Faith in Jesus, the salvation God offers to the world, alone pleases the Father. God sent Jesus not to condemn the world but that through Him the world could be saved! John 3:16-17
2 Kings 2:9-14 And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?” Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.” 10 So he said, “You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.” 11 Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. 13 He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. 14 Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over.
Jesus said that if we had the faith of a tiny mustard seed, even the smallest of seeds, anything we asked for would come true. Elijah and Elisha had this incredible faith in God’s power to make His will happen in the physical world. Now, through Holy Spirit, we have the same power to accomplish God’s will in our lives and the lives of those He touches. Faith is the greatest honor we can give to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 40:1
Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”
Says your God.
2 “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
That her warfare is ended,
That her iniquity is pardoned;
The Bible is a treasure trove of wisdom, offering insights into God’s ways. His promises to His covenant people, the nation of Israel, are sure. His word never fails to fulfill His purpose. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem. The King, Jesus, the fulfillment of God’s promise came to the Israelites, but most failed to recognize Him. His first coming was to the Jews, but after His resurrection, His message of salvation was extended to all of humanity through God’s unmerited mercy and grace. In His second coming, all will witness His glory. The word of God will last forever. And through faith in Jesus, we can be with Him forever. In Him, we find our eternal life!
Romans 3:19-20 19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
The Ten Commandments show us the right way to live, but they don’t have the power to make us keep them. Just following them doesn’t make us righteous. They just show us how we’ve all messed up without God.
Mark’s gospel tells us about the incredible sacrifice of Christ Jesus. The suffering servant who gave His life for everyone. No matter who you are, Jew, Greek, male, or female, you can be saved through Jesus. It’s all up to us to choose, with our free will, and with love for God’s amazing gift of salvation in Christ, to accept it. Jesus is the light for the Gentiles and the King of the Jews.
Matthew 9:35-36 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.
Jesus was preaching the word that God’s chosen people had received their king in Him. To His covenant people a Son was given. The Kingdom of God was right there in Him!
Acts 7:51 You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
The apostles preached that salvation was for the Jews, but most of them didn’t believe in Jesus, their Messiah and King. They didn’t want the Holy Spirit, and they were afraid of losing control of the people. the rest of the world got the chance to be saved through Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection. Paul brought the good news of salvation to the Gentiles. God’s message of grace is that we can be saved by faith in Jesus.
Acts 15:13-17 after they had become silent, James answered, saying, “Men and brethren, listen to me: 14 Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written: 16 ‘After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; 17 So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the Lord who does all these things.’
God knew from the beginning, past, present, and future, that Jesus would be rejected. israel will always be His chosen people. But God also knew that salvation would be given to the world through Jesus. God chose a people from the Gentiles to be His Body, the Church. Carla
The Hebrew phrase used here, pi shenayim (literally rendered “according to two shares”), echoes the legal terminology of Deuteronomy 21:17, according to which the firstborn was to receive a double share (pi shenayim) of the inheritance. Elisha desires for his spiritual inheritance to be like that of a firstborn son—double in share in comparison to Elijah’s other spiritual children, such as other prophets. As with Moses, the spirit of Elijah is transferrable to others. The office of head prophet is transferred from Elijah to Elisha—just as the office of commander of Israel is transferred from Moses to Joshua. This includes the transferring of the Spirit of Yahweh, which was at work in Elijah, to Elisha. Yahweh was the one who originally made this decision (1 Kings 19:16). Faithlife Study Bible.
Although the narrative reports twice as many miracles for Elisha as Elijah, that was not the point of Elisha’s request. His real request was that he would be Elijah’s spiritual successor (Deuteronomy 21:17). It was not a double portion of Elijah’s goods that Elisha wanted but a double portion of his spirit. In material things, the principal heir received a double portion of his father’s goods. Elisha wanted the principle of primary inheritance to apply to spiritual things. Nearby were all sorts of prophets. All of them would be his heirs. Any one of them might become the leading successor of Elijah. We may assume from the life he lived that Elisha’s request was not due to pride. He simply wanted to be the man of God who would follow Elijah’s model.
2 Kings 13:14 Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face, and said, “O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!”
2 Kings 6:17 And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
2 Kings 2:8 Now Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water; and it was divided this way and that, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground.
Numbers 11:16–25 So the LORD said to Moses: “Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone…
It doesn't take much to cover our light with a bushel. And there's a whole lot of fear and worry and apprehension and hurry and the need for perfection that can do the job. But here’s the deal: what we do, and who we are, touches lives, plain and simple. This matters more than ever, in a divisive world, a world on edge, a world where a kind word or gesture makes all the difference.
So. What if we let our light shine?
What if we build a world where people matter.
Where humanity blossoms, permeating inclusion and dignity and mercy and creativity and kindness and magnanimity and hope. Sabbath Moments
In Greek, the phrase we translate as "I know whom I have believed" (2 Timothy 1:12) also means "to knowingly trust to be true, to be firmly persuaded of, or to place the highest confidence in."
Paul was completely convinced that God was "able to guard until that day what had been entrusted to [him]" (2 Timothy 1:12). Some Bible scholars believe this verse refers to God guarding both Paul's daily sustenance and his eternal destiny, with "that day" being a reference to the Day of the Lord, as described in scriptures like 2 Peter 3:10. Others emphasize that God had "entrusted" the gospel message to Paul, especially the delivery of that message to gentiles (Acts 9:15).
When we remain faithful in testifying to the gospel of God's grace, even in our times of suffering, the Good News of Jesus is all the more clearly displayed to others as they see us trust in the Lord despite our distress. First 5
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