Steadfast Faith Brings Unspeakable Joy!
Sunday, June 2, 2024
Reverend Larry Deering
Joshua 1:7-9
"Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.
Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."
Hebrews 11:17
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son,
Hebrews 11:19
Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
Genesis 15:1-6
After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, Or [sovereign] your very great reward. Or [shield; / your reward will be very great]"
But Abram said, "Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?"
And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."
Then the word of the Lord came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir."
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 Or [seed] be."
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.
Then the Lord said to him, "Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.
But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.
In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi Or [river] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—
the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites."
Genesis 22:15-18
The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time
and said, "I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,
and through your offspring Or [seed] all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."
Psalms 37:4
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Daniel 3:1
King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, That is, about 90 feet high and 9 feet wide or about 27 meters high and 2.7 meters wide and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
Daniel 3:6
Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace."
Daniel 3:12
But there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—who pay no attention to you, Your Majesty. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up."
Daniel 3:16-18
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, "King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.
If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us Or [If the God we serve is able to deliver us, then he will deliver us from the blazing furnace and] from Your Majesty's hand.
But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
Daniel 3:24-25
Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, "Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?" They replied, "Certainly, Your Majesty."
He said, "Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods."
Psalms 16:11
You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
