Today’s reading: Gen 16:1–17:27, Matt 12:1–50, Eccles 3:16–22

Today’s theme: God’s faithfulness

One of the things we see in today’s reading is God’s faithfulness to Abraham. He blesses Ishmael’s offspring in the Arab people and we see this right up to the present day It is no coincidence that they live in the oil rich areas of the earth and are so numerous. We also see God’s faithfulness in his promises to Abraham concerning his own offspring in the people of Israel where we can clearly see God’s blessing on them today.

Ultimately we see the faithfulness of God in Christ, the Messiah, the one who is greater than the temple and the worker of amazing miracles.

Genesis 16:1–17:27

Men, we have responsibilities

And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!” Genesis 16:5 (ESV)

Men we are responsible for what happens in our households before God. Even if we have listened to our wives or children on a matter the responsibility still lies with us as the head of our homes before God.

God’s faithfulness

The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” Genesis 16:10 (ESV)

The offspring became the Arab people. They stand today as evidence of God’s faithfulness in fulfilling his word.

Abraham’s offspring

And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.” Genesis 17:7–8 (ESV)

This covenant God made with Abraham was twofold, in a literal sense this is the direct source of the people of Israel (Offspring) and their relationship to the land of Israel (Canaan). Believers in Jesus are also called Abraham’s offspring in the book of Romans.

Matthew 12:1–50

Jesus the true and greater temple

I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. Matthew 12:6 (ESV)

The temple was only an Old Testament foreshadow of Jesus.

Amazing miracles performed by Jesus

Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. Matthew 12:22 (ESV)

It is so easy to take accounts like this for granted. We should pause as we read this and stand in awe and worship of the amazing miracles performed by Jesus.

Watch your words

I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:36–37 (ESV)

We should be careful about what we say.

Most of the above post is a copy of the original notes from the same date in 2014

Additional resources

Look at the excellent and free Faithlife Study Bible

Today’s reading: Gen 14:1–15:21, Matt 11:1–30, Eccles 3:9–15

Today’s theme: Bold faith

An important lesson learned from Abram’s life is that we should have bold faith in God, in His Word and act on that faith in Jesus name. We have been chosen to receive the revelation of God’s truth so that we will take on the yoke of discipleship and live our lives with an eternal perspective, in bold faith, to the glory of God.

Genesis 14:1–15:21

Move with bold faith

And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. Genesis 14:15 (ESV)

This is quite amazing, Abram moved in active and confident faith in God. He was bold in pursuing this army which had recently defeated many peoples including slaying giants.

God, our defence and treasure

After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” Genesis 15:1 (ESV)

God is our defence, our great treasure and our reward. We should trust and rejoice in Him as such.

Trust God’s Word

And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6 (ESV)

Like Abram we must put our trust in God’s Word

God’s promises are sure

And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. Genesis 15:10 (ESV)

This was a common covenant made between men as partners in some business or enterprise at the time. God was saying here that He was very serious about keeping His promise to Abram, this should have filled Abram with assurance and strengthened his faith.

Matthew 11:1–30

Jesus, the Messiah

And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: Matthew 11:4 (ESV)

What Jesus did and said authenticated Him as the promised Messiah

Pray for the persecuted church

From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. Matthew 11:12 (ESV)

Since the days of John the Baptist, God’s Kingdom has suffered oppression and resistance by violent men. This should serve as a reminder for us to pray for those imprisoned for the Gospel. We should pray that they would not lose faith.

Chosen to receive revelation

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Matthew 11:27 (ESV)

It is God’s gracious will for us as His elect to know the truth and it is only through Jesus choosing us that the Father is revealed to us so that we may know him. We should thank God that we have been elected by His grace.

The yoke of discipleship

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29 (ESV)

We should joyfully take on the yoke of discipleship under Jesus. In this we will find rest for our souls. All other efforts are futile and too heavy to bear (the weight of legalism or the slavery of open sin). Jesus is our gentle teacher.

Ecclesiastes 3:9–15

Eternity is real

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. Ecclesiastes 3:11 (ESV)

God has given all men an inner knowing that life continues after death.

Life should be enjoyed, in God

also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man. Ecclesiastes 3:13 (ESV)

God has given us this life to enjoy with Him.

Most of the above post is a copy of the original notes from the same date in 2014

Additional resources

Violent Faith Glorifies God and Advances the Gospel

Lay Aside the Weight of Restless Work

Today’s reading: Gen 12:1–13:18, Matt 10:1–42, Eccles 3:1–8

Today’s theme: Fear God, not man

The theme from today’s reading is teaching us that we should not be governed by our fear of other men and the things we imagine they might say or do. Instead we should both fear and put our trust in God alone. We are called to boldly stand up for God in faith and treasure Him in our hearts above life itself.

Genesis 12:1–13:18

Do not let your thoughts be governed by fear

and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” Genesis 12:12–13 (ESV)

This was all in Abram’s mind, he was fearful and thought the worst instead of trusting God in faith. We can learn from this that we should not try to figure everything out in our own minds in fear but should instead trust God in faith.

