Next we see the picture of Jeremiah. Let us look at why he is in the great hall of faith.
Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah of the priest that served in the land of Benjamin, during the days of the divided kingdom. He was called at a young age to be God's prophet to both the kingdoms (Jer. 1:10). He served God during the reign of five Kings. He was called to speak against everyone in both kingdoms including Kings, Princes, Priest, and all the people who lived in the land. In other words, it was him against 2 nations.That took great faith!
He preached to them pointing out their sins, the curses that their sins would bring upon them & pleaded for them to turn from their sins and go back to the one true God.The book of Jeremiah is full of these sermons. He bounced back and forth between being angry with those he was preaching at, to crying over them. This is why he was called the weeping prophet.
He stayed true to his calling even though he was was put in stocks (Jer. 20:2), and put in a dungeon (Jer. 38:6). How did he stay strong? He held onto the promised of God to be with him & the Word of God (Jer.1:9-19, 15:16).
When the people were carried a way to Egypt, Jeremiah went with them, and continued to minister to God's people. I believe that he wrote the book of Lamentations. This book shows how much he cried over the peoples sins and situations.
But through it all, Jeremiah stayed true to his calling, even though he was put in stocks (Jer. 20:2), and put in a dungeon (Jer. 38:6). How did Jeremiah stay strong? He held onto the promises of God to be with him, and & Word of God (Jer. 1:9-19; 15:16). He was truly a man of faith!
If you wish to read more about this great man of faith, you can also read about him in 2 Kings 22-25 and 2 Chronicles 34-36.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Isaiah~ A prophet during hard times
We see the picture of Isaiah on the wall before you. Let us look at his life to see why he is in the great hall of faith.
Isaiah was the son of Amoz. Was called in a time when Judah had fallen away from God and were living spiritually evil lives. We see this in Isaiah 6, when he says, "Woe is me! I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips and dwell in the mist of a people with unclean lips." He was called to try to help God's people to see sin as God saw it & to repent & turn away from it. Then live lives that would be pleasing to God. It was not an easy task since the people had grown use to a sinful life. So Isaiah had a rough task to fulfill.
Isaiah also was called at a time when God's people were living through the curses that Moses had warn them that they would endure if they did not obey God's commandments (Ex. 20:1-17; Duet. 11:26-28). Isaiah's job was to remind them of God's promise of the curses if they disobeyed, while reassuring them of God love & blessings that they would receive if they were to repent & turn back to God. This is not an easy task to do when people who run on emotion are hurting so badly. In fact, these people had been known to kill prophets for saying such things and was still doing so in Isaiah's time. Especially during the reign of Ahab when his wife, Jezebel was having many of God's prophets killed so that they would worship her god, Baal. . So Isaiah had to have had a lot of faith in God to stand his ground and proclaim such harsh things to these people. Because of Isaiah's faithfulness and obedience, God had him serve as a prophet for forty years under Kings Jotham, Ahab, and Hezekiah.
Because of Isaiah's close relationship with God, God shared many thing with him such as, a look at their sad spiritual state at that point, God's great love for His people, & the wonderful future that God had planned for them. We see this in the many times God spoke to him & showed him visions.
Isaiah was such a great prophet that he is in many places in the Bible. If you wish to further study this man you can read more about him in the following places...2 Kings 19:2; 20:1; 2 Chron. 26:22; Mat.3:3; 4:14; book of Isaiah.
Isaiah was the son of Amoz. Was called in a time when Judah had fallen away from God and were living spiritually evil lives. We see this in Isaiah 6, when he says, "Woe is me! I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips and dwell in the mist of a people with unclean lips." He was called to try to help God's people to see sin as God saw it & to repent & turn away from it. Then live lives that would be pleasing to God. It was not an easy task since the people had grown use to a sinful life. So Isaiah had a rough task to fulfill.
Isaiah also was called at a time when God's people were living through the curses that Moses had warn them that they would endure if they did not obey God's commandments (Ex. 20:1-17; Duet. 11:26-28). Isaiah's job was to remind them of God's promise of the curses if they disobeyed, while reassuring them of God love & blessings that they would receive if they were to repent & turn back to God. This is not an easy task to do when people who run on emotion are hurting so badly. In fact, these people had been known to kill prophets for saying such things and was still doing so in Isaiah's time. Especially during the reign of Ahab when his wife, Jezebel was having many of God's prophets killed so that they would worship her god, Baal. . So Isaiah had to have had a lot of faith in God to stand his ground and proclaim such harsh things to these people. Because of Isaiah's faithfulness and obedience, God had him serve as a prophet for forty years under Kings Jotham, Ahab, and Hezekiah.
