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Archive for the ‘Bible Characters’ Category

Time with God now

Posted in Isaac, Prayer, The Wesleys, tagged , on August 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »

“Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD … Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide …” (Genesis 19:27, 24:63a)

Men and women of God, from Abraham and Isaac through the centuries to today take time to get alone with God.

Abraham’s time was in the mornings at a scenic overlook; Isaac’s in the evenings in the fields. It’s not what time or where that is important but the consistency and privacy.

Suzanna Wesley, unable to leave the house because of responsibilities for her 19 children (John and Charles being two of them), sat in a chair with her apron over her head – all because there must be time alone with God for every believer.

Jesus said to go to the closet to pray in secret.1 Your closet may have four wheels and your time may be on the way to work, but take time every day to get alone with God.

– fritz

1 – Matthew 6:6

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>Still the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

Posted in resurrection, Sadducees, tagged on August 13, 2010| Leave a Comment »

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“[H]ave you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living. When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.” – Matthew 22:31b-33

The faithful knew this verse as God’s introduction of himself to Moses,1 but Jesus revealed a meaning they hadn’t realized.

Sadducee’s, a scholarly religious group in charge of the temple, did not believe in a literal life after death because they found no evidence of it in the books written by Moses, Genesis through Deuteronomy. This caused real contention and confusion among the less studied who were considered common and unintellectual.

Jesus settled the issue and gave hope to all by pointing out, from their own section of the Bible, that when God said “I am“(not “I was”) Abraham’s, Isaac’s, and Jacob’s God he was saying they were still very much alive in a very real place, still worshiping God as their own.

The term, “gathered to his people”, was not a euphemism for some bone pit but a place of continued fellowship with God and loved ones who had passed on.

“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” – 2nd Corinthians 5:8

– fritz

1 – Exodus 3:6

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Bible – a book about one man

Posted in Bible, Christ's Body, Church, Explanations, Faith, Forgiveness, In Christ, Jesus, Righteousness, tagged , , , on July 13, 2010| Leave a Comment »

And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, [Jesus] expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. – Luke 24:27

Two travelers on the way to a town called Emmaus, seven (7) miles from Jerusalem, picked up a stranger. Though unrecognized until the last, he took them through the Bible from a new perspective — Christ in every Book, Letter, and Psalm. “Did not our hearts burn within us!”, they said!1

The Bible really is a book about just one man — All the apostles saw it that way. Here is just one (1) example:

Paul, quoting a very familiar passage about Adam and Eve but with a new twist:

“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh … I speak concerning Christ and the church.” – Ephesians 5:30-32

Neither we nor Jesus are any longer just ourselves, but eternally linked in covenant like a husband and wife! Him taking my sinfulness, me taking his righteousness,2 becoming one new man,3 the last Adam4 (male and female 5). We, together, approach God with nothing owing and all debts paid, God’s grace working is us (Christ and me) in all circumstances to bring about our good and God’s glory.6

Wow, what a book, what a savior, what a God, what a privilege!

— fritz@langgang.com
1 – Luke 24:32
2 – 2nd Corinthians 5:21
3 – One new man (not referring to Jew and Gentile but us and Christ) – Ephesians 2:14-15
4 – Last Adam – 1st Corinthians 15:45
5 – Adam, male and female – Genesis 1:27
6 – See Post from July 11, 2010 – “Where is God’s Blessing”

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