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“Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.” (NIV)

If you are following the daily Bible reading from the “One Year Bible Blog” (see link on right column) then you have or will be reading the above quote about Noah today.  What an excellent thing to have written about you.  To be a righteous man and to be blameless and to walk faithfully with God speaks of tremendous character in the life of this individual.  What a contrast Noah was to the other people we read about in the early chapters of the book of Genesis.  If we are followers of Jesus Christ, we should want to emulate the character traits that we see here in Noah.  The three traits of righteousness, blamelessness and faithfulness are virtues which are worthy of our consideration.

RIGHTEOUSNESS:  The Hebrew for this word is rarely used as an attribute of human beings in the Old Testament.  It speaks of very high character in one who reflects being made in the image of God.

BLAMELESSNESS:  Noah was faultless in the way that he lived among the people of his day.  He was always operating with impeccable character in his relationship with God and with others.

FAITHFULNESS – Though the NIV quotation of Genesis 6:9 says that “he (Noah) walked faithfully with God,” the Hebrew simply says that “he walked with God.”  This is the second individual that we read of in the early chapters of Genesis who walked with God.  The other is Enoch (Genesis 5:24).  To walk with God is to live by faith and have complete and uninterrupted fellowship.  What a great attribute!

In the context of chapter 6, we see that Noah stood apart from the wickedness that was prevalent in the world at that time.  The world was so corrupt that God determined to bring it to an end, which He did by way of the flood.  Only Noah and his immediate family were spared.

Today, we live in a world that is characterized by evil.  But it is a day in which we can resolve to live like Noah, being righteous, blameless and faithful.  Can we really do it?  According to the Word of God, by the grace of God we can. Check out Titus 2:11-14:

¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. ¹² It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, ¹³ while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, ¹⁴ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

As we progress in this new year may we, like Noah, walk with God.

Join Reliance Church as we get under way with this challenging study from the book “RADICAL.”   This is an 8 week study that will feature lessons with titles like: “Something Worth Loosing Everything For” & “Beginning at the End of Ourselves.”  Inquire about entering into a study starting in a home near you. Le’ts begin this new year by learning what it means to be a RADICAL CHRISTIAN in the 21st Century.

If you have decided to read through the Bible using the One Year Bible blog link on this site, your reading today includes the story of the fall of man.  Genesis 3 records the deceptive temptation and the succumbing act of disobedience on the part of  Adam and Eve.   Their act of disobedience produced a deadly venom called sin that was passed on to all mankind.  Sin came into the world through our first earthly parents and it has affected you and me with the deadly disease.

The image of a snake strikes fear in many people.  I must confess that I have a healthy fear of venomous snakes myself.  In the book of Genesis, Satan is depicted as taking the form of a serpent (snake) and used it as a vehicle to deceive the first man and woman to sin.  The damage done by Satan has permeated all of mankind.  By his deception, Adam and Eve were tempted and disobeyed God which brought sin into the world.  The curse that God placed upon sin is death.  And the only remedy for sin is through the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.  He, Jesus is the remedy for sin.  He Himself said, “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father, except through me.”

In the Genesis account, God brings judgment upon Adam and Eve and the Serpent.  In the judgment upon the serpent, we have the first reference in the Bible to the Deliverer from sin, (Genesis 3:15).  This Deliverer is none other than Jesus Christ, the Messiah and the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world by the death of Himself.   Consider these verses pertaining to Jesus as our Savior: John 3:16, 5:24, 10:27-30, Acts 4:12, Romans 3:23, 6:23.

By His once for all atoning work on the cross, Jesus overcame the power of Satan.  And the same power that defeated Satan is the power of the resurrection that resides in the life of the true believer in Jesus.  We can live with power over sin in our daily lives by yielding to the Holy Spirit who lives within us (Romans 8:11, Ephesians 1:18-21).

Nothing Will Be Impossible

Daily Devotional for Monday, December 26th, 2011

For with God nothing will be impossible. Luke 1:37

The angel Gabriel told Mary that God was planning to do something humanly impossible. All human logic would agree that a virgin could not give birth to a child. It was impossible. Yet this is exactly what was to happen. When God speaks of doing the impossible, it is no longer absurd. When was the last time God did the impossible in your life? When was the last time God spoke to you about what He wanted to do and you were scared to death by its magnitude?

God still does the impossible! Too often we acknowledge our belief that God can do whatever He wants, then we add a safety clause: “But I just don’t think God will do that with me!”  We become practical atheists, believing that God can perform miracles but never expecting a miracle in our own lives.