Because of Isaiah's close relationship with God, God shared many thing with him such as, a look at their sad spiritual state at that point, God's great love for His people, & the wonderful future that God had planned for them. We see this in the many times God spoke to him & showed him visions.
Isaiah was such a great prophet that he is in many places in the Bible. If you wish to further study this man you can read more about him in the following places...2 Kings 19:2; 20:1; 2 Chron. 26:22; Mat.3:3; 4:14; book of Isaiah.
Friday, September 12, 2014
Elijah` the prophet whose trials helped him grow into a faithful man that God took to heaven with him
In the next picture you see the picture of Elijah who is one of our greatest heroes of faith. Let us look at his life to see why, shall we?
Elijah means my God is Jehovah. Elijah's family is not told to us in the Bible, so it is a mystery where he came from, which may be why he has been viewed with awe.But we do know that he was a Tis'bite who lived in Gilead. He was also a man who was dressed very much like John the baptist was (2 Kings 1:8; Mark 1:6). he was also a great man of faith. Let us look at his life.
After King Ahab did not follow Jehovah, but worshiped the god Baal instead. God called Elijah to deliver a message from Jehovah to King Ahab that there would be a drought in the land (I Kings 17:1). That takes courage to do, & I believe that a man would not have this courage if he did not have great faith in God.
After delivering this message to King Ahab, God took care of Elijah. But it took great faith to obey all that God told him to do since none of it would make sense to more people. Let us look at all the ways God did that.
First, God told him to hide next to a brook and have ravens bring him food (I Kings 17:2-6).Here we see Elijah living next to a small body of water right after prophesying that a drought was coming out of obedience to God. That takes faith. Second, we see that God told him that birds that were considered "unclean" to his people was going to bring him food to eat. This goes against so many things that they had been taught in the temple, like do not eat or touch unclean things. Yet God told him that he was to eat food that these "unclean" birds would bring to him.That means that he would be putting food in his mouth that they had touched. That goes against the temple law. But because of his faith in God he went against temple law and obeyed God in this.
In time, the brook did dry up. That is when God told Elijah to go to Zarephath to a widow's house to be taken care of (I Kings 17:9). Zarephath was on a small plain near the shore, so water would have been available to him. But times were hard and the widow that God sent him to was very poor. In fact, she only had enough left to make her son one more meal. This should not be surprising, as women in her time depended on a man to support them. Women of that time & place was not allowed to own land & there were not many jobs that they could work at. Yet, Elijah had faith that God would keep his word and supply for them all. So he instructed her to take a leap of faith and make him something to eat with what was the last of her food, and then trust that God would supply the rest (I Kings 17:10-14). Now Elijah's faith has gone from being inside of him to speaking it to someone else who needed to have faith in God. She took that leap of faith and made a meal for Elijah first and then for her & her son. God honored that faith each time she made a meal until the end of the drought (I Kings 17:14-16).
But then there was another great test of faith for both Elijah & the widow when he son died. The Widow cried to the man of God, and Elijah cried out to God asking why & pleaded for his life. God heard Elijah's plead of faith & brought him back to life (I Kings 17:17-24). I believe that this only strengthened their faith in God.
Sometime later, God told Elijah to go back to King Ahab to send rain on the earth again. But this was not going to be as easy as it sounds for he was going to confront King Ahab & his prophets of the false god Baal (I Kings 18). Now let us remember that after Elijah declared that there would be a drought King Ahab's wife Jezebel had as many prophets of the Lord as she could find killed. So it took faith in God to go back to King Ahab's kingdom and do as God asked him. But he had faith in God and went and did as God told him to do. God showed that he was pleased by performing many great miracles that gave Elijah victory over the prophets of Baal. Then Elijah told God's people to kill the prophets of Baal (I Kings 18:1-40). After the prophets were killed, God sent the rain (I Kings 18:1-45).
When Jezebel heard that her prophets were kills, she was very mad, and ordered to have Elijah killed. This shock Elijah's faith in God's protection. So he ran for his life & hid under a juniper tree.God sent an angel to Elijah to feed him food two times. The last meal gave him strength for forty days & nights. During those forty days and nights, Elijah hid in a cave at Mt. Horeb. God personally sent and talked with Elijah. This helped restore Elijah's faith( I Kings 19).
