Genesis 23:13 and he said to Ephron in their hearing, "Listen to me, if you will. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me so I can bury my dead there."
To put this into perspective, Abraham's wife, Sarah, has just died. Abraham is looking for a place to bury her, and wants to buy some land off of a local guy, who offers it to him for free, then for a discount. Abe refuses, ultimately paying beyond the value.
Now I've heard a lot about how this was the norm, a bartering custom, but I still think it shouws Abraham's spirit of generosity, and a desire not to take advantage of people in a situation where he could have done.
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Genesis 22: The longest 50 mile trip in the world
No actual scripture for today, just a general musing. Genesis 22 concerns Abraham's trip with Isaac, where he is responding to God's call to sacrifice his son. As we all know, God doesn't make himm go through with it, but what hit me today was that the journey to the place of sacrifice was 50 miles. Think of how long that would have taken (three days maybe?) and how Abraham would have been wrestling with the idea of killing his son for that whole time. Those of us who look for an immediate answer need to hold on and trust God that it WILL come in his timing. Like Abraham, trust God, and you won't be disappointed.
Monday, 29 March 2010
Genesis 21:
Genesis 21:17-18 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation."
This made me think about how God is so good to jump in and resolve the consequences of our sin - he did not tell Abraham to have a child with Hagar, but he still came in and turned the situation around when Hagar and her son were near death. We are fallen people, and God's original plan for us may need revision as we sin, but he works with us even as sinners, forging new paths to our destiny.
This made me think about how God is so good to jump in and resolve the consequences of our sin - he did not tell Abraham to have a child with Hagar, but he still came in and turned the situation around when Hagar and her son were near death. We are fallen people, and God's original plan for us may need revision as we sin, but he works with us even as sinners, forging new paths to our destiny.
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Genesis 20
Genesis 20:3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, "You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman".
What I like about this is the way Sarah and Abraham were protected from the potential consequences of their sin - Abimelech hadn't slept with Sarah, and God spoke to him to return her. Abraham's plan could have seen him never seeing his wife again, and another man sleeping with her, but again we see a God who is gracious and merciful, who intervenes to get things back on track. Again, we mustn't try and solve things in our own 'wisdom' or strength, but rather rely on God.
What I like about this is the way Sarah and Abraham were protected from the potential consequences of their sin - Abimelech hadn't slept with Sarah, and God spoke to him to return her. Abraham's plan could have seen him never seeing his wife again, and another man sleeping with her, but again we see a God who is gracious and merciful, who intervenes to get things back on track. Again, we mustn't try and solve things in our own 'wisdom' or strength, but rather rely on God.
Friday, 26 March 2010
Genesis 19: Give and it will be given unto you
Gen 19 2-3: "My lords," he said, "please turn aside to your servant's house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning." "No," they answered, "we will spend the night in the square". But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate.
Here's yet another scripture about eh power of generosity. Abraham was insistent - he found a way to be generous: what a challenge!
Gen 19:16 16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them.
Here we see Lot unsure whether to act on the word of God, and God is so generous to him. He doesn't think 'fine, stuff you then', but his angels grab the hands of Lot and his family and lead them off to safety. This is a picture, to me, of God's great mercy. He WANTS to bless us and help us, so let's not fight against him.
Here's yet another scripture about eh power of generosity. Abraham was insistent - he found a way to be generous: what a challenge!
Gen 19:16 16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them.
Here we see Lot unsure whether to act on the word of God, and God is so generous to him. He doesn't think 'fine, stuff you then', but his angels grab the hands of Lot and his family and lead them off to safety. This is a picture, to me, of God's great mercy. He WANTS to bless us and help us, so let's not fight against him.
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Taking Back What Has Been Taken From You: Geoff Lee
Notes on last week's sermon from Church which was just awesome! Find the podcast at www.plymouthchristiancentre.org in the 'messages' section.
The sermon began in 2 Kings. The Arameans are attacking Israel, but God keeps telling Elisha what they are plannig to do, so the Israelites avoid the traps of the Arameans. The King of Aram sends soldiers to kill Elisha. Elisha's servant sees the soldiers surrounding Elisha and feels helpless, but Elisha sees the spiritual reality:
2 Kings 6:16-17 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
Elisha saw the spiritual reality of the situation, and didn't focus on the physical.
In verse 24, the Arameans come back: And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.
They besieged the area until there was a great famine, and food was selling at a ridiculous price.
In 2 Kings 7, Elisha points to tomorrow: 2 Kings 7:1 Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria." In other words, everything will soon be fine and food will be cheap again!
Then some lepers went to the enemy camp to beg mercy, and found the enemy gone! God had scared them away. There's something here about being afraid of something that isn't even there is there not? BUT the lepers had to face their enemy (problem) before seeing there was nothing to fear: reminds me of 'resist the devil and he will flee from you'. They were trapped in 'false fear', and until they confronted it,they would never have escaped from it (I love that!)
