Tag Archives: family

Don’t give up, July 29, 2019

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

I read the headlines and was appalled. A mother drowns her kids. Another reads, “Father kills mother while children watch, then shoots three children. And another, “Parents cage two children for three years before discovered.”

How does this happen? What kind of people can perform these atrocities to innocent children?

This morning I read the lectionary readings that will be associated with this week’s podcast and heard Jesus’ words regarding prayer. His disciples asked him to teach them to pray. Luke recorded a version of that now famous prayer that many rattle off their tongues without even thinking about it. We often refer to it as the Lord’s prayer, but it is really the disciples’ prayer. It’s the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray.

But after that prayer, Jesus told about the necessity to maintain our vigilance in prayer. When we want something from God, we need to continue to ask. Be persistent, he says. In Luke chapter 11, verses 9 and 10, he says, “So listen: Keep on asking, and you will receive. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened for you. All who keep asking will receive, all who keep seeking will find, and doors will open to those who keep knocking.”

That tells me we should not give up on our prayers. God’s word gives us plenty of examples of godly men and women who prayed for long periods of time before they received answers to their requests. Abraham’s peers were great-grandfathers before he had his promised son. Joseph languished in prison before he became the second highest authority in Egypt. Paul prayed for an unknown thorn in his flesh to be removed, something we’re not sure what that thorn was, and God never removed it, but only told him after long supplication that he would receive grace to bear it.

Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking.

There is another point of wisdom in these words that wanes in our society today. We give up on almost everything. My grandkids really excel in many areas. I have to brag on them. But once in a while, they will grab a new project, struggle with it a while and want to quit because it’s hard. Fortunately, they have a mom and dad that won’t let them quit something just because it’s hard.

If it’s something that is well beyond their capability, that is different. If it’s dangerous or could cause significant damage, that’s different. But often, they will just give a tiny bit of guidance and let their kids learn how to handle hard things. Sometimes they fail the first few times at a task. But they get better through those early failures and learn to become very good through the tutelage of their parents and other adults. It might be hard, but they grow because of it.

When we stop because it’s hard or it didn’t happen the first time, we miss great opportunities. We lose because we fail to recognize the success in learning from mistakes. It’s the problem many young people face when “helicopter” parent bail kids out of every failure and make everything right regardless of the circumstances. Sometimes, it’s good for us to feel the consequences of our failure. We learn from those instances. We figure out how to succeed when we must endure the pain and suffering that comes from our mistakes.

You’ve probably heard the quote from Thomas Edison’s interview about his first failures in creating his electric lightbulb. He said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

I also find his observation, “We often miss opportunity because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

How much could we accomplish if we just got at it and didn’t give up? What could we do if we just stuck to it and continued to try until we did something. Instead we get tired, feel bad about ourselves for not becoming the next Rockafeller at the age of 20, and just sit on the couch playing video games instead. I sometimes wonder how we became known as the land of opportunity unless it’s now because we give up on everything and anyone who joins us has the opportunity to do all the things we give up trying.

Life is hard. Life is filled with failure and disappointment. We cannot nor should not win every time. Everyone should not get a trophy. We don’t learn as much through winning as we do through losing. In failing is really where we build our character.

We learn grace. We learn how to pick ourselves back up and how to start over. We learn that not being at the top is okay. We learn we can survive, begin again, lean on a friend. We learn we are not alone because no one wins every time.

Jesus says don’t stop. Don’t quit. Keep at it. Don’t give up. It’s a lesson we need to learn today.

He goes on to indict us as a society in what I mentioned as I began this podcast. Do you remember those headlines? In the next verses, Jesus asks what should have been some rhetorical questions. In verses 11 through 13 he says, “Some of you are fathers, so ask yourselves this: if your son comes up to you and asks for a fish for dinner, will you give him a snake instead? If your boy wants an egg to eat, will you give him a scorpion? Look, all of you are flawed in so many ways, yet in spite of all your faults, you know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to all who ask!”

Today, however, too many of our children grow up in fatherless homes. They don’t know what a father should be. They don’t have any idea how a loving father acts. Our kids are abandoned physically or emotionally as fathers relinquish their responsibilities as the head of the house and act like kids themselves without thought of what they do to the next generation. And the problem in the United States is that this has now gone on for two or three generations, so often, kids can’t find role models from grandfathers or even great-grandfathers in their families.

What are we to do to fix the problem? How are we to help this newest generation understand what it means to be a loving father or mother? How do we demonstrate solid family relationships when almost every family across the country feels the pain of broken homes? The only source for a solid role model is God. Our heavenly Father is the only perfect father. Scripture uses our earthly father as a model to help describe him, but the tables have turned.

I think for us to now understand who we should be as fathers and mothers, we must look to scripture and examine the life of Jesus and how he describes his Father in heaven to understand how we should build our relationships within our families and with those around us. We have so warped our roles as parents through neglecting what parenthood should be through generations of misguided relationships, that we no longer know what it means to be families.

It’s time we look to the source of relationships and marriage and families to find what these institutions should look like. We need to go to God who created us and the foundation of the family by putting Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden with the command to populate the world, instituting what we know as a marriage relationship.

It’s time we look at the good and bad fathers and mothers in scripture. We should see the consequences of the bad behavior and try our best to avoid repeating those mistakes. We should learn from the good behavior and try our best to emulate it.

God will help us learn what we should know as good fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, if we will listen to him. He will also help us recover from our failures if we will not give up, but will pick ourselves up, ask forgiveness for our failures and our sins, and try again. He will help us through those rough places. He will give us the strength to endure.

