Two Brothers Building up the Body

  The Two Sons After years of waiting—through doubt, delay, and faithless detours—God fulfilled His promise. Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the very time God had appointed. "For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—Isaac" (Genesis 21:2-3). Isaac means "laughter." What had once seemed impossible was now crying in Sarah's arms. The child of promise had arrived. Isaac represents something far greater than one family's joy. He is a picture of the new man in Christ—the life that springs forth when a sinner recognizes the sacrificial work of Christ on the cross and confesses Him as Lord and Savior. At that moment of faith, the believer becomes a possessor of new life from God, born not of flesh but of the Spirit. Yet there was a problem in Abraham's household. Ishmael. He was not the s...

  We’ll be starting chapter 3 this post so here are the first 8 verses: And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it . Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men? What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even, as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. I had mentioned in the last post that this section rightly sta...

  Until It Is Finished The evils going on in Sodom in the days of Lot were so great that God could no longer allow them to continue (Gen 18:20)…something had to be done. God’s patience toward man DOES have a limit and when that limit is reached, His righteousness demands action in the form of justice over the wicked. In Genesis 19 we find God’s perfect, righteous justice finally coming to the wicked place and people of Sodom. When it came, it was fierce. It was an expression of His just anger on unrepentant evil. Romans 1:18 says that His wrath will be revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. God’s wrath was just because He had given those people knowledge of their sin and time to turn away from it. Genesis 19:24-25 reads: Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. Only once the entire ...