Next, the lepers gorge themselves on the enemies' spoils, eating and taking gold etc and hiding it. They go back to the camp and tell them the enemy have disappeared, but the king won't believe it, thinking it's a trap, until eventually he believes it.
Psalm 23: He lays a table before us in the presence of our enemies
Even in the presence of our enemies, God will provide us with what we need.
Romans 8:28 If God is for us, who can be against us?
God is our father, he's on our side, he won't leave us, and he will provide for us. The situation is going to change, and you will go into the enemy's camp.
2 Kings 18/19 sees the Assyrians attacking Israel. The king of Assyria says 'on what are you basing your confidence?' The question to us today is 'on what are you basing your confidence?' The answer needs to be 'GOD!'
The king tries to bargain witht them, lie to them and threaten them. It's another difficult situation of being surrounded and besieged. The situation looks absolutely helpless.
Hezekiah receives a letter full of threats, then goes to God's temple and spreads it out before the Lord. He tells God the whole thing, and prays about it. He calls out for God's help, and God says 'I have heard your prayer...' and He saves them.
Psalm 20:7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
That night, God killed 185,000 Assyrians, saving an impossible and hopeless situation.
So what do we need to do when the enemy attacks or threatens us?:
1) Have faith that God will deliver us
2) Pray, spread it out before the Lord, confront the brutal facts
2 Cor 10: 3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
We can take captive every accusation that comes from satan.
Take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Use it to defeat satan, quoting scriptures to deflect his attack and claim the truth of God.
We serve an awesome, mighty and powerful God who can deal with our situation, whatever it may be.
Satan comes to us and whispers lies and accusations to us, but we should take the sword of the spirit.
Phillipians 4: 19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
We should say things like: I am fearfully and wonderfully made, God has a hope for me, he has written down all the good works he has planned for me, he has a future and a hope for me where goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, he is my shepherd....
We need to deflect the enemy's arrows and claim the truth from the Bible. "God has said..."
If the enemy has taken from you your joy and peace and confidence of God's supply and provision, the time has come to go into the enemy's camp and take back what he has taken from you.
Get up! Get moving!
Judges 6:11 The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior." "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us?
If God is with us, why has this bad stuff happened? Gideon is angry with God. God said to Gideon 'go in the strength you have'. Take what you have, and God does the rest.
Gideon tries to do it in his own strength, so God whittles it down to a small number so he has to be reliant on God.
Some of us are like Gideon - we're cowering and we've given up territory, but it's time to rise mighty warrior. Go in our strength and God will go with us.
God wants us to know that HE is in control of our situation, not us!
Psalm 68: 1 Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered
Romans 8:37 We are more than conquerers through Christ who loves us
We have to decide whether to listen to what God says or what the devil says. We need to take back what the devil has taken from us.
Romans 16:20 He will crush satan under your feet
What are you basing your confidence on? It's the Lord who gives the ability to make wealth, and who can make a way where there is no way. When you are surrounded, the word of the Lord will come. Spread it out before God and he will deliver you!
Stop lying down under the lies of satan, and stand your ground against the devil!
The sermon began in 2 Kings. The Arameans are attacking Israel, but God keeps telling Elisha what they are plannig to do, so the Israelites avoid the traps of the Arameans. The King of Aram sends soldiers to kill Elisha. Elisha's servant sees the soldiers surrounding Elisha and feels helpless, but Elisha sees the spiritual reality:
2 Kings 6:16-17 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
Elisha saw the spiritual reality of the situation, and didn't focus on the physical.
In verse 24, the Arameans come back: And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.
They besieged the area until there was a great famine, and food was selling at a ridiculous price.
In 2 Kings 7, Elisha points to tomorrow: 2 Kings 7:1 Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria." In other words, everything will soon be fine and food will be cheap again!
Then some lepers went to the enemy camp to beg mercy, and found the enemy gone! God had scared them away. There's something here about being afraid of something that isn't even there is there not? BUT the lepers had to face their enemy (problem) before seeing there was nothing to fear: reminds me of 'resist the devil and he will flee from you'. They were trapped in 'false fear', and until they confronted it,they would never have escaped from it (I love that!)
Next, the lepers gorge themselves on the enemies' spoils, eating and taking gold etc and hiding it. They go back to the camp and tell them the enemy have disappeared, but the king won't believe it, thinking it's a trap, until eventually he believes it.
Psalm 23: He lays a table before us in the presence of our enemies
Even in the presence of our enemies, God will provide us with what we need.
Romans 8:28 If God is for us, who can be against us?
God is our father, he's on our side, he won't leave us, and he will provide for us. The situation is going to change, and you will go into the enemy's camp.
2 Kings 18/19 sees the Assyrians attacking Israel. The king of Assyria says 'on what are you basing your confidence?' The question to us today is 'on what are you basing your confidence?' The answer needs to be 'GOD!'
The king tries to bargain witht them, lie to them and threaten them. It's another difficult situation of being surrounded and besieged. The situation looks absolutely helpless.