God can and will give us the courage to journey through this life as the people he would have us be. But we must put our trust in him if we hope to succeed. That doesn’t mean we will be wealthy. It does mean we will be rich. Our riches will come from the legacy of peace he promised as we follow his commands, do his will, learn his ways, and keep them.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the ene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

The nightmare of missing kids – Episode 8-53, December 31, 2018

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A daily devotional walking through God’s word together using The Bible Reading Plan at http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.html. Our website http://alittlewalkwithgod.com

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

When my firstborn was little, she never knew a stranger. She was cute as a button and would talk to anyone and everyone. My wife enjoyed shopping…except with her tagging along. It took her forever to run errands or get through a checkout line because people would stop and be polite telling her how cute she was. But then this little petite bundle would start and avalanche of questions and dialog that captivated whoever spoke to her. It would take her hours to get through the grocery store sometimes.

It’s important to understand that about my daughter to relate to the next part of the story. Because she would talk to anyone, anywhere, anytime, we were sometimes a little worried about her. As she was growing up in the 80’s, the news reporters first began to talk about the sex slave trade and their kidnapping of young children to fill their requirements for their perverted clientele.

We worried our super friendly daughter would just get into a lively conversation with one of those recruiters and be gone without a trace. That was our nightmare. So my wife solved our fear, she put a child harness on her and attached a leash. Suddenly, much of the fear disappeared because we knew she was no more than that six foot leash away and it would be very difficult for anyone to bother her without us knowing. All the buckles and fasteners were in the back, so she couldn’t undo them herself and there were enough of them that if anyone tried to tamper with them, we would feel the tugs and pulls before the last one could be undone. Our precious little girl could not escape without our knowing.

As she got older, though, and we began to trust her with the mantra of “stranger danger”, we lost the leash. She still talked to everyone she met, but for the most part, she stayed in eye contact with one of us wherever we went. But once in a while, she would get interested in something on a shelf or in another part of the store and suddenly you would look to the spot you though she should be and she wasn’t there.

If you’re a parent, you have probably known that feeling at one time or another. You heart drops, your pulse races, you can’t think properly, you don’t know where to start looking, you are a bit frantic for a moment. Where did you last see her? Did she say anything? Did you see anyone around her? Was there something she had her eyes on earlier? Where could she have gone? Who can I go to for help? God, please let her be alright!

Your brain becomes a jumbled mess for the next few minutes. Finally, you see her out of the corner of your eye. She’s fine. Like usual, she is absorbed in some toy or book or something that caught her eye and has no idea the emotional trauma she caused. She looks up with that cute little grin like nothing happened.

You on the other hand, don’t know whether to pick her up and hug her as tight as you can or put her in time-out until she turns 36.

Now let’s go back a couple thousand years to the story at the end of Luke chapter 2. Jesus is twelve. In his culture at that time, he has just had or is about to have his bar mitzvah, another milestone toward manhood in the Jewish community. His family came from Nazareth to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Some will probably look at Mary and Joseph and think, “what horrible parents, not realizing Jesus was missing for a whole day.”

But we have to go back and look at the culture of the day, again. Mary and Joseph traveled with their whole extended family to Jerusalem. That meant parents, brothers and sisters, cousins, nieces and nephews, in-laws and their relatives, everyone in the community that were headed to Jerusalem. The larger the group, the less likely they would run into bandits or have trouble with the Roman patrols. Traveling in large numbers was good.

I also expect they had everything in preparation the day before their departure. The group may have even departed at night to avoid the heat of the sun. I mention that tidbit based on my experience in the middle east as I watched everyone stop working in the middle of the day. From about noon until about three o’clock, work stops. That’s nap time for the people who live there. The heat is so oppressive you just can’t handle it. It is hard to even breathe outside because of the temperatures. So it wouldn’t surprise me if the entourage headed home in the dark.

In that case, Mary and Joseph, with no flashlights or streetlights, just a few oil lamps among the crowd, may have seen a boy about the same size and build as Jesus among all the kids racing around together and assumed he was with them. Then as the continued to travel through the day, assumed he was playing with his brothers and sisters and cousins as kids are apt to do. If they left in the dark, it’s pretty easy to understand how it could be a whole day before they missed him.

Even in my young teenage years, my parents didn’t worry about the kinds of evil we worry about today. My instructions in the morning when I headed out to play with my friends and travel around on our bikes was to make sure I was home before the streetlights came on.

Can you understand the changes that have happened in our culture over the centuries? My kids have their eyes on their kids or have a well known friend’s eyes on their kids at all times because of the evil in our world today. Carole and I were a little fearful to have our kids out of sight for more than a few hours when we we had a pretty good idea where they were. My parents didn’t worry about us until it was almost time to go to bed.

A century ago, kids may have slept over or spent the night in the woods and parents didn’t worry because they knew someone in the community was watching over them and would take care of them. It’s easy to think that twenty centuries ago, Mary and Joseph were doing just what good parents were expected to do and were pretty confident Jesus was okay.

We also might wonder why it took them three days to find him. Well, the first day was the journey back to Jerusalem. The second day was revisiting all the places they had been with that gaggle of relatives during the Passover celebration. The third day they found him when they retraced their path to the temple where they purchased their sacrifice and discovered their eldest son was confounding the teachers of the law.

I expect Jesus did an awful lot of what my daughter did as she was growing up. She asked a million questions a day. I have a feeling Jesus did, too. I think he thirsted for knowledge and asked more questions than Mary and Joseph and his local rabbi and the temple priest and… and anyone could answer except his real father, the creator of all things.

Interesting stories today, perhaps, but you might be asking how does all this come together and what’s the point? There are a couple, of course.

