By His grace, what the radical life of Christ should look in an American context!

must realize how much he needs Jesus if he is going to have any success living a kingdom life in this lost world. Mat 5:13-20 @WeeManWest

thinks one great lesson of Scripture is this: those we reject are the exact ones God will use to do great things. Act 7:1-38 @WeeManWest

believes that God tests us, not for Himself, but for us to see the state our faith is in and where it needs to grow. Psa 11:4-5 @WeeManWest

Matthew 5:13 Jesus’ kingdom and new law requires that we change the flavor of this world and that we create lasting change. We do this by depending on Jesus. Attempting this in our own strength and effort will leave us tasteless and trampled upon. I believe that many churches are struggling in our day because they are built around programs done in our strength rather than in mission that require Christ’s power.

Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus’ kingdom and new law requires that we shine His light through our good works that are done in dependence upon Him. Good works that are done in reliance upon Him will shine and light up this dark world. If He is truly shining in our lives He cannot be hidden or restrained. It is unfortunate that so many of us are not willing for Christ to shine in our lives. We keep Him hidden and in effect cripple our own witness.

Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus’ new law didn’t abolish the old law but instead became the greater fulfillment of that law. Jesus’ law is a higher law, a higher standard, than the law of the Old Testament. Jesus’ law in His kingdom isn’t as much about keeping every jot and tittle but instead about moving past checking every iota and dot. In other words, Jesus’ law isn’t about a tooth for a tooth, but instead is about turning the other cheek!

How drastically different Jesus’ kingdom is from this world and from our natural tendencies as human beings?! We must see and realize just how desperately we need Him in every moment to walk in this world living according to the statutes of His kingdom.

Acts 7:1-38 Stephen lays out the pattern in his speech that God seems to chose the one that the Israelites have rejected to bring deliverance to the Israelites. Joseph’s brothers rejected him and sold him to slavery and yet it was he whom God used to deliver them from famine and provide them a place in Egypt.

Moses was rejected by the Israelites, having been raised as a prince of Egypt, when he attempted to stop Israelites from fighting with one another after he had prior slain an Egyptian for harming an Israelite. Moses fled to the wilderness for 40 years before God called him to use him to deliver Israel from Egypt.

This pattern hold throughout Scripture, often those we men reject are the exact ones that God will use to bring about our deliverance and His great works.

Psalm 11:3 A common theme for life itself, if the foundation for a dwelling is destroyed how will the house stand. When the wicked remove the foundations of a society the righteous are put in peril. The wicked destroy foundations for the sake of defeating the righteous, never for the sake of protecting the masses. History has so often repeated itself on this principle.

Psalm 11:4-5 God is enthroned in His temple. He is in full control of everything that happens. He allows the events and circumstances of this life to test His people. His testing is not so much for Himself, but moreso for us to see how solid or weak our faith really is. His tests are designed to draw us closer to Him if we are willing but to endure for a time the wickedness of the wicked upon us.

Genesis 22:1 God tests Abraham. God isn’t testing like a school teacher who is trying to assess the level of a student. God is testing as an omnipotent God, who already knows the outcome of the test. God tests Abraham so that Abraham can see the state of his faith, and by extension the level of his relationship with God.

How we miss the opportunities to grow our faith when we refuse to see God’s tests as opportunities for growth rather than unfortunate circumstances that we must endure.

Genesis 22:2 God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac the child of promise. The child through which God has promised him that all his children will be born. It’s not certain how old the boy is at this point. Many point to him being 33. Scripture doesn’t seem to indicate. One thing I will note is that Abraham doesn’t discuss this with Sarah. Whether he was keeping it from her, or whether she had already passed away. She would have died when Isaac was 27 years old.

Genesis 22:5 Abraham seems to be trusting that though he sacrifice Isaac, God will raise him from the dead. Such is also stated in Hebrews 11:17-19 that Abraham trusted in God’s ability to resurrect Isaac. He believed they would indeed both be coming back.

Genesis 22:8 & Genesis 22:14 Abraham trusted God to provide, either through resurrecting Isaac, or through some other means. God provides the ram for the offering. Here we see that God provides on His mountain and it is believed by many that this is the very mountain upon which Christ would be crucified.

The story of Abraham’s sacrifice is the story of sacrifice and resurrection. It’s about having faith in God’s ability to bring His word to pass even though it seems to us humanly impossible for such to occur. As Jesus taught, what is impossible with man is possible with God. Then He proved it by getting up out of the grave on the third day.

Genesis 22:21 Here we see that Aram is the close relative of Abraham.

Genesis 23 Abraham mourns for Sarah after her death. He buys a cave from the Hittites and pays full price for it. This place was ease of Hebron.