Hezekiah receives a letter full of threats, then goes to God's temple and spreads it out before the Lord. He tells God the whole thing, and prays about it. He calls out for God's help, and God says 'I have heard your prayer...' and He saves them.
Psalm 20:7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
That night, God killed 185,000 Assyrians, saving an impossible and hopeless situation.
So what do we need to do when the enemy attacks or threatens us?:
1) Have faith that God will deliver us
2) Pray, spread it out before the Lord, confront the brutal facts
2 Cor 10: 3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
We can take captive every accusation that comes from satan.
Take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Use it to defeat satan, quoting scriptures to deflect his attack and claim the truth of God.
We serve an awesome, mighty and powerful God who can deal with our situation, whatever it may be.
Satan comes to us and whispers lies and accusations to us, but we should take the sword of the spirit.
Phillipians 4: 19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
We should say things like: I am fearfully and wonderfully made, God has a hope for me, he has written down all the good works he has planned for me, he has a future and a hope for me where goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, he is my shepherd....
We need to deflect the enemy's arrows and claim the truth from the Bible. "God has said..."
If the enemy has taken from you your joy and peace and confidence of God's supply and provision, the time has come to go into the enemy's camp and take back what he has taken from you.
Get up! Get moving!
Judges 6:11 The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior." "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us?
If God is with us, why has this bad stuff happened? Gideon is angry with God. God said to Gideon 'go in the strength you have'. Take what you have, and God does the rest.
Gideon tries to do it in his own strength, so God whittles it down to a small number so he has to be reliant on God.
Some of us are like Gideon - we're cowering and we've given up territory, but it's time to rise mighty warrior. Go in our strength and God will go with us.
God wants us to know that HE is in control of our situation, not us!
Psalm 68: 1 Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered
Romans 8:37 We are more than conquerers through Christ who loves us
We have to decide whether to listen to what God says or what the devil says. We need to take back what the devil has taken from us.
Romans 16:20 He will crush satan under your feet
What are you basing your confidence on? It's the Lord who gives the ability to make wealth, and who can make a way where there is no way. When you are surrounded, the word of the Lord will come. Spread it out before God and he will deliver you!
Stop lying down under the lies of satan, and stand your ground against the devil!
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Genesis 18:
Had a full night's sleep last night, so getting up this morning was easy which was nice. A few interesting things from Gen 18.
Gen 18:3-5 He said, "If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant."
Here we see Abraham's generous spirit; not only is he generous when strangers come along, but he goes out of his way to be generous to others. He wants to bless them, and is a great example of how we should be with others. For me, I have lately been challenged about SEEKING opportunities to bless others - I will possibly drag my feet and almost begrudgingly bless someone if God makes it absolutely clear to me that he is calling me to, but wil I jump on any opportunity I can to be good to people like Abraham did here? The answer is I aspire to!
Gen 18:7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it.
The key word for me here is 'ran'. Abraham lived a life of excellence, and literally RAN to get the blessing to his guests quicker - what a great example of going the extra mile and living a life of excellence.
Gen 18:11-12 Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?"
Sarah literally laughed at God's promise, but he still granted it. His mercy caused him to overlook Sarah's doubt, which is a great example of how merciful God is.
Genesis 18:16 When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way
When his guests were leaving, Abe went with them. He pursued them, and quite literally went the extra mile. What we then learn is that God spoke to Abraham about the impeding doom coming to Sodom, and Abe pleaded for the people there. This would not have happened if he had not followed, so the message for me is to pursue God and follow him, going the extra mile in our pursuit of him. Don't settle for second best, lazy Christianity, but pursue with passion and energy and it will pay off.
Gen 18:3-5 He said, "If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant."
Here we see Abraham's generous spirit; not only is he generous when strangers come along, but he goes out of his way to be generous to others. He wants to bless them, and is a great example of how we should be with others. For me, I have lately been challenged about SEEKING opportunities to bless others - I will possibly drag my feet and almost begrudgingly bless someone if God makes it absolutely clear to me that he is calling me to, but wil I jump on any opportunity I can to be good to people like Abraham did here? The answer is I aspire to!
Gen 18:7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it.
The key word for me here is 'ran'. Abraham lived a life of excellence, and literally RAN to get the blessing to his guests quicker - what a great example of going the extra mile and living a life of excellence.
Gen 18:11-12 Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?"
Sarah literally laughed at God's promise, but he still granted it. His mercy caused him to overlook Sarah's doubt, which is a great example of how merciful God is.
Genesis 18:16 When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way
When his guests were leaving, Abe went with them. He pursued them, and quite literally went the extra mile. What we then learn is that God spoke to Abraham about the impeding doom coming to Sodom, and Abe pleaded for the people there. This would not have happened if he had not followed, so the message for me is to pursue God and follow him, going the extra mile in our pursuit of him. Don't settle for second best, lazy Christianity, but pursue with passion and energy and it will pay off.
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