First, like the young Jesus and my daughter, be inquisitive. Ask questions. Never tire of learning more. Especially, about the One who is worthy of our worship, Jesus.

Second, like the young Jesus and my daughter, be friendly. Don’t be afraid to talk to other people. That’s how those endless questions will finally find answers. The teachers in the temple had better answers than the rabbis in Nazareth. With more experience and wisdom, more answers to life’s big questions come to mind. So don’t be afraid to talk to others when you want answers to big questions.

Third, although inquisitive and willing to talk with others to find answers to those big questions, try not to bring untoward angst to those responsible for your welfare. We don’t know how Joseph died, but if Jesus did these kinds of things often, he may have had a heart attack from the stress. Just kidding. We really don’t know. It’s okay to reduce the stress on your caregivers, though.

Finally, if you are listening to this podcast on the day of it’s release, tomorrow starts a new year. 2018 will be gone in just a few hours and there is nothing you can do to change it. But you can do something about 2019. Plan today to learn more about our Savior and let him make you more like him this year. Read. Study. Journal. Make notes in your Bible. Take personal inventory of who you are and how far he has brought you.

Thank you for listening. I pray you will have a blessed year ahead as you follow in his footsteps.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

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It’s tough at home (Mark 6:4) July 27, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Psalms 87-89

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 6:4
Jesus (seeing this): A prophet can find honor anywhere except in his hometown, among his own people, and in his own household.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Do you really want to test your faith? Do you really want to know if what you’ve found in Christ is real and can stand up to the test of the world and the ridicule of those you ran around with as an enemy of God and His kingdom? Then live Christ in front of your family. Day in and day out live the life God wants you to live. Share what God puts on your mind. Do the tasks He calls you to do. Love the way He wants you to love within your family.

When you live your life in front of your family, they know if you are real. You can’t put on a façade in front of them, at least not very long. They know your past. They know your habits. They know the things you’ve started and quit. They know the resolutions you’ve made through the years and failed in keeping. They know the buttons to push to get you riled up and send your emotions flaring. Your family knows you better than anyone else.

When Jesus came back to His hometown to share the message that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, He shared it in the synagogue where He grew up as a boy. The rabbi and the elders in around the facility probably told Him and His brothers more than once that they needed to stop running on the property when they were growing up. The scribes sitting around the synagogue remembered Him sitting in their classes just learning the scriptures. Yes, He had an uncanning interest and skill in learning them, but Jesus was still just a kid in the class and played and sang and rough-housed with all the other boys. The scribes watched Him grow up around them.

The people of Nazareth watched Jesus in His father’s carpenter shop. He cut wood, hauled scraps, sanded rough planks, delivered finished products to customers. He learned His father’s trade and became a carpenter Himself. Somewhere along the line, Jesus’ father died and Jesus took up His father’s work to provide for the rest of the family. But everyone in the town knew Him. It was a small town and there were few secrets. They all even knew that Jesus was too old for Mary and Joseph to have been married when He was conceived.

Everyone knew everything about Jesus. So now, He was preaching in their synagogue. This illegitimate son of Mary and Joseph that grew up in their village. How could He talk to them about the scriptures? How could this carpenter school them in how God thinks we should live and act? What makes this laborer think He can challenge the teachings of the scribes and interpret the scriptures better than the rabbis who studied in Jerusalem?

It was tough for Jesus, the thirty-year-old man, the Son of God, to be heard in the town where His mother raised Him as a toddler, a teenager, and a young adult. Those older adults, those scribes and rabbis just couldn’t see past the teenager that grew up in their town. They couldn’t see the wisdom and knowledge Jesus gained over those last twenty years because they didn’t want to consider that He really was the Son of God. Why would God live in Nazareth? Surely He would live in Jerusalem and learn in the Temple if He were to come in the form of man, right? Jesus couldn’t be the Son of God. They watched Him grow up in their town. They knew nothing good came out of Nazareth…because they lived there.

Doesn’t say much for what their chamber of commerce put on their city advertisements, does it?

So what does that tell us about living for Him in our own homes? What do we learn from this short exchange in which Jesus declares that prophets receive honor everywhere except in their own hometown? I think He tells us we still need to witness to our lost family members, but expect them to question your faith. Don’t be surprised when they ridicule your newfound relationship with God. Don’t be surprised when they don’t believe you have been changed by the power of God’s Spirit living in you.

Like those living in Nazareth, family and close friends that have known you all your life, will always be the most skeptical of your changed life in Christ. They have seen you try those fad diets, New Year’s resolutions, organization trials, exercise programs, and all those other things that lasted a month or two before you fell into your old habits. They will think the same of your life in Christ. And even when the see the change over time, they will not recognize the change because they will test it over months and years to see if it sticks and by then they will put blinders on and forget the old you. Satan will put a veil over their eyes and try to hide the truth from them. It is hard to share the gospel with family. Not impossible, but hard.

What are we to do? Keep doing exactly what Jesus did. He still taught in the synagogue even though many didn’t listen. He still healed even though many didn’t come to Him. He performed a few miracles even though many didn’t believe and limited the usefulness of God living in their town. Jesus still did exactly what His Father asked Him to do. And that’s what Jesus expects us to do. Listen to Him and carry out His will, even in our families.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Live where you are (Mark 5:19) July 24, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – 1 Thessalonians 1-3

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 5:19
Jesus: Stay here; I want you to go back home to your own people and let them see what the Lord has done—how He has had mercy on you.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

“I want you to go back home to your own people.” The newly freed man didn’t expect that. He probably didn’t want it, either. Like most of us, the man probably wanted to accompany Jesus on His mission journey through the other towns of Galilee and Judea spreading the good news that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. But that wasn’t the mission Jesus gave him. Jesus told him to go home and talk to his family. The people that knew him best.