This is when he handed his mantle to Elisha & they ministered together for a time. We see that a man of God went to see King Ahab to deliver messages to him from time to time. This could have been one of them (I Kings 20). We also see him going to the King after his wife had a man killed and stole his family's land and prophesying to him of his & his wife & of King Ahaziah death (I Kings 2:1-17).
Elijah's faith grew as he was going through all of this and he obeyed God. Because of his obedience, God allowed him to do some miracles before he left this earth (2 Kings 1 & 2).
Elijah's last act of ministry was to throw his mantle down to Elisha as the God he so faithfully took him up to heaven on a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:13). In doing this he was handing his ministry over to Elisha.
Next week, we will look at the man who picked up his mantle and carried on the ministry, Elisha.
Elijah means my God is Jehovah. Elijah's family is not told to us in the Bible, so it is a mystery where he came from, which may be why he has been viewed with awe.But we do know that he was a Tis'bite who lived in Gilead. He was also a man who was dressed very much like John the baptist was (2 Kings 1:8; Mark 1:6). he was also a great man of faith. Let us look at his life.
After King Ahab did not follow Jehovah, but worshiped the god Baal instead. God called Elijah to deliver a message from Jehovah to King Ahab that there would be a drought in the land (I Kings 17:1). That takes courage to do, & I believe that a man would not have this courage if he did not have great faith in God.
After delivering this message to King Ahab, God took care of Elijah. But it took great faith to obey all that God told him to do since none of it would make sense to more people. Let us look at all the ways God did that.
First, God told him to hide next to a brook and have ravens bring him food (I Kings 17:2-6).Here we see Elijah living next to a small body of water right after prophesying that a drought was coming out of obedience to God. That takes faith. Second, we see that God told him that birds that were considered "unclean" to his people was going to bring him food to eat. This goes against so many things that they had been taught in the temple, like do not eat or touch unclean things. Yet God told him that he was to eat food that these "unclean" birds would bring to him.That means that he would be putting food in his mouth that they had touched. That goes against the temple law. But because of his faith in God he went against temple law and obeyed God in this.
In time, the brook did dry up. That is when God told Elijah to go to Zarephath to a widow's house to be taken care of (I Kings 17:9). Zarephath was on a small plain near the shore, so water would have been available to him. But times were hard and the widow that God sent him to was very poor. In fact, she only had enough left to make her son one more meal. This should not be surprising, as women in her time depended on a man to support them. Women of that time & place was not allowed to own land & there were not many jobs that they could work at. Yet, Elijah had faith that God would keep his word and supply for them all. So he instructed her to take a leap of faith and make him something to eat with what was the last of her food, and then trust that God would supply the rest (I Kings 17:10-14). Now Elijah's faith has gone from being inside of him to speaking it to someone else who needed to have faith in God. She took that leap of faith and made a meal for Elijah first and then for her & her son. God honored that faith each time she made a meal until the end of the drought (I Kings 17:14-16).
But then there was another great test of faith for both Elijah & the widow when he son died. The Widow cried to the man of God, and Elijah cried out to God asking why & pleaded for his life. God heard Elijah's plead of faith & brought him back to life (I Kings 17:17-24). I believe that this only strengthened their faith in God.
Sometime later, God told Elijah to go back to King Ahab to send rain on the earth again. But this was not going to be as easy as it sounds for he was going to confront King Ahab & his prophets of the false god Baal (I Kings 18). Now let us remember that after Elijah declared that there would be a drought King Ahab's wife Jezebel had as many prophets of the Lord as she could find killed. So it took faith in God to go back to King Ahab's kingdom and do as God asked him. But he had faith in God and went and did as God told him to do. God showed that he was pleased by performing many great miracles that gave Elijah victory over the prophets of Baal. Then Elijah told God's people to kill the prophets of Baal (I Kings 18:1-40). After the prophets were killed, God sent the rain (I Kings 18:1-45).
When Jezebel heard that her prophets were kills, she was very mad, and ordered to have Elijah killed. This shock Elijah's faith in God's protection. So he ran for his life & hid under a juniper tree.God sent an angel to Elijah to feed him food two times. The last meal gave him strength for forty days & nights. During those forty days and nights, Elijah hid in a cave at Mt. Horeb. God personally sent and talked with Elijah. This helped restore Elijah's faith( I Kings 19).