Matthew 10:1–42

Called to persevere

and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. Matthew 10:22–23 (ESV)

We are called to endure and persevere, God grants us the grace and strength we need to do this.

Fear God

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28 (ESV)

We should not fear man, instead we should fear God!

Stand up for God

So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 10:32–33 (ESV)

If God is taking care of the birds we know He will take care of us. We should stand up for Him and not fear man or be ashamed.

Treasure Jesus above all

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Matthew 10:37–38 (ESV)

Jesus demands our allegiance and to have priority in our lives and affections. We need to examine our hearts and be sure we treasure Him more than anything or anyone else.

Ecclesiastes 3:1–8

Timing is important

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: Ecclesiastes 3:1 (ESV)

Lord help us to do the right thing at the right time.

Most of the above post is a copy of the original notes from the same date in 2014

Additional resources

Look at the Book is a great interactive look at a Bible passage – Have No Fear of Them

Today’s reading: Gen 10:1–11:32, Matt 9:1–38, Eccles 2:18–26

Today’s theme: The origin of language

It is important to remember that our theology (the understanding of God), anthropology (the understanding of man and his origin) and ecology (understanding of the world including its origin and how we care for it today) is derived from the Bible and not man’s foolish ideas on how it all began. With that in mind our focus today is the origin of all human language. We once had just one language until God’s supernatural intervention at the tower of Babel. We also look at issues regarding racism today.

Genesis 10:1–11:32

“Black” people are not specially cursed

The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. Genesis 10:6 (ESV)

Cush, Egypt and Put were not cursed, only Canaan was. So let’s be clear, the African nations were not singled out to be especially cursed! This lie was perpetuated to justify the slave trade in modern times and has been used for centuries by different religions to divide, oppress and disfigure human beings made in God’s image based on their skin colour.

We are not defined by skin colour

These are the sons of Shem, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations. Genesis 10:31 (ESV)

Notice The Bible distinguishes people by their language, clan, land and nation. It does not distinguish people by the colour of their skin! This is a fairly recent invention created to divide people in a way that God has never intended. Defining someone by the colour of their skin is very simplistic and quite disrespectful to the individual when compared to the richness with which people are defined in The Bible.

The origin of different tongues (languages)

Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth. Genesis 11:9 (ESV)

This is where all languages originally came from although languages have changed and developed over time.

Matthew 9:1–38

Live life on mission

But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:12–13 (ESV)

Jesus teaches us that the mission of salvation cannot be achieved by us staying in “respectable company”. We need to go out into all the world and share the good news with everyone. God’s priority is self-sacrificing love rather than man-made ritual and protocol.

The new way

No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.” Matthew 9:16–17 (ESV)

The new way that Jesus brings cannot be contained by man made traditions and religious observances. We now relate to God in terms of a responsive, living relationship and not a religion of unfulfilled forms and shadows. Jesus has fulfilled the law and as a result, we now live our lives in the new order that He has made through the cross.

Pray for and be labourers

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Matthew 9:37–38 (ESV)

This is still true and we should still pray this with all our hearts and be willing to be the labourers that are sent out.

Ecclesiastes 2:18–26

Work in faith

For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. Ecclesiastes 2:26 (ESV)

All our work will only truly be of benefit to us if we put our faith in God which pleases Him. Outside of this, work can become like a slave master.

Most of the above post is a copy of the original notes from the same date in 2014

Additional resources

A great resource page about the Tower of Babel from Answers in Genesis

Today’s reading: Gen 8:1–9:28, Matt 7:12–8:34, Eccles 2:12–17

Today’s theme: The fruit of conduct

Our conduct as Christians is the true evidence of God in our lives, good trees have good fruit (conduct and behaviour) whereas bad tress still have the naturally evil heart of man producing bad fruit. Having good fruit is only possible through Jesus. We also deal with one of the oldest lies regarding racism in today’s reading.

Genesis 8:1–9:28

Mankind, evil at heart

And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. Genesis 8:21 (ESV)

As humans we are evil from our youth, this confirms the biblical teaching that we are all sinners in need of salvation which is only available through Jesus Christ.

The curse of Canaan

he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” Genesis 9:25 (ESV)

Notice Noah said cursed be Canaan (Ham’s son) not cursed be Ham or any of Ham’s other children. In the past this curse has been misquoted to say that Ham was cursed and therefore the African nations that came from Ham are cursed. This is simply a lie as the curse fell to Canaan and his children who were the 7 people’s of Canaan, the promised Land. “Black” people have not been specially cursed.

Matthew 7:12–8:34

The fruit of conduct

So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. Matthew 7:17 (ESV)

Jesus has given us a very simple way to tell if someone is a true teacher, or even a true believer. What do they actually do, that is the fruit. We don’t need to know their heart (roots) we just need to observe their conduct (fruit).

Ecclesiastes 2:12–17

The unavoidable appointment

For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! Ecclesiastes 2:16 (ESV)

One appointment we all have to keep, so don’t make the pursuit of wisdom be your whole life, give your life to the one who has conquered death… Jesus!

Most of the above post is a copy of the original notes from the same date in 2014

Additional resources

Bloodlines

The origin of the races

The curse of Ham, it’s not true