That’s tough work! Let me give you a sample from the secular side of the world. In my last assignment, I was the Chief of Staff of the Army Medical Department Center and School. That sounds like a fancy title, but not a lot of people know what it really means to be a Chief of Staff or what the Army Medical Department Center and School is all about. But looking back at the job, it was a pretty important position.

The Center and School is the place where the Army trained all its enlisted medical specialties and conducted all its leadership training. It is also the place where the doctrine, techniques, tactics, and procedures for medical support in combat and deployed situations is developed and codified for the Army and for much of the Joint medical support around the world. It is the largest allied health training facility in the world, with 3600 staff and faculty graduating more than 40,000 students a year in over 350 different course and 200 medical specialties and sub-specialties. All of the specialties and sub-specialties that can be accredited in civilian schools are accredited by those same boards and institutions to ensure the quality of training and subsequent medical support for our service members is the same or better than their civilian counterparts.

Now that sounds like a fairly impressive organization, right? And the Chief of Staff, my last position in the Army, orchestrates the staff, the department decoratorates, to make sure all of those activities happen the way they are supposed to. For me, it meant pretty long days for three years with back to back meetings all day long from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm almost every day. Thousands of pages of material to read and edit, hundreds of emails every day, and directing all that work to the right staff agencies for action and answers. Fun most days, exciting, exhausting, too.

When I went into a meeting, one of my favorite coffee cups would already be sitting at my seat at the table with steaming coffee. A copy of the briefing slides would be at my place with my favorite brand of pen and paper next to it. Everything ready to go so I when I came into the room for the meeting, I didn’t have to worry about anything but focusing on the meeting I was about to attend. My presence was announced when I walked into the conference room and people stood at attention. Sounds pretty important, doesn’t it?

But when I went home, I wasn’t Colonel Agee anymore. I was dad, Dick, son. No one at home really knew or understood what I did every day when I put on my uniform and went to that building down the street. They knew I did something important because of all the people that recognized me whenever we went anywhere on the installation. They knew Chief of Staff of the Army Medical Department Center and School must be a fairly decent position because my picture was on the wall of half the buildings at Fort Sam Houston and a lot of the policies on the bulletin boards held my signature at the bottom of the page. But they didn’t really think much about it because I was just dad or son or Dick. I took out the trash, helped with dishes, sometimes swept or vacuumed floors, and sometimes folded laundry. I was just a member of the family.

I share that to explain the difficulty in sharing with family sometimes the news of who you are or how you have changed. Frankly, I still wanted to be just dad and son and Dick at home. I was glad to shed Colonel when I walked through the doors at home. But if I wanted to tell them what I did and explain the position I held near the end of my career, I’m not sure most of my family would have understood or accepted the power I wielded as Chief of Staff. I grew up with my brothers and sisters. They knew me. My parents knew the trouble I caused them and all my shortfalls. It would be hard for them to accept the thought that with just a few words dozens or even hundreds of people would do what I asked. They would have a hard time believing I could influence how medical structures operated on battlefields around the world. I was just dad or Dick or son.

The man freed from his demon possession would have a tough time ahead. Jesus wanted him to witness to those who knew him best. He was to show the change in him. He was to share the message and not just talk about it, but live it every day in front of those who knew him best. This changed man was to prove himself to those who did not trust him, those who threw him into the street and chained him up in the cemeteries because he had been a danger to the community. His task would be his toughest assignment. But that’s sometimes what Jesus calls us to do. Live the life He calls us to, just where we are, the toughest place to live.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Give some praise (Matthew 13:57) April 2, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Mark 7-8

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 13:57
Jesus: Prophets are respected—except in their hometowns and in their own households. There the prophet is dishonored.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

What do you think about your siblings? Do you honor the members of your family? I remember growing up as the second child, I always felt I had to be as good as my older brother. I knew in my head my parents didn’t expect that. I think they recognized, like all parents that every kid is different. We all have our unique personalities, talents, and skills, but there was always that one upsmanship between us when growing up.

And it was really hard for me following my older brother in school. You see, my brother is really smart. I mean bordering on genius smart, well not really. I mean genius smart. He never opened a book in school, but made A’s in every class. He could look at a page of material and in about a minute he could tell you everything on the page. If you called him right now, he could probably tell you the license plate number of the first car he ever owned and maybe the VIN number of that car.

I mean the guy is brilliant with numbers and science and facts. So I had to follow two grades behind him and got a lot of his former teachers. Not fun! I had to work a lot harder than he did to make those A’s. I had to study a lot more, spend a lot more time in the book, figure out ways to keep the information in my brain and organized so I could retrieve it.

The funny thing was, he didn’t care about any of that stuff. He ended up as salutatorian of his high school class because he goofed off all the time and ended up about two point below the valedictorian. I worked hard to beat him in school and was valedictorian. But now, I don’t care. So what. What does it get me. Nothing really. But my genius brother? Wow! Dropped out of college because he was bored. He finished later, but out of high school his professors couldn’t challenge him and he just quit.

So I could tell all kinds of stories about my siblings. I picked on my brother, because he is probably the one most off the scale on all the intelligence tests. But we all picked at each other, called each other names, knew none of us would amount to anything. Told tales on each other. But let me tell you where they are today.

My older brother, retired from the navy and is an independent consultant after spending several years in quality assurance in the manufacture of medications for infants with respiratory problems. He’s called on by companies all over the US and Europe to problem solve issues in pharmaceutical manufacturing, especially for medical gases.

