January Day 6

(I didn't take time to do this last night, but here it is a day late)

Here are a few of my notes I took from this section of reading.

Genesis 15-17 - It starts out with Abraham basically saying, God your promises are no good if I don't have a son.  In other words, I don't see any way that this could work out.  But God reaffirms his promise.  I feel like this whole section shows God's patience with people.  I think at times we see God as a strict authoritarian who is ready to strike us down but that isn't the picture of God we see as Abram interacts with him.  Even though God re-affirmed his promise with Abraham, he and Sarah still took matters into their own hands.  We must be careful not to attempt to accomplish God's plan our own way.  God's got it.  He doesn't need us to bail him out.   This section ended with God making a covenant with Abraham.  You may not realize this, but the picture of a covenant that we see here is seen in wedding ceremonies.  the crowd is split in half and the bride passes through the middle as a picture of a covenant being made. God promises Abraham that his people would always be his people and He would always be their God.  I feel like we see that promise fulfilled in the way that God has caused the nation of Israel to survive throughout history, despite many attempts to wipe them out.  

Psalm 6 - Verse 4 reminds me that God saves me not because I deserve it, but because of his love. 

Matthew 3:15 - The case Jesus presented John for why He needed to be baptized was to carry out all that God required.  I feel like this is great grounds for why people must be Baptized once they have put their faith in Jesus.  It is something that God has made clear is important to Him.

Acts 4:12 - There is no other way for someone to be saved except by believing in the name of Jesus.  You can believe in God and not be saved.  You can be a good person by the world's standards and not be saved.  The only way we are saved is by believing in Jesus as our savior - not from being bad or from being a bad person, but from being sinners, separated from God.