Articles for tag: Abraham And Isaac

December 7, 2017

Doug Redford

The Other “˜Silent Night’

By Doug Redford “Silent Night” remains one of the most beloved of the traditional Christmas carols. The words, the tune, the message are all so simple yet so unforgettable (which is true of the Christmas message itself). The picture of the Christ child sleeping “in heavenly peace” amid less than ideal surroundings is one that beckons us during a season when crowds and commotion are all too common. “Silent night” also describes an evening that took place, ironically, near the end of Jesus” earthly life. That was the night of his betrayal and so-called trial””the series of events that led

Lesson for February 16, 2014: Show Your Faith by Your Works (James 2:14-26)

This treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson is written by Sam E. Stone, former editor of CHRISTIAN STANDARD. ______ By Sam E. Stone Some Bible teachers suggest that Paul and James disagree with each other about the place of faith and works in a person”s salvation. They don”t, however. In today”s text James did not attack Paul”s teaching that a Christian is saved by God”s grace. Instead he corrected what A. T. Robertson called “the ceremonial ritualism of the Pharisees.”   Evaluating Genuine Faith James 2:14-19 Real faith isn”t something you just talk about. Biblical faith includes trust and

You Must Read This . . . Timeless Relevance

By Jim Eichenberger Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters Timothy Keller New York: Dutton, 2009 Timothy Keller is well read without coming across as pompous. He strongly defends a biblical faith without being combative. He appeals to young adults despite being 60-plus and bald! A prolific writer of late, Keller defied the common wisdom by planting a church aimed at preaching “muscular” Christianity to a young urban audience in Manhattan. Founded in 1989, the Redeemer Presbyterian Church has more than 5,000 attendees weekly and is the “mother church” of congregations

Jobian Musings

By David A. Fiensy The psalmist wrote that the righteous person “meditates on his law day and night” (Psalm 1:2). A wise rabbi advised, “Turn it and turn it.”1 (That is, turn the Old Testament law over and over in your mind.) Those authors believed that God speaks to us through the Bible in new ways when we reflect on it deeply and repeatedly. Søren Kierkegaard once retold the story of Abraham”s offering of Isaac (Genesis 22), each time with new details and from different vantage points.2 In this way, he brought insight to a troublesome biblical teaching. Each successive

God Does Not Have a Plan for Your Life

By Jennifer Johnson “God”s plan for your life isn”t a map you see all at once, but a scroll unrolled a little at a time, requiring faith,” Rick Warren recently tweeted. “God will accelerate his plan for your life as you put your trust in him. God is giving you victory sooner than you think,” says Joel Osteen. Less prominent Christians champion the theology as well. In responding to a new believer”s question about his career, a contributor to Bible-Knowledge.com writes, “God will now be the one to fully guide you into whatever jobs he will want you to have. .

Generation of the Ethiopian Eunuch

By Jeff Arthur It happened about six months after our church launched in 2007. I had preached about Abraham and Isaac that Sunday morning. After the service, one of our ladies told me she was familiar with Abraham and Isaac, because she had drawn the image of Abraham offering Isaac to God while pursuing her degree in art. But she had never heard of other Bible characters I had been talking about in my sermons. That resonated with me all week long. I knew I was preaching to a group divided into three parts””non-Christians, nominal churchgoers, and former Catholics””and that

What Am I Likely to Hear?

By Jan Johnson READ THE MAIN STORY: “Turn Up the Quiet”     While the first step in hearing God is to clear out the voices that are NOT God, the next step is to have in mind the kinds of things God is likely to say””because God has said these things to people before! What God says to us today will agree with what God said to folks in the Bible. Here are some of God”s themes. Love. The most common theme in both Testaments is the great commandments to love God and to love others (Matthew 22:37-39; Deuteronomy

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