My oldest sister owns her own business with her husband providing care to individuals in the midwest. Their appointment books are full enough that they have a six month waiting list to get in. My youngest sister is vice president in one of the large banks near the town where she grew up. I say she grew up, because we’re eleven years apart and since my dad was a pastor, I moved a lot growing up, but when I went into the Army he took a church where he stayed for 26 years. So my youngest brother and sister spent most of their growing up years in the same place, unlike the rest of us.

My youngest brother? He spent time in the Navy and has done several things after that, working to finish a degree in psychology to help veterans with PTSD. I’d say they all did pretty well for themselves.

But when we all get together, we’re just brothers and sisters again. Nothing special about any of us. We have a hard time seeing past our family relationships to see the successes each have accomplished to be able to listen to what each says in their own field of expertise. It’s funny that way isn’t it. But with every family I’ve counseled through the years, it seems to be the same. We have a hard time seeing past family to see the accomplishments of the person buried inside that mother or father, brother or sister, son or daughter.

Maybe today is a good time to just stop and think about what your siblings have accomplished in life. Maybe it’s time to give some praise to those who love you best even when things are tough. Maybe it’s time to take inventory of good that comes from your family and share it with the people outside your family circle and give some praise for the family that surrounds you. Maybe it’s also time to let your family know how much you admire them and the accomplishment, the successes they have.

Jesus couldn’t do much in his home town because his relatives, those who grew up around Him, couldn’t see past their family relationships to see what He had done. What a difference He could have made in their lives if they had just given Him a little credit for what He had done! How about giving some credit and some praise in your family?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Brothers and sisters in Christ (Matthew 12:48-50) March 21, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Genesis 44-47

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 12:48-50
Jesus: Who is My mother? And who are My brothers? (pointing to His disciples) These are My mother and brothers. Anyone who does the will of My Father in heaven is My mother and brother and sister.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Psychologists tell us that when you go through traumatic events with someone you become closer to that person or group of people. We see that exemplified in the number of gatherings life Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) groups and within those, you’ll find small groups of men and women who gather to talk about their experiences in particular units and battles. The comradery they find in the telling and reliving those events helps bond them and ease the trauma that comes in the loss of friends in some of those horrifying times.

Some of my own closest friends come from times when I was deployed into combat zones and defending our country from enemies that wished nothing less than the destruction of our way of life and liberty. Some other friends that have drawn close come from assignments in which family was no where near. Back then cell phones didn’t exist and overseas phone calls were just too expensive to use them with any frequency to call home. We had to rely on each other and so those that were once strangers became fast life-time friends.

In the course of life, my travels and assignments and those of my brothers and sisters have carried us to different states and nations so few of us live close to each other. We don’t get to see each other very often. But when we get together, we know each other because we’re family. There is an instant bond. I know their temperments, their likes and dislikes. I know what makes them laugh and what makes them cry. I know my brothers and sisters even though I don’t see them very often. Why? Because we are part of each other. We are family. There is something in us that is the same even though we are all very different from one another.

I read these words of Jesus and I get the same feeling and understanding when I think about my brothers and sisters in Christ. Because of my military career and my corporate travels after my military retirement, I’ve attended a lot of churches. Where a lot of people could count a dozen or so, I could easily count more than a hundred churches I’ve attended through the years. But there is an interesting thing I’ve found in all those churches.

It really didn’t matter what denomination I attended. It didn’t matter what color the majority of the members were. It didn’t matter what language the people spoke as their native tongue. It didn’t matter whether people dressed to the nines on Sunday morning or came in rags. It didn’t matter what kind of music they sang or even if the music was really good or way off key. When I was among a group of believers, I felt at home. There was a connection between us that you knew you were accepted just because you were there among believers.

How does that happen? How is it that we can feel so comfortable in another church and another worship service regardless of the denomination or worship style or country in which we worship? It’s really pretty simple. They are family. Just like my physical brothers and sisters share DNA with me, they are different and similar to me at the same time. So it is with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We share something in common.

We may be different in many ways, but in the most important things we are alike. We share Christ’s Spirit in us. We share His love. We share His grace and mercy. We share His forgiveness in our lives. We have each been adopted into His family and have become children of the King of kings and Lord of lords. We are a part of His kingdom. So we stand on common ground. We believe together in a common understanding of our faith.

If you are part of a Christian faith, there are a few fundamental beliefs that you hold dear, summed up in the words of the Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic and apostolic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

On those few statements rest the tenets of the Christian faith. When we join together as brothers and sisters in Christ, regardless of our denominational background and baggage, we share this common bond. We have this spiritual DNA that binds us together, His Spirit alive in us that makes us more alike than different. So we can worship together. We can praise together. We can live in harmony together. We can ignore the color of our skin, the style of our music, the order of our service. We can just glory in the presence of God’s Spirit among us and know we are brothers and sisters in the great family of God Almighty.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Tell your friends first (Matthew 10:5-6) February 23, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Judges 12-16

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 10:5-6
Jesus: Don’t go to the outsiders or to the towns inhabited by Samaritans, a people whose Jewish ancestors married Gentiles. Go instead to find and heal the lost sheep of Israel.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Now that’s a strange command to give the disciples knowing He came to save the world. Why would Jesus tell His disciples not to go beyond their borders? Why not go to the outsiders, the Gentiles? Why not go the Samaritans? Why did Jesus tell them to stay away from those towns and only share His message with the Israelites? Especially given the fact that He specifically sent Paul to the Gentiles later. He gave Peter the vision of unclean foods coming out of the sky to let him know he was supposed to go to Cornelius’ house to share the gospel?

