FAMILY CONFLICT Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)  Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”  “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”  But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.  Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.  So Esau despised his birthright. —Genesis 25:29-34 But he…

BE THANKFUL FOR HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS! —You Have None of Your Own I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the LORD Most High. —Psalm 7:17             Yes, let us give thanks to the Lord for His righteousness.  He always does what is right.  He alone is perfectly right in all He does.  He makes no mistakes.  His plans do not ever fail.  He acts totally righteous toward you and toward everybody and everything.  He alone is blameless.  He alone is “the LORD Most High.”  He alone is perfectly just.  Yes, He always does what is right… always!  He…

JUDGMENT WILL COME… YES, IT WILL! Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous.”  —Genesis 18:20 Before they had gone to bed, all the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house. They called out to Lot, saying, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have relations with them! —Genesis 19:4-5 Then the LORD rained down brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens. Thus He destroyed these cities and the entire plain, including all the inhabitants of the cities…

NOTHING IS TOO DIFFICULT FOR THE LORD! Is anything too difficult for the LORD? —Genesis 18:14             Sarah was barren.  God told Abraham that Sarah would have a child.  When hearing this “Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?”              I remember telling this historical story to my neighbors.  They were both in their late 80’s at the time.  How the wife laughed when hearing that a woman Sarah’s age and barren would have a child!  But when God is in it nothing is “too difficult…

HE IS ALWAYS WORKING!  “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”  —Genesis 12:2-3 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”  Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.  —Genesis 15:5-6 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and…

THE EVIL HEART OF MAN When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.  —Genesis 8:21 “Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.”   —Genesis 11:4             Because “every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth” man sets out to 1-…

YIELD TO THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”  He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.  Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”  I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I…

GOD’S GREAT GRACE! And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”  —Genesis 3:15 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. —Genesis 3:21 Blessed is the manwho walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.. —Psalm 1:1-2             Counsel from the wicked is not a blessing, but to delight in God’s…

SERVE HIM OUT OF LOVE And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not. —Malachi 3:18             Those who are righteous serve God and those who are not righteous do not serve God.  This truth is seen throughout God’s Word.  Abel was righteous and served God while Cain was unrighteous and served the evil one— “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous” (I John 3:12).  Noah was righteous and served God—…

HEAVEN!  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”  He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the…