This is when he handed his mantle to Elisha & they ministered together for a time. We see that a man of God went to see King Ahab to deliver messages to him from time to time. This could have been one of them (I Kings 20). We also see him going to the King after his wife had a man killed and stole his family's land and prophesying to him of his & his wife & of King Ahaziah death (I Kings 2:1-17).
Elijah's faith grew as he was going through all of this and he obeyed God. Because of his obedience, God allowed him to do some miracles before he left this earth (2 Kings 1 & 2).
Elijah's last act of ministry was to throw his mantle down to Elisha as the God he so faithfully took him up to heaven on a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:13). In doing this he was handing his ministry over to Elisha.
Next week, we will look at the man who picked up his mantle and carried on the ministry, Elisha.
Nathan ~the fearless prophet
Here is the picture of Nathan. let us examine his life to see why he is in this great hall of faith.
Nathan was a man who had no fear of mankind. I believe that this is because he had such a strong faith in God that he was willing to do whatever God asked him to do. Let us look at Nathan's ministry life to get a better handle on this shall we?
Nathan was the spiritual adviser to King David. This had to be done by a Prophet who was not afraid of David, since David was a man with the power to kill him if he wished. We see three times when God called upon Nathan to go and deliver harsh news to David. Let us look at these.
The first time is when David wanted to build a temple for the Ark of the Covenant, because of his love for God. At first, Nathan said, "Sure, why not!" But had to go back and change that when God told Nathan that he didn't want David to build a temple, but was allowed to get things together for one of his sons to build later(2 Sam. 17:1-15). This would take great faith in God to go back and tell King David that what he personally had given permission to do was NOT in God's plan. King David could have gotten upset and had Nathan killed. Yet due to his GREAT faith, Nathan did not compromise and followed through with what God asked him to tell David.
The second time we see Nathan taking a hard truth to David is after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba, & then had her husband Uriah killed to cover his sin up (2 Sam. 12:1-9; 1 Kings 1:13). Other prophets had been killed when they told kings of their sins, but even with that possible threat, Nathan obeyed God and went and told David of his sin (2 Sam. 12:1-9; I Kings 1:13).
Third, we see Nathan helping reveal to David that his son, Adonijah's plan to steal King David's throne when he died & helped King David make his son, Solomon king ( I Kings 1). This took double faith to do, because both King David & self appointed king, Adonijah could have had him killed if they did not like what he did. Yet he stood on his faith in God to do what he believed was the right thing to do.
It is said that Nathan wrote books keeping records of King David & King Solomon (I Chron. 29:29;
2 Chron. 9:29). Books with his name is not found today, but some believe that some of what you read in the books of Kings could be from his books.
Nathan is a good example of someone whose great faith in God allowed him to minister to a couple great kings without fear. may we be as faithful to God in our service to Him.
Nathan was a man who had no fear of mankind. I believe that this is because he had such a strong faith in God that he was willing to do whatever God asked him to do. Let us look at Nathan's ministry life to get a better handle on this shall we?
Nathan was the spiritual adviser to King David. This had to be done by a Prophet who was not afraid of David, since David was a man with the power to kill him if he wished. We see three times when God called upon Nathan to go and deliver harsh news to David. Let us look at these.
The first time is when David wanted to build a temple for the Ark of the Covenant, because of his love for God. At first, Nathan said, "Sure, why not!" But had to go back and change that when God told Nathan that he didn't want David to build a temple, but was allowed to get things together for one of his sons to build later(2 Sam. 17:1-15). This would take great faith in God to go back and tell King David that what he personally had given permission to do was NOT in God's plan. King David could have gotten upset and had Nathan killed. Yet due to his GREAT faith, Nathan did not compromise and followed through with what God asked him to tell David.
The second time we see Nathan taking a hard truth to David is after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba, & then had her husband Uriah killed to cover his sin up (2 Sam. 12:1-9; 1 Kings 1:13). Other prophets had been killed when they told kings of their sins, but even with that possible threat, Nathan obeyed God and went and told David of his sin (2 Sam. 12:1-9; I Kings 1:13).
Third, we see Nathan helping reveal to David that his son, Adonijah's plan to steal King David's throne when he died & helped King David make his son, Solomon king ( I Kings 1). This took double faith to do, because both King David & self appointed king, Adonijah could have had him killed if they did not like what he did. Yet he stood on his faith in God to do what he believed was the right thing to do.