I think the answer come in several smart strategic thoughts from the Master. First, He is still very early in His ministry. He wants to get His message out to as many as possible, but the Jews still hold their racial prejudice against everyone outside their community of faith. Remember Jesus didn’t come to start a new religion. He came to clean up the Jewish faith. Just like Martin Luther didn’t intend to start a revolution that began the Protestant movement away from the Catholic Church. The disciples always went to the synagogues to begin sharing the message of the Kingdom of heaven.

So, to ask these new disciples to go out to the Gentiles early in His ministry might have been too much for them. Pentecost hadn’t happened yet. Jesus was beside them, not in them. They had not received His Spirit in them yet. Asking His disciples to give His message to outsiders might have been too radical even for these twelve selected individuals at this point in their walk with Him.

Second, I think Jesus knew the disciples hearts would be with their own people if He sent them to the outsiders first with His message. The Jews jealously guarded the scriptures. They were God’s chosen and demonstrated to others their pride in their special place. They forgot their mission to bless the world, but they guarded their position and let others know they belonged to God. The disciples were part of that heritage. As I mentioned, in every town, Jesus always started in the synagogue in sharing His message. In the early days of the church, the apostles and disciples did the same. The often found themselves thrown out into the street shortly after their message, but they started in the synagogue…as was their custom the Bible often tells us.

So if their heart was back home, how well would they do on their missionary journey if preaching to the outsiders, the Samaritans? Jesus didn’t want them to have divided loyalties on their journey and the best way to do that would be to assign them to preach to the Israelites only. Share the message with those whose histories were similar to theirs. He wanted them to share His message without an initial barrier of racial prejudice from those who would hear them.

Third, the Israelites looked for a Messiah. Scriptures pointed to the coming of God’s Kingdom and the physical manifestation of God as Savior, the Messiah. If anyone believed in the arrival of a Savior, the Israelites would. They expected Him. They prayed for His arrival. Hebrew girls prayed that they would be the mother of the coming King. Devout Jews knew He was coming. All the disciples needed to do was let people know He arrived. He was here in the flesh.

By sending the disciples only to the Israelites, they would find more success than they would among the Samaritans or the Gentiles. To share their message outside the Hebrew community meant explaining from the start who the Messiah is to those not brought up in the faith. It meant dispelling their belief in the pantheon of gods they grew up with and observed from the Greeks and Romans around them. To share the message to outsiders so early in Jesus’ ministry when they didn’t have the benefit of His indwelling Spirit giving them the words they needed when they stood before others.

Early success in their ministry kept them going before Pentecost. After Pentecost, the power of the Holy Spirit in them overwhelmed any disappointment, frustration, sacrifice, even death when they shared the message Jesus gave them. But before Pentecost, I imagine the disciples felt some disappointment and frustration when rejected by those who should know the Messiah was coming to rescue them. They also experienced the joy and excitement of leading crowds to come and see the one they followed. They took others to meet this man who could do things only God can do.

The disciples did well as they went to their brothers and sisters to share the good news of the Messiah’s arrival. Some 500 people gathered on the hillside at Jesus’ ascension. They shared the story and people believed them. They came to see for themselves, to see this man they talked about, to discover the truth about this Messiah.

So what should we do? Start sharing with those around you first. Share your good news with those who know you. They are the ones who will see the change in you first and recognize there is something different about you when you really give your life to Christ. So tell family and friends first. Then you’ll find your early success there. Then reach out beyond your immediate sphere of influence to share the message to anyone who will listen. But those who know you best are most likely to listen to your story because when Jesus gets on board in your life, they will know by your love. Tell them where it comes from. That’s all He asks.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Welcome to the family (Mark 3:13-35), Feb 24, 2015

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Mark 3:13-35
Set – Numbers 16; Mark 3
Go! – Numbers 14-16; Mark 3

Mark 3:13-35
¹³ Jesus called together a select group of His followers and led them up onto a mountain. ¹⁴ There He commissioned them the twelve. [Later He calls them His emissaries.][a] He wanted them to be with Him. He sent them out to spread the good news ¹⁵ and to cast out evil spirits [and heal diseases].[b] ¹⁶ Here are the names of the original twelve: Simon (whom Jesus called Peter, meaning “the rock”), ¹⁷ James and John (the sons of Zebedee, whom Jesus called “the Sons of Thunder”), ¹⁸ Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew (the tax collector, also called Levi), Thomas, James (the son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Simon of Canaan (who was also called “the Zealot”), ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot (who one day would betray Jesus to the authorities in Jerusalem so God’s purpose could be fulfilled).

²⁰ Jesus and His disciples went into a house to eat, but so many people pressed in to see Jesus that they could not be served. ²¹ When Jesus’ family heard about this craziness, they went to drag Him out of that place.

Jesus’ Family (to one another): Jesus has lost His mind.

²² The scribes, for their part, came down from Jerusalem and spread the slander that Jesus was in league with the devil.

Scribes: That’s how He casts out demons. He’s casting them out by the power of Beelzebul—the ancient Philistine god—the prince of demons.

²³ When Jesus heard this, He tried to reason with them using parables.

Jesus: Listen. How can Satan drive out Satan? ²⁴ A kingdom that makes war against itself will collapse. ²⁵ A household divided against itself cannot stand. ²⁶ If Satan opposes himself, he cannot stand and is finished.

²⁷ If you want to break into the house of a strong man and plunder it, you have to bind him first. Then you can do whatever you want with his possessions. ²⁸ Listen, the truth is that people can be forgiven of almost anything. God has been known to forgive many things, even blasphemy. ²⁹ But speaking evil of the Spirit of God is an unforgivable sin that will follow you into eternity.

³⁰ He said this because the scribes were telling people that Jesus got His power from dark forces instead of from God.

