The Rock

Isaiah 46:4, Even to your old age and gray hairs

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Photo by JORGE LOPEZ on Unsplash
Isaiah 46:4,
Even to your old age and gray hairs
   I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
   I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
I am included in this promise because of Jesus.
God’s chosen family begins with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob (aka Israel), and continues down through Moses, King David and on to this present day. This family will continue into the future and forever.
If you run a DNA test on me, you will not find a trace of the DNA that coursed through the veins of King David. Nevertheless, I am as much a family member of Abraham as is Moses or King David. Am I writing blasphemy? I can, with confidence say, “No, I am telling the truth.”
How can this be, that I am a descendant of Jacob? I was born a Gentile. Ah, but I died and then I was born again. Reborn by the authority of Jesus! And into what family was I born? I was born into the family of “faith.” Genesis 15:6 states, “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” And, two thousand years later, the Holy Spirit has the Apostle Paul write, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Therefore, since Christ Jesus made me alive in Him, and that through faith in Him, I am now a child of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I have received the promises God gave His children. I can rest in God’s Word in Galatians 3:26-29, which states, “So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Prayer: Lord Jesus I rejoice for You made the promise in Isaiah 46:4 accessible and beneficial even for me. Sustain me I pray. Carry me when I cannot walk. Rescue me when all seems lost. I cast my lot with You, Jesus. I ask that You live in me and through me that even in my old age You will find a use for me.
Amen

Finding Christ in Christianity

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Thanks to @theaaronburden for making this photo available freely on @unsplash

I decided to start this blog after one of my sons said he was struggling with his faith. Specifically, he felt the Scriptures do not align. So, he began calling himself a “red letter” Christian. He believes the words of Jesus that are in red, but he questions the veracity of everything else.

I completely get that, especially in our world where we have confidence that we can reasonably understand about anything just by Googling it and skimming a few posts. If we’re looking for a hotel review, the best deal to buy some new tires, or even learning about Lupus on WebMD, this approach is entirely valid. And, for most university courses the subject matter can be gleaned more quickly and more currently from the web than from a textbook. However, this is not the case when tackling 1st-century events that have two thousand years of commentary covering every nook and cranny of the divine Word of God.

So, instead of adding more verbiage and thereby moving us even further from the Truth of Scripture, I intend to take us on an expedition that unwraps as many layers of commentary as I can so we get down to the bedrock, or more specifically, the Rock, Christ Jesus. We’re going to be discovering, once again, Christ in Christianity.

You may come from a church background that teaches the Bible is not adequate, on its own, but it also takes the writings of the early Church Fathers for us to effectively understand God’s Word. As we excavate Christianity to find the Rock of our Salvation, we will tackle this teaching.

Ok, this is serious stuff but let’s be joyful. As Jesus said (red letter), “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” – John 15:10-12 (NIV).

 

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