It is said that Nathan wrote books keeping records of King David & King Solomon (I Chron. 29:29;
2 Chron. 9:29). Books with his name is not found today, but some believe that some of what you read in the books of Kings could be from his books.
Nathan is a good example of someone whose great faith in God allowed him to minister to a couple great kings without fear. may we be as faithful to God in our service to Him.
Monday, September 1, 2014
Elisha~ The man who went from plow to prophet because of his faith in God
In front of you is a picture of Elisha. let us look at him to see why he is here.
Elisha was son of Shaphat. son of Hori of the tribe of Simeon (I Kings 19:10; Num. 13:5). God called Elisha to be his prophet while he was plowing a field. It happened when Elijah walked by and cast his mantle on him (I Kings 19:15-21). A mantle is a sleeveless outer garment that was worn over the tunic. The Jewish tradition said that the mantle was to have blue fringes on the edges of it.It could have been a lot like the robe of the ephod that the priest wore, that is described in Exodus 28:31-35. It was also worn by prophets, kings & the very rich of that time. On a prophet, it was a symbol of a calling to service, sanctification or a special relationship to God. The one that was thrown on Elisha had God's power in it, for it was used to part the water two times (2 Kings 2:8, 14).
Elisha followed Elijah after the mantle was thrown on him. Elijah taught him as they walked together. They did this until the day that God came and took Elijah up in a chariot of fire I Kings 19:19-21;(2 Kings 2:1-17). That is when Elisha's ministry started. But before God took Elijah, he had asked Elisha what he wanted from him. Elisha asked for a double portion of the Spirit to be upon him (2 Kings 2: 9-10). And God granted that to him. Why? I believe it was because of the great faith that he had in God. Let us look at his life.
When Elisha was called, he gave his life totally to God (I Kings 19:20-21; 2 Kings 4:34-35).
Elisha was a man of godly integrity ( 2 Kings 5:16).
Elisha lived in a victorious life (2 Kings 5:15-16).
Elisha was a man with great spiritual vision ( 2 Kings 6:17).
Because of all of these above he spoke with Godly authority (2 Kings 3:16-17), and performed almost 2 times as many miracles as Elijah. They are found in 2 Kings 2:14, 21, 24; 2 Kings 4:5, 35, 41. 43; 2 Kings 5:10, 27; 2 Kings 6:5, 18; 2 Kings 13:21).
Because of his faith in God and faithfulness to God, he died a victorious death (2 Kings 13:14-19), and left behind a great legacy (2 Kings 13:20-21).
Elisha was son of Shaphat. son of Hori of the tribe of Simeon (I Kings 19:10; Num. 13:5). God called Elisha to be his prophet while he was plowing a field. It happened when Elijah walked by and cast his mantle on him (I Kings 19:15-21). A mantle is a sleeveless outer garment that was worn over the tunic. The Jewish tradition said that the mantle was to have blue fringes on the edges of it.It could have been a lot like the robe of the ephod that the priest wore, that is described in Exodus 28:31-35. It was also worn by prophets, kings & the very rich of that time. On a prophet, it was a symbol of a calling to service, sanctification or a special relationship to God. The one that was thrown on Elisha had God's power in it, for it was used to part the water two times (2 Kings 2:8, 14).
Elisha followed Elijah after the mantle was thrown on him. Elijah taught him as they walked together. They did this until the day that God came and took Elijah up in a chariot of fire I Kings 19:19-21;(2 Kings 2:1-17). That is when Elisha's ministry started. But before God took Elijah, he had asked Elisha what he wanted from him. Elisha asked for a double portion of the Spirit to be upon him (2 Kings 2: 9-10). And God granted that to him. Why? I believe it was because of the great faith that he had in God. Let us look at his life.
When Elisha was called, he gave his life totally to God (I Kings 19:20-21; 2 Kings 4:34-35).
Elisha was a man of godly integrity ( 2 Kings 5:16).
Elisha lived in a victorious life (2 Kings 5:15-16).
Elisha was a man with great spiritual vision ( 2 Kings 6:17).
Because of all of these above he spoke with Godly authority (2 Kings 3:16-17), and performed almost 2 times as many miracles as Elijah. They are found in 2 Kings 2:14, 21, 24; 2 Kings 4:5, 35, 41. 43; 2 Kings 5:10, 27; 2 Kings 6:5, 18; 2 Kings 13:21).
Because of his faith in God and faithfulness to God, he died a victorious death (2 Kings 13:14-19), and left behind a great legacy (2 Kings 13:20-21).
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