³¹ When Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived, they couldn’t break through the crowd, so they sent word in to Jesus that He should come out to them. ³² The crowd was pressed in tight around Him when He received the message, “Your mother and brothers [and sisters][c] are waiting outside for You.”

³³ Jesus looked around.

Jesus (answering them): Who are My mother and brothers?

He called into the silence. No one spoke.

³⁴ At last His gaze swept across those gathered close, and Jesus smiled.

Jesus: You, here, are My mother and My brothers! ³⁵ Whoever does the will of God is My true family.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

Until you are born of both water and the Spirit, you really can’t understand Jesus’ comment about those around Him being His mother and His brothers. Once adopted into the true family of God, things change for you. Sometimes, your earthly family embraces you because they too are part of My family. Sometimes, though, you will find yourself ostracized by your earthly family when you let Me decide the direction for your life. You will no longer be welcome in the circle you once inhabited, even among your family.

I see it happen over and over again as men and women harden their hearts, sometimes to their own children. You would think that a mother’s love would overcome such bitterness and evil in the heart of humankind, but it doesn’t. They think personal momentary pleasure outweighs the eternal gain of following Me because of the darkness in which the world walks. Of course, it never works. The consequences of fallowing your own way, your own wisdom always ends in disaster. Many who have gone before you can tell you the pain and misery they endured because of the consequences of their actions.

So My children get misunderstood, get pushed aside, get persecuted, suffer, even die because of the message of peace and hope they share with their lost and dying friends and family. The barbs of truth cut deeply into the hearts of men and women and the pain causes an immediate reaction. One of either hatred and a desire to quiet the voice of My messenger or one of repentance and weeping at My altar seeking the hope I can give them through the forgiveness of their sins.

Some people try to ride the fence and take neither side, but it doesn’t work. You see, men’s minds are bent toward evil because of the carnal nature that comes as a result of Adam’s sin. So the fence walkers tilt toward evil and always fall off the fence. They can’t stay there. They can’t walk that think rail. They will always fall to the side of evil unless they come to a place of repentance and complete reliance on Me.

Those that come to Me, though, I forgive. I give hope. I adopt into My family. They always have a host of brothers and sisters ready to support them, love them, care for them, treat them like the brothers and sisters they are. When adopted into My family, you are never alone.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Passover is more than a once a year festival (Exodus 12/1-30), Jan 25, 2015

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Devotional

Today’s background scripture comes from Exodus 12.
Passover is one of the most important of the festivals for remembrance I directed for My people. It changes the calendar for the Israelites and becomes the first month of the year because of its significance. Passover brought freedom to My people. It broke their chains of slavery to their Egyptian masters. It marks the beginning of the life of the new nation just as it marked the death of the firstborn in every Egyptian household.

What do I want you to remember from Passover? You already surmise a lot of symbolism can be found throughout the entire Passover festival from the time of year I chose for you to celebrate it, to the foods you eat, to the clothes you wear. But I want you especially to think about three things today.

Second, Passover is about urgency and preparedness. I demanded My people eat with their shoes on, their cloaks on, and a walking stick in their hand. I wanted their bags packed and nothing left to do before they walked out the door because they would leave in a hurry. The Passover had an urgency about it because as soon as the death angel visited at a time of My choosing during the night, the Egyptians would cry out and Pharaoh would tell My people to leave. I wanted them to go immediately.

It will be the same when My Son returns. Waiting for Him should create an urgency and a measure of preparedness in you. Just like with My people at the first Passover, those that were not ready could not go. They were lost to the exodus. My command for My people was to go when commanded. Don’t wait, don’t dawdle, don’t prepare anything else. Grab your pack, get on your feet, and get out of Egypt! When My Son returns, He will come in the blink of an eye to take His church. Those who are ready will come home with Him. Those who are not will remain. There is urgency in the remembrance of the Passover.

The Passover is about family and community. The Passover meal was never eaten alone. There was a reason a whole lamb or goat was required. One of the most important, a large number of people must gather together to consume it. Families must mend the differences between them and eat together. Neighbors must tear down any barriers between them and eat together. Newcomers on settlement were invited into homes to become part of the community. Meat in Goshen was too scarce to waste when many dined on onions and leeks. A lamb or goat as the Passover meal meant something extravagant and not for Me, but also something not to be wasted, so houses were filled with family and friends ready and waiting to begin the journey to a new life.

Finally, Passover is about sacrifice. It’s easy to think about the lamb and the goat that lost its life for the passover meal, but each Egyptian family also lost their firstborn in sacrifice for their failure to believe in Me, the One True God. Freedom takes sacrifice. Whether from the chains of slavery or the chains of sin, sacrifice remains a necessary component. For you, I already paid the ultimate price in the blood of My perfect Son, Jesus. The blood on the doorpost represent for you the blood of My Son, as well, to remember your salvation isn’t free. It comes at a price.

Jesus, My Son, instituted a remembrance at the last Passover meal He celebrated that many call the Lord’s Supper, Communion, the Eucharist, or other names. Like the first Passover, it brings with it a remembrance of His sacrifice for your sins, urgency and preparedness for His return, and togetherness as My family, My children, born of blood and spirit. Born into My kingdom…if you believe in Him. Passover didn’t just happen as an historical event, it remains as a permanent reminder of My grace in the lives of those who dare to believe in Me.

