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ABRAHAM AND LOT

“Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.” (Genesis 13:18).   “And the LORD appeared unto him [Abraham] in the plains of Mamre.” (Genesis 18:1).   Abram (whose name means “exalted father” ), who God later named Abraham ( “father of a multitude” ), is considered to be the father of Jews, Arabs, and Christians alike.   Jews and Arabs both trace their natural lineage back to him – the Jews through Abraham and his wife Sarah, and the Arabs through Abraham and his wife’s maidservant Hagar.   To Christians, however, he is the father of faith through his spiritual seed Jesus Christ.   It was the fact that Abraham believed God that set him apart from others in his generation.   Faith, therefore, and not natural lineage, is the thing that qualifies a person to be a child of Abraham.   As the scripture teaches, “...Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to h...
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THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!  It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.” (Psalm 133).   As we read in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, we find that an important feature of the early church was their love and unity.  The Greek word “homothumadon,” which occurs 10 of its 12 times in Acts and is translated “accord,” means “of one mind, or, of one passion,” and is used to describe the bond that existed between the believers.   This unity in the Spirit that the early church enjoyed was like the blend of instruments in a great orchestra: each sounding their various parts, but all blending harmoniously into a mighty symphony, each note complementing every other. ...
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TODAY THIS SCRIPTURE IS FULFILLED

“And He began to say to them, Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. ” (Luke 4:21 NKJV).   Jesus had just been in the wilderness for forty days of fasting.  It was the Spirit of God that led Him there.  At the end of His fast Satan tried to divert the Lord from the purpose that He had been sent to earth to fulfill.  Of course, Satan failed in his attempts, and Jesus returned out of the wilderness "in the power of the Spirit" and entered into Galilee.   At that time Galilee was one of three provinces in Palestine - Judea and Samaria were the other two.  It was referred to as "Galilee of the Gentiles" because of the large percentage of Gentiles that inhabited the area.  To say that the "purer" Israelites of Judea looked down their noses at the Galileans, and felt superior to them, would be an understatement.  When Philip first told Nathaniel about Jesus, Nathaniel’s comment was, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?"...
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