The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith
Tag Archives: Christian Living
Earth Takes a Sabbath
As the earth begins to wind down for winter, it is a good time to, once again, remember the Creator and rejoice in the work of His hands. We see the amazing colors that precede the Sabbath rest of creation – the gold, scarlet, orange, and brown leaves preparing to fall, bequeathed to the ground to nourish next year’s growth, and the trees primed…..
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Come
Isaiah is a book of prophecy that primarily targets the people of Israel. But chapters fifty-three through sixty-one diverge into the prophetic advent of salvation free to all who believe in the redemptive sacrifice of Christ on the cross. One part of that prophecy uses the imperative voice of command as God calls everyone to Come (Isa. 55:1), Listen Diligently (vs. 2b), Hear (vs.3), and Seek Him…..
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Old and New Testament Parallels
Jeremiah 29:11-13 was a message to the Children of Israel, but it carries over to us, as well, to the New Testament Church: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon me, and you shall go and pray unto me,…..
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God’s Individual Direction
Genesis 46 records the journey of Jacob to Egypt after he learned that Joseph, his son whom he had not seen in more than twenty years, was not only alive but also second in command to Pharoah. On his way to Egypt, Jacob stopped at Beersheba. Since it was on the ancient trade route that passed through Canaan at the time, anyone traveling south from…..
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Leah
What do Isaac, Joseph, and Leah have in common? They are Old Testament types of Christ. We don’t usually consider Leah to be part of this list, but if you think about it, her life represented Christ’s earthly journey in three ways: she was unattractive, rejected, and yet chosen.
First, Leah was unattractive. Jacob’s trek to Padan-Aram with a dual purpose, to both flee his angry brother’s…..
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Trust and Obey
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusts in thee. Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength” (Is. 26:3-4).
These verses state a reverse continuum that is the very basis of our salvation in Jesus Christ. It starts with God’s everlasting strength, more than enough reason to believe and trust…..
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Jacob’s Prayer
Many times circumstances have brought me to my knees before God, especially recently. And the prayers that I pray sound a lot like Jacob’s prayer in Genesis 32:9-12.
Having left his understandably hostile brother some twenty years before, Jacob was fearful for his safety, along with the safety of his family, livestock, goods, and servants, as he approached his father’s home. Having been told that his…..
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The Story of Esau and Jacob
There are lessons to be learned in today’s Church from the dysfunctional family of Isaac and Rebekah. Isaac’s story is found in Genesis 21 – 35. While he was growing up, his father and mother had instilled in him his part of the Abrahamic Covenant confirmed and the prophecy spoken to Abraham by God. And yet Isaac and his wife somehow missed…..
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Watch and Pray
While Jesus sat with His disciples on the Mount of Olives to the East of Jerusalem, they asked Him when the things He had been talking about would come to pass and how they would know when the prophecies were fulfilled. Mark 13 describes his teachings on this occasion, showing Jesus to be well versed in and effectively using Scripture, and speaking unreservedly in terms…..
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The Light On My Path
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105
From the perspective of the twenty-first century, we have the full Word of God, the Bible, on which to rely and from which to learn about God. But when King David wrote this little verse in the longest Psalm of the Bible, his Word of…..