Today’s Scripture

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Exodus 12:1-30
Set – Exodus 12; Psalms 21
Go! – Exodus 12-13; Psalms 21; Acts 1

Exodus 12:1-30
Eternal One (to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt): ^1-2 Mark this month as the first month of all months for you—the first month of your year. ³ Declare this message to the entire community of Israel: “When the tenth day of this month arrives, every family is to select a lamb, one for each household. ⁴ If there aren’t enough people in the family to eat an entire lamb, then they should share a lamb with their nearest neighbor according to how many people are in the neighbor’s family. Divide the portions of the lamb so that each person has enough to eat. ⁵ Choose a one-year-old male that is intact and free of blemishes; you can take it from the sheep or the goats. ⁶ Keep this chosen lamb safe until the fourteenth day of the month, then the entire community of Israel will slaughter their lambs together at twilight. ⁷ They are to take some of its blood and smear it across the top and down the two sides of the doorframe of the houses where they plan to eat. ⁸ That night, have them roast the lamb over a fire and feast on it along with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast. ⁹ Do not eat any meat raw or boil it in water; only eat the meat after the entire animal has been roasted over a fire with its head, legs, and intestines attached. ¹⁰ Eat whatever you can, but don’t leave any of it until morning; whatever is left over in the morning burn in the fire. ¹¹ Here is how I want you to eat this meal: Be sure you are dressed and ready to go at a moment’s notice—with sandals on your feet and a walking stick in your hand. Eat quickly because this is My Passover.

¹² I am going to pass through the land of Egypt during the night and put to death all their firstborn children and animals. I will also execute My judgments against all the gods of the Egyptians, for I am the Eternal One! ¹³ The blood on the doorframes of your houses will be a sign of where you are. When I pass by and see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague will not afflict you when I strike the land of Egypt with death.

¹⁴ This will be a day for you to always remember. I want you and all generations after you to commemorate this day with a festival to Me. Celebrate this feast as a perpetual ordinance, a permanent part of your life together. ¹⁵ You are to eat bread made without yeast for seven days. On the first day get rid of any yeast you find in your house. Anyone who eats bread made with yeast during the seven festival days must be cut off from the rest of Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day of the festival and again on the seventh, gather the community together for a time of sacred worship. No one may work on those two days except to prepare what every person needs to eat. ¹⁷ Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread because it commemorates the day that I led your forces out of Egypt. Honor and celebrate this day throughout all your generations as a perpetual ordinance, a permanent part of your life together. ¹⁸ From the evening of the fourteenth day of that first month to the evening of the twenty-first day of that month, eat bread made without yeast. ^19-20 No yeast is to be found in any of your houses during the seven festival days. Whoever eats anything that has yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel. It doesn’t matter whether he is a foreigner or a native; the same standards apply. During the seven festival days, do not eat anything made with yeast; wherever you live and gather together, be sure you eat only unleavened bread.

²¹ Then Moses called all of Israel’s elders together and gave them instructions.

Moses: Go and pick out lambs for each of your families, and then slaughter your family’s Passover lamb. ²² Take a handful of hyssop branches, dip them down into the bowl of blood you drained from the sacrifice, and mark the top of the doorway and the two doorposts with blood from the bowl. After you do this, no one should go out that door until the next morning.

²³ The Eternal will pass through the land during the night and bring death to the Egyptians. But when He sees the blood-markings across the tops of your doorways and down your two doorposts, He will pass over your houses and not allow His messenger of death to enter into your houses and strike you down. ²⁴ You and all your descendants are obligated to keep these instructions for all time. ²⁵ Even after you arrive in the land the Eternal has promised you—the land flowing with milk and honey—you must keep these instructions and perform this ritual. ²⁶ When your children ask you, “What does this ritual mean to you?” ²⁷ you will answer them, “It is the Passover sacrifice to the Eternal, for He passed over the houses of the Israelites when we were slaves in Egypt. And although He struck the Egyptians, He spared our lives and our houses.”

When Moses finished these instructions, the people bowed down and worshiped.

²⁸ The Israelites went and did as they were instructed; they were obedient to what the Eternal had commanded Moses and Aaron.

²⁹ Now this is what happened: at midnight, He struck down all the firstborn sons in Egypt—from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn son of the prisoners locked in the dungeon, and even the firstborn of all the livestock in the land. ³⁰ Pharaoh woke up during the night. He wasn’t the only one. His servants, as well as all of the Egyptians in the land, had awoken. A great scream shattered the night in Egypt, for there was not a single Egyptian house where someone was not dead.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

I made you (Genesis 2:4-25), Jan 1, 2015

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Welcome to Walk with Me a daily devotional taking us through the bible, spoken in a way God might speak to us as he spoke to Adam and Eve walking through the Garden of Eden.

Today I share with you from the story of your creation. I made you from the dirt of the ground, sculpted you into your human shape, breathed into your nostrils the breath of eternal life giving you a living soul.

I planted you in the garden in the east of Eden, a place of utter delight, a place bursting with life, nourishing food and luxuriant beauty. I created trees and in the center of the garden I placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

I put you in the garden to care for it and gave you one command. Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I wanted to spare you of its deadly effects. I wanted you to enjoy life to its fullest and not know the pains of evil and death.

I made a companion for you from your own flesh. Not subservient to you, but to stand beside you and complete you. The woman made from your flesh and bone became your perfect companion, a perfect partner. And for this reason, men will leave their fathers and mothers and unite with their wives throughout the ages and the two will become one flesh again.

Families will be the cornerstone of great societies for all time. Families are the bedrock of community. I invite you to join my family as we walk and talk together.

Ready – Genesis 2:4-25
Set – Genesis 2; Luke 1:26-66
Go – Genesis 1-2; Luke 1

Genesis 2:4-24
Adam and Eve
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth[a] and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams[b] came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed a man[c] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin[d] and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.[e] 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

19 Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam[f] no suitable helper was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs[g] and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib[h] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

23 The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.