Isaac from the dead.

 

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Paul emphasized the importance of not altering the simple message of the Gospel. Already in his day, people were adding and taking away parts of God’s message of salvation. They had received the simple truth, just like we receive it today and they were expected to place their faith alone in Messiah alone who died and rose again on their behalf. Nothing has changed as to what the Gospel is, but people are always looking at complicating the simple. Entrance into God’s family is free, the door is open, the walk is challenging, but the destination is the utmost reward.

 

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Overview: Book of Joshua

 

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Many people see this book as an allegory of Israel’s relationship with her God, but it is a book on biblical marriage relations. While Solomon eventually had many wives and concubines (his downfall), we are reminded of the sanctity, purity and beauty of marriage in the Bible. It is between a man and a woman, under the authority of the Lord. Anything else that man want to make marriage into isn’t what God intended it to be and will eventually crumble under the pressure of a fallen, sick world. God is needed in the center of all marriages to hold the two partners together !

 

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The Sin of Sodom​

For what great sin did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone?

The story of how the citizens of Sodom welcomed the two strangers gives us the impression that inhabitants of the city were judged for their illicit sexual sins. Jude, the younger brother of Yeshua, explains that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because they “indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh” (Jude 1:7). But sexual depravity was not unique to Sodom and Gomorrah. It’s still with us today, and we don’t see fire and brimstone falling out of the sky onto today’s centers of immorality. Were there other sins and vices charged against those cities?

From ancient times there have been differing theories attempting to identify the real problem with Sodom and Gomorrah. The Talmud preserves a list of opinions that includes charges of sexual immorality, stinginess, blasphemy, avarice, selfishness, burglary, encroachment, extortion and injustice. Several of these sins may be derived from a passage in the book of Ezekiel, where the prophet metaphorically refers to the kingdom of Judah as Sodom:

Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it. (Ezekiel 16:49-50)

The prophet Ezekiel lists sexual immorality as the final straw after an accumulation of social injustices. Ezekiel charged the people with enjoying “abundant food and careless ease” while neglecting the poor—a charge that could be leveled against most of us living in the West.

Tradition says that the primary sin of the men of Sodom and Gomorrah was their inhospitable welcome of strangers. Jewish legend embellished the story with other tales of how badly the people of Sodom treated guests and strangers. The people of Sodom came to represent the opposite of hospitality. Not only were they sexually deviant, but even worse, they were inhospitable. Clement, the disciple of Peter, followed the Jewish explanation in that he also saw hospitality and inhospitality as the main issues in the Sodom and Gomorrah story:

On account of his hospitality and godliness, Lot was saved out of Sodom when all the country round was punished by means of fire and brimstone, the Lord thus making it manifest that He does not forsake those that hope in Him, but gives up such as depart from Him to punishment and torture. (1 Clement 11:1)

Yeshua may be alluding to the hospitality explanation for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah when He tells His disciples to seek hospitality in the homes and villages they enter. He tells them, “Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city” (Matthew 10:14-15).

 

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It is often argued that in Messiah, all believers are the same and that all distinctives are erased in “the new man.” While this is biblically accurate as far as justification is concerned, it couldn’t be farther from the truth. Why would Paul say “slaves obey your masters” and “wives obey your husbands”, or even “to the Jew first” if all humans were identical? God sees us all as sinners before we enter the Body of Messiah and continues to see us as redeemed creatures through Yeshua, once we are in, but all of our distinctives–with their implications–remain intact!

 

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The Friend of God​

What did Abraham do to be called the friend of God?

If God had said, take your son, your other son, Ishmael, whom you love, Abraham would have found the trial just as heart-breaking and difficult. The real test was not about Abraham’s affection for Isaac as much as it was a test of his faith in the promises of God. Everything Abraham believed and hoped for rested on Isaac.

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, “In Isaac your descendants shall be called.” (Hebrews 11:17-18)

Abraham’s obedience testifies to his great faith in God’s promises and his selfless devotion to the LORD. The near-sacrifice of Isaac vindicated God’s choice of Abraham in our eyes and the eyes of the world. James the brother of our Master says that Abraham our father was “justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar … and he was called the friend of God” (James 2:21-23).

The Bible calls Abraham “the friend of God” because God and Abraham had a mutual covenant partnership. Abraham was the “friend of God” in the sense that he was God’s “covenant partner.” God “tested” Abraham to test the extant of Abraham’s loyalty to the covenant relationship. Abraham passed the test. He proved his devotion by obeying God and bringing Isaac as a sacrifice. When God saw that Abraham had chosen to keep and honour the covenant, He reconfirmed the covenant, saying, “Because you have done this thing and not withheld your son …” (Genesis 22:16). In other words, the fulfilment of the covenant promises God made to Abraham were contingent upon Abraham’s obedience in offering his only son. Because Abraham willingly offered up his son, God agreed to keep His obligations to Abraham.

