Call Upon The Lord

At the time when the Ten Commandments were given, the Israelites were living a time of great miracles. They witnessed the plagues of Egypt, they saw the Red Sea part and Pharaoh destroyed by God, but yet their faith still wavered. When God spoke, they did not obey. They quickly forgot about all that they had seen and regressed to their ways that were practiced in Egypt. Through much of Israel’s history, they struggled with idols and foreign gods. Had they only listened to God from the beginning of their journey from Egypt, how much better and stronger would their nation had been?

A Relationship…that’s what God desired to have with the nation of Israel. He delivered His people from captivity in Egypt as a fulfillment of His promise to Abraham. Then, God told the people of Israel that if they would obey His commandments that He would establish them as a holy nation, a nation of priests. God gave His Commandments as a basis for a relationship with Him. Israel declared that they would do all that the Lord had commanded, but they failed. Knowing that man could not keep the Commandments perfectly, God allowed for sacrifices and offerings to temporarily make a covering for their sins. Only in Jesus do we have permanent forgiveness.

Romans 3:19 tells us that the Law was intended as a way to hold man accountable to God. As Christians, we are not saved by our adherence to the Law, but rather in our belief that Jesus died for the remission of our sins. We therefore are not saved by works, but by the grace of God. Yet, understanding that we are saved by grace, because we love the Lord, we strive to obey His commands. Even when we fail, the love of the Lord will always be sufficient.

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Bad things happen. Bad things happen to Good People. It’s an old cliché and everyone knows it and has likely used it. Yet as Christians, we understanding that just because bad things happen it doesn’t mean that we are being punished for something that we have done. God works through His Providence to accomplish His will.

There were great men of Faith in the Old Testament. God promised Abraham that he would give him a son and make him into a great nation. Abraham believed God and Isaac was born. Through Isaac the line was continued onto Jacob and through Jacob to his twelve sons, who would become the twelve tribes of Israel. These men were sinners and did not lead perfect lives. But they had faith in God, and God used them for his purposes.

Joseph too had faith in God. Though he was not destined to be in the Messianic line, God used Joseph as an instrument to provide for his father and brothers. Here was a man who endured the ridicule of his brothers, being sold into slavery, and accused of rape causing him to be thrown into prison. Many of us would feel as though God had simply turned His back and let all these horrible things occur. But Joseph was faithful. While he may not have understood what God was doing, his faith endured. Whatever his circumstances, the Lord was with him and blessed him. Because of his faith, he was elevated to be the Prime Minister of Egypt and put in the perfect position to save his family from the famine in the land. Joseph put it very succinctly when he said, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” – Genesis 50:20

The story of Joseph is a story of faith and enduring hardship. It is the story of looking past all the bad things that happen and seeing God at work in your life. Trust in the Lord and He will direct your paths. The Great Story – Week 03 is online! Go learn about the nature of our God!

Visit “The Great Story” page to download your weekly study guide or listen to the audio version of the study: The Great Story

Visit the CallUponTheLord YouTube Page for the Complete Blog Archive!

Watch Week 03 of the Great Story:

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The Bible Story starts off with a declarative statement, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”. This is not a story about a Big Bang. This is not a story that details a period of billions and billions of years. This is the account of the foundations of the universe being laid as God spoke, saying, “Let there be…” According to the Bible, the earth, the universe, everything that is seen and unseen was Created by God (Colossians 1:16) about 6000 years ago during a 6 day process. Jesus said that from the beginning of Creation, God made them male and female (Mark 10:6). There are no billions of years to accommodate an evolutionary process. God doesn’t need random chance or a slow, guided mutating process to arrive at what we witness in the world around us. In the beginning, He created it exactly how He wanted…and then mankind messed everything up.

The Fall was not an unplanned event that caught God by surprise. The Bible tells us that the kingdom has been prepared for the saints since the Foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34). God knew that mankind would sin and thus separate themselves from the perfect relationship they once experienced with the Creator. God had worked out the plan for Salvation through the death of Jesus Christ, the perfect lamb, long before the Creation. Today, we live in a world that is affected by sin. Everything is falling apart and there is a growing denial of the One, True God. One day, the Lord will return and set straight this world which is corrupted by sin. Oh Glorious day…

The story of Cain and Abel gives us the first account of human death in the Bible. Because of Cain’s jealously over Abel’s sacrifice being accepted while his own being rejected, he killed his brother. Then in the ultimate act of foolishness, he attempted to deny his crime to God. We cannot hide our sin from an omnipotent God. We have to confess our sin and ask for repentance. There is always an accounting and judgment for sin. The only way we can make a repayment for our transgressions is by accepting Christ and be covered by the Lamb’s blood.

Finally we come to Noah. Noah was a righteous man, the last righteous man in all of the earth. The Lord destroyed the entire earth in the Flood, preserving only Noah and his family. Even with this fresh start, the Creation was still effected by sin. We can look around today and see a corrupted world. I can’t help but think every time I see people blatantly sinning and celebrating in it, “DO YOU NOT REMEMBER THE FLOOD?” God gives us all the chance to repent from our sins. In Noah’s day, he gave the people 120 years while Noah was building the ark. Then he gave 7 more days after Noah and his family went into the ark. No one responded to the call of repentance in Noah’s day. God is calling out to you today as well. One day this world will undergo His judgment…will you not Call Upon The Name of The Lord to be saved? Please do. <3

Visit “The Great Story” page to download your weekly study guide or listen to the audio version of the study: The Great Story

Visit the CallUponTheLord YouTube Page for the Complete Blog Archive!

Watch Week 01 of the Great Story:

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