God wanted to bring salvation to all of humanity. It is critical that Mary not only believed God could perform a miracle but also adjusted her life to the awesome work He planned to do through her. The difference between a Christian and a moral person is the divine. The difference between a church and a social club is the miraculous. Some can duplicate the morality of a Christian, but no one can reproduce the miraculous that should be a part of the Christian experience. Do you believe that nothing is impossible for God?

Who Would Go to Bethlehem?

I am convinced that if we didn’t already have the New Testament of the Bible and God were to ask us to write the script describing the way He would bring Jesus into our world, we wouldn’t have scripted it the way that He did.   If we were writing the script, we probably would have chosen different parents for Him.  We certainly wouldn’t have had Him be born in a smelly manger.  We would not have  him come in obscurity.  No, more than likely we would have had Him born in a magnificent palace with well-to-do parents and with everyone taking notice of his arrival and with great fanfare.  If we were writing the script, He would not have been met with any opposition to his leadership when he began His public ministry.  If we were writing the script, we would have immediately started with a millennial reign that would have been unsurpassed in greatness.  It would truly be heaven on earth, if we had been called upon to write the script.

But this was not God’s way.  As we read the Scriptures, we have to marvel at how indifferent the world was to His advent.  We have to stand amazed at how vulnerable Jesus was as a frail baby born in world where there was no room for Him.  The way that Jesus came was remarkable in that He was God in human flesh and most took little notice?  Why did God have Jesus born in such obscurity?  Why was He born to peasant parents?  Why was He born in a stable and not in a palace?  The first chapter of the gospel of John tells us that Jesus came to His own and His own people did not receive Him (John 1:9-11).

God the Father had Jesus to be born in a sleepy little village called Bethlehem.  Not a whole lot happened there.  It was a place of relative insignificance.  Yet it was destined for greatness because it would the birthplace of the Savior of the world in fulfillment of a prophecy given over 600 years before this blessed birth (Micah 5:2).  When it came time for the prophecy to be fulfilled, wise men from Persia made their way to Israel being led by a star that they had seen in the East.  When they arrived in Jerusalem, they asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?  We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him” (Matt. 1:2).  The wise men traveled 800 miles or more to Israel.  Their arrival caused a great stir among those living there.  The wicked king reigning in Israel, named Herod the Great, summoned the chief priests and the scribes of Israel to find out where the child king was born.  The priests and scribes had no problem giving the answer from Micah’s prophecy in the Old Testament Scriptures.  And even though the wise men from the East had traveled for at least 40 days to follow the star that led them, yet these religious leaders did not find reason to travel the 6 miles to check out the report of Jesus’ birth.

The wise men would have been familiar with Old Testament prophecies because the Jews had spent seventy years in exile in the area from which they had traveled.  One of the prophecies given is from Numbers 24:17.  This was understood by the Jews as a sign of the coming of the Messiah.

It is clear that God orchestrated the coming of Jesus and that His coming correlates with history.  Yet, as the curtain unfolded at the time of His birth, the world, for the most part was indifferent to his advent.  The wise men represent those who took the prophecies about Jesus seriously and when the followed the star to Bethlehem that bowed before the child King and presented Him with gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Today that the world is much the same, some are hostile to the truth of God’s word, some are indifferent, and there are some who know that God indeed did write the script of history that sent His Son into the world to be the Savior of the world.  God sent His Son to be born in Bethlehem for the expressed purpose of making His way to the cross where He would die there for the sins of mankind.  After He died, He arose again in accordance with the Scriptures, ( 1 Corinthians 15:3–4).

The Bible says that we must receive Jesus’ gift of salvation, (Acts 4:12).  The world cannot afford to be hostile or indifferent to His coming into the world.  Be like the wise men and heed the words of John 1:9–12 (ESV)

⁹ The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

The believer needs to always remember that the Christian life is one of great effort to live a life pleasing to God.  It is not a passive activity.  It has to move from the head to the heart and out into every aspect of our being.  Henry Blackaby’s daily devotion helps us to see how it can be worked out in our lives.  We must never forget that our salvation is a work that has already been done for us, but we are given a charge to continue to work out what God has started in us.  Please take a moment to read Henry Blackaby’s devotion (below) for today and reflect on how you will respond by faith and in the power of the Holy Spirit living in you.

Hold Fast

Daily Devotional for Monday, December 5th, 2011

Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22

Hold fast to what is good, or the world will take it away. Satan is the relentless enemy of good. When he saw that what God gave Adam and Eve was good, he set about to take it away from them. When he saw that King David was pleasing to God, he attempted to destroy David’s relationship with God. Never take the good in your life for granted. If you do not hold on to it firmly, it may be lost.