A covenant is a two-way relationship. Abraham met the test and proved his loyalty to his covenant friend. That left the ball in God’s court, so to speak. It was God’s turn to prove His own loyalty to the covenant. In so doing, the Almighty could not bring to the table less than Abraham had brought. Abraham demonstrated his covenant loyalty through willingly sacrificing his only son, and by doing that, he obligated the Almighty to reciprocate. Abraham’s demonstration of covenant loyalty demanded God’s demonstration of covenant loyalty. The sacrifice of Isaac not only foreshadowed the sacrifice of Yeshua, it demanded it.

In the Gospel of John, God Himself takes on the role of Abraham and demonstrates His faithfulness before the entire world by sacrificing His Son. In language so reminiscent of the first verses of Genesis 22 that it can hardly be coincidental, the apostle John says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). In another place John said, “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9). With similar language, Paul said, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Messiah died for us” (Romans 5:8).

The sacrificial death of God’s Son demonstrates God’s love and faithfulness. Christians take that for granted, but long before the story of Yeshua or the writing of the first gospel, there was Abraham—a father willing to sacrifice his only begotten and beloved son as a demonstration of faithfulness and love.

 

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The fullness of time refers to the exact time when God knew that Yeshua ad to come live among men, minister, be rejected and crucified for mankind. We are reminded of the uniqueness of the incarnation when the second person of the Godhead became a man so that in His humanity He could give His own innocent life as a ransom for us all, the guilty. Yeshua’s sacrifice is the epitome of unconditional love from God towards us, His creatures. Even though God cannot die, He found a way to alone for the sins of the world through death. Yeshua’s death and resurrection gave me abundant life.

 

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Marital Advice from Sarah and Abraham​

Looking for tips for a happy home? Take another look at the marriage of your spiritual parents, Abraham and Sarah.

When Sarah heard the Angel of the LORD announce that she was to conceive a son, she laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” (Genesis 18:12). Peter commented on this verse of the Torah, telling wives that they should submit to their husbands "just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear" (1 Peter 3:5-6). Peter found it significant that Sarah referred to Abraham as “my lord.” He looked at the marriage of Abraham and Sarah as the ideal and model marriage, and he encouraged disciples to emulate Abraham and Sarah

A wife should submit to her husband freely and voluntarily, “not being frightened by any fear.” In other words, a worthy wife submits to her husband out of love and respect, not because she is afraid of him. Simon Peter taught that husbands should not demand submission from their wives with threats or stern and angry words. Instead, a worthy husband lives with his wife “in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman.” A worthy husband shows his wife “honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life” (1 Peter 3:7). Peter urged husbands to treat their wives as peers, not subordinates, “so that your prayers will not be hindered” (1 Peter 3:7). The prayers of a man who does not treat his wife with respect and dignity as a fellow heir (i.e., equal partner) will not reach heaven. Simon Peter concluded his advice on marriage as follows:

To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. (1 Peter 3:8-9)

Sarah referred to Abraham as “my lord,” but God told Abraham, “Whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her!” (Genesis 21:12). In the Hebrew idiom, “to listen” is to obey. Abraham was lord over Sarah, but in His service of God, he was subservient to his wife. This husband-wife relationship illustrates the Master’s kingdom principles of headship: “Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all” (Mark 10:43-44). Kingdom leadership is far removed from the rigid, authoritarian, dictatorial standards whereby men are expected to lord it over meek and spineless women. The biblical model of a healthy marriage calls for mutual partnership where the man leads by service to Messiah and his wife.

Although Sarah laughed to herself in the privacy of her tent, the LORD knew. He asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?’” That was not what Sarah really said. The LORD omitted her words about Abraham: “My lord being old also.” Why did God leave out those words?
The Midrash Tanchuma explains that God omitted the words that Abraham might find hurtful:

In the matter of our mother Sarah, the Holy One, Blessed be He, misrepresented her words … for the sake of peace. Why did He do this? So that Abraham would not resent her and thereby cause animosity between Abraham and Sarah. (Midrash Tanchuma, Shoftim 18)

This story teaches that one must be exceedingly careful to maintain peace between a husband and wife. A person should never speak derisively to someone about that person’s spouse or relate any negative information that might cause friction or otherwise diminish a man’s respect for his wife or a woman’s respect for her husband. Instead, a person should mention only the virtues of a person’s spouse to engender love between a husband and a wife.

 

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Thank you God for blessing marriages.

 

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I was visiting this specialist doctor
she always like to preach and talk about god and even tried to recommend me her Christian friends.

 

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I was visiting this specialist doctor
she always like to preach and talk about god and even tried to recommend me her Christian friends.

she is sharing
if you are uncomfortable with it then tell her off politely
she will understand, dont worry