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to have minds for the Lord Jesus,
hearts for the truth, and
hands that are skilled to the task.
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Sermons on Fundamentals of the Faith (Page 3)

Are You Bearing God’s Image?

I would say, Joseph was bearing God’s image. This does not mean that Joseph was perfect. No human being is, except the man of God, Jesus Christ. Bearing God’s image means: Having a powerful faith in God and a positive response to others.
Judah and his brothers went from intellectual faith, to emotional faith, and eventually to transforming faith.They are now bearing the image of God. They are now acting according to God’s Word. Now it’s not just faith, now it’s faith that works according to God’s Word.
They all passed the exam of attitudes.
Humanly speaking, the average Christian would not bear God’s image when faced with people who have done them such wrong. We would demand from the guilty to feel some of the humiliation and shame we felt when they did wrong. We know that they don’t deserve anything good coming their way. BUT LISTEN TO JOSEPH, a man who bears the image of God.

A Feast of Grace

Instead of presenting Benjamin to the Egyptian ruler and with that releasing Simeon from Prison and the charges of being spies being dropped, THEY RECEIVED AN INVITATION TO A BANQUET.
William Shakespeare, in King Henry VI, WROTE: “Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind.” Listen, guilt will always do that to all of us. Guilt has the power to cause us to say strange things at strange times. An Egyptian explaining to God’s chosen people what their God is doing. They could not see it, because they feared the worst.

He Died In Faith

For Abraham to loose his wife was a very painful experience. Abraham was a man of faith and certainly his tears did not indicate any unbelief.
Abraham knew that Sarah was now in the Lord’s care. He had to say goodbye, but he did not loose Sarah.
“When you know where something is, you haven’t lost it.”
Too many people when they reach old age cannot experience what Abraham did. They live without faith and eventually cannot die IN FAITH.
“When they look back, it is with regret; When they look ahead, it is with fear; When they look around, it is with complaint!”
For us who trusted Christ, old age should be a time of rich experience in the Lord and a wonderful opportunity to share Jesus with the next generation.

The Lord Will Provide

Faith provided by God does not demand explanations; instead, faith provided by God rests on God’s promises. When we do ask God for explanations, we reveal that we really don’t know ourselves as good as we should, and we certainly do not know God as well as we should. Like Abraham, we have to learn to live by promises, not by explanations. Abraham did not know HOW God would do it, or WHY God would do what He did, or WHEN God would do it, BUT HE BELIEVED GOD that whatever needed to be done, GOD WOULD PROVIDE. There are lessons to be learned, and one of them is that WHEN GOD WANTS TO PROVIDE OUR NEEDS, many times we must face the test alone. IT IS ONLY THEN THAT WE CAN SEE WHAT OUR HEAVENLY FATHER REALLY CAN DO FOR US.

God Keeps His Promises

Sarah’s faith was not placed in the promise, but in THE ONE WHO IS FAITHFUL; GOD HIMSELF. Abraham and Sarah made some mistakes, they had some occasional failures in trusting God all the way. However, both of them endured to the end BECAUSE THE BELIEVED GOD. When Isaac finally arrived as promised, ABRAHAM AND SARAH SAW GOD’S POWER AT WORK. Ishmael was an obedient son, UNTIL ISAAC entered the family. It was then when the “flesh” began to oppose “the Spirit”. God gave them the fleshly blessings, the black oil which lubricates the world’s economy.
Isaac, however, received the spiritual blessing, the Holy Spirit, which is symbolized in the Bible with OIL. According to Galatians 4:21-31 Sarah represents grace, (the heavenly Jerusalem) and Hagar represents Law (the earthly Jerusalem under bondage). In other words, law and grace cannot live peacefully together. God’s children, born of the Spirit are to live under the blessings of grace and not the bondage of the law. Hagar gave birth to a slave. Ishmael was a slave. If you decide to live under the law, then you become a child of Hagar, a slave; for the law produces bondage and not freedom.

Stay On The Main Road

People think that Genesis is simply an ancient history book. Living by God’s promises means living by faith in the one who made the promises and believing the promises He made to us. From God’s viewpoint, this trial was a character forming event. When circumstances are negative, we are more concerned about the promises of God than the GLORY OF GOD. Abram and Sarah did not break any laws, but they did deviate from God’s Word and through it were unable to have peace and joy in their family. Our God is never caught by surprise when we forsake the Main Road. He is eventually showing up to bring us back where we belong, unto the Main Road.

Keep Going – Keep Growing

There can be no growth without challenge, and there can be no challenge without change. That’s the way God designed our ‘SCHOOL OF FAITH CURRICULUM’. If nothing ever changes, you don’t need to learn to LIVE BY GOD’S PROMISES. If life is predictable, there are no challenges to overcome. And if there are no challenges to overcome, you will not be able to LIVE BY FAITH. Abram lived by Faith in the promises of God and through such actions Abram glorified God. Lot became a friend of the world, and Lot conformed to the world. • God was about to discipline Lot by making him a prisoner of war. God loved Lot, but he did not like what Lot was doing. So, like a loving and caring Father, God had to bring correction into Lot’s life. “Abram lived by the blessing of the Lord, not the bribery of the world. “

How Is That Possible?

Jesus knew exactly what He was about to do and how the people would react. Jesus came to this earth for this very moment, to be revealed to the Jews as their Messiah. He also knew that He would be crucified by the Romans once His own nation would deliver Him to those who occupied their land.
How is it possible that the religious leaders of His day could not understand what was going on. How can we make sure we are not repeating the same devastating mistake? They were not interested to study the scriptures to find out God’s plan for them, but rather to justify their plans which God should approve.