Don't Think We Take The Bible For Granted? Watch This Video!

In a culture where we leave Bibles laying around in our cars from Sunday to Sunday, on coffee tables or stuck on bookshelves its very easy to take the Word of God for granted. However, what if we didn't have the Bible in our own language? How would our attention to the detail of God's Word be then?

A friend of mine sent me this video. Its of the day that the Kimyal Tribe of Papua, Indonesia received the Bible, written in their language, for the very first time. I'm amazed at how much they celebrated the arrival of the Bible and the amount of emotion that was shown once it was received. Its certainly something that we can learn from because to these people the Word of God has legitimate value. I'm willing to bet that you won't find one just laying around on a shelf among this tribe.

How about we learn something from our brothers and sisters here and start celebrating the Word of God!

Did Abraham Believe In The Resurrection Power Of God When He Offered Isaac?

We just celebrated Easter weekend and the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. It’s the ability of God to raise Jesus from the dead that should give every Christian believer the confidence of knowing that there is no circumstance in life that we cannot overcome through the power of Christ who lives in us. However, in a follow-up to my sermon from Easter Sunday we discover that believing in the resurrection power of God is not limited to the New Testament.

In Genesis chapter 22 God asks Abraham to take his son Isaac and sacrifice him in the region of Moriah. Keep in mind that Isaac was the promised child of the covenant who the Lord had said would use to make Abraham’s descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. There’s no doubt that Isaac meant the world to Abraham because in addition to being the fulfillment of God’s promise he was Abraham and Sarah’s only child.

So why would God ask for Isaac to be sacrificed? The brief moral of the story is that God was testing Abraham to see if Isaac had replaced the Lord’s spot in Abraham’s life and whether Abraham still looked at Isaac as God’s blessed child or as his own child. If you’re familiar with the story then you know that the Lord ultimately sent a substitute sacrifice for Isaac once he saw Abraham’s willingness to be obedient. God then reiterated his promise to Abraham in regards to the covenant. However, what did Abraham believe was going to happen if he had truly sacrificed Isaac?

Part of the answer is found in verse five. There he tells his servants to stay with the animals while he and Isaac go up to worship. The he says specifically that “we will come back to you.” There was no doubt in Abraham’s mind that he was returning with Isaac. He was fully committed to living out God’s covenant in his life and was devoted in following the Lord’s direction even when it wasn’t crystal clear and extremely difficult. God’s promise meant so much that he actually would have sacrificed his own son for the sake of obedience to the Lord.

Today we look at that story and are tempted to comment on how sick and twisted it is that Abraham would have actually slain his child in the presence of Jehovah. In doing so we fail to see that the focus of the story isn’t on Isaac at all but rather Abraham’s heart. The fulfillment of God’s promise wasn’t based on Isaac’s health or life. It was based solely on God’s power and Abraham was confident in that power, so much so that the author of Hebrews tells us in 11:19 that Abraham believed that God would have risen Isaac from the dead had he been sacrificed. Now that’s faith!

You and I also have a promise that we can stake our lives on. Jeremiah 29:11 (what I’m preaching on this Sunday) tells us that God has a plan for our lives that is to prosper us and not to harm us. God’s plan is to give us hope and a future. Seek to live out God’s plan for you and be willing to sacrifice all at the altar of God knowing that His resurrection power can restore and rebuild broken, hearts, dreams and lives as well as supply all that we need for prosperity within his plan. Ho

Melchizedek - Could He Be Jesus In The Old Testament?

One of the great things that I love about my church is the inquisitiveness of our congregation. In my sermon on April 1st I mentioned that Abram's encounter with Melchizedek in Genesis 14 could have been an encounter with Jesus Christ. In fact, that's actually what I believe and here's why.

In Genesis 14 Melchizedek is described as a "priest of God Most High" but he's also introduced as the king of Salem which is important to note because of the meaning of both his name and the meaning of Salem. Before we go there let's look back at Genesis 14 real quick. It says that he is a priest and that Abraham gave him a tithe of ten percent. This is long before the tribe of Levi and eventually the priestly order that came through it. At this point in history there is no Levitical Law to tell people to tithe. Melchizedek surpasses all of that!

While that's not enough evidence on its own to indicate that Melchizedek is an appearance of Jesus in the Old Testament so consider this. In Psalm 110 David is clearly speaking of the Messiah when he says, "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." Did you catch that? Genesis describes Melchizedek as a priest of God Most High and then David says that Jesus is a priest forever!

Now, consider this. To my knowledge the only other place in the Bible to talk about Melchizedek is the book of Hebrews. In chapter seven we are told that the name Melchizedek actually means King of Righteousness and that king of Salem means King of Peace. There is no other King of Righteousness or King of Peace above Jesus Christ. He is the King of Kings!

Then the author of Hebrews goes on to say that Melchizedek is without origin. No beginning or end, no mother or father and without beginning of life or end of days. He then goes on to say that he is a priest forever (the exact same phrase David attributes to Jesus) resembling the Son of God.

How could Melchizedek be anyone other than Jesus?