People will challenge the good that you are practicing. They may criticize you for your moral stand, your child rearing, your use of money, or your involvement in church. Time pressures will attack the good in your life. Your time to pray, study Scripture, be with your family, and serve in your church will all be pressured by the many other time demands you face. You may give generously to your church and other Christian causes, but you will be tempted to spend your money selfishly and minimize the good you are doing with your finances.

Scripture reveals the solution for holding on to what is good—abstain from every form of evil. Evil robs you of what God intends for you. A spouse and family are great blessings, but the evil of adultery can rob you of the good that God has given. Prayer is a wonderful gift from God. Yet sin robs the power of prayer (Isa. 1:15). If you will not abstain from evil, it will rob you of the good things God has given. God’s commandments do not restrict you: they free you to experience God’s best. Diligently abstain from every form of evil, and you will be free to enjoy every good thing God has for you.

One of the greatest proofs for the validity of the Bible as God’s revelation to man is the fulfillment of prophecy.  This past Sunday, we looked at the subject of prophecy in my message from the Word.  I mentioned that fulfilled prophecies from the Old Testament are powerful evidence that we should not neglect in our witness for Jesus Christ during this Christmas season.  There are over 300 prophetic declarations which were literally fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth at his first coming.  Such references to his birthplace (Micah 5:2), his virgin birth (Isa. 7:14, Isa.9:6), his earthly ministry of teaching and healing (Isa. 9:1-2, Isa. 35:5-6, ) are clearly predicted in the Old Testament and substantiated in the New Testament.  Zechariah 9:9 forecasts his triumphal entry into Jerusalem days before His death.

His death on a cross is depicted in graphic detail in Psalm 22 and Isa. 53.  Psalm 22 gives reference to much of the activity that took place at the cross of Jesus: Psalm 22:1, Psalm 22:7-8, Psalm 22:16, Psalm 22:18.  But a careful look at these passages reveals that His was not the mere death of a martyr.  His death was not by accident.  His death was prophesied hundreds of years before His earthly birth.  The death of Jesus was for the sin of mankind, (Isa.53:6, Zech.12:10) and in fulfillment of God’s plan to bring the Savior into the world.

The New Testament shines the light of God’s truth on the Old Testament prophecies concerning Jesus.  It is after His death and resurrection that the fullness of God’s revelation is clearly seen.  The followers of Christ heralded the truth of who Jesus is and how He is the only remedy for the sin of mankind.  Thus we read in the New Testament that Jesus is the Savior of the world, (Luke 2:10-11), the one who wise men worshipped (Matt. 2:9-11).  The New Testament presents Jesus as the gift of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29,Eph. 2:8-9).  Salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name given under heaven, whereby we must be saved, (Acts 4:12). Receive Him as Savior.  His salvation is a free gift and it saves a person from sin and gives to him the right to become a child of God and a citizen of Heaven.  He, Jesus, is the true gift of God given to us at Christmas.

… reading the Bible. Here is the great textbook on this matter … I wonder whether we spend as much time with this Book as we do with the newspaper or with the novels or with the films and all other entertainments — wireless, television and all these things. I am not condemning these things as such … My argument is that the man who is hungering and thirsting after righteousness and has time for such things should have more time for this … Study and read this Book. Try to understand it; read books about it.

And then, prayer … How much time do we spend in His presence? [If you read the biographies of the men of God] you will feel ashamed of yourself. You will find that these saints spent four or five hours daily in prayer, not just saying their prayers at night when they were almost too weary to do so. They gave the best time of their day to God …

And then there is the need for reading the biographies of the saints … The people who hunger and thirst after righteousness are frantic … They are like Bartimaeus or like the importunate widow … They come back to the same person until they get it. They are like Jacob struggling with the angel. They are like Luther, fasting, swearing, praying, not finding; but going on increasingly in his helplessness until God gave it to him. The same is true of all the saints of all ages and countries …

It seems to work out like this: it is only as you seek this righteousness with the whole of your being that you can truly discover it. You can never find it yourself. Yet the people who sit back and do nothing never seem to get it. That is God’s method. God, as it were, leads us on. We have done everything, and having done all we are still miserable sinners: and then we see that, as little children, we are to receive it as the free gift of God … Can I say quite honestly and truly that I desire above everything else in this world truly to know God and to be like the Lord Jesus Christ, to be rid of self … and to live only, always and entirely, to His glory and to His honour?

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, i, pp. 91-3