Category: Shalom Talk

Romans 15:13- May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

C. E. Leftwhich

1890

1 All around is bright and fair,
While we work for Jesus;
Joy and peace are everywhere,
While we work for Jesus.

Refrain:
Come, O come, this cheerful, happy day;
Come, O come, to Sunday School away.

2 Every face with pleasure beams,
While we work for Jesus;
Every heart with rapture teems,
While we work for Jesus. [Refrain]

3 Nearer seem the realms above,
While we work for Jesus;
Dearer seems our Saviour’s love,
While we work for Jesus. [Refrain]

Once there was a man named Abram.  One day the Lord came to talk to Abram, and Abram asked, “Who will have all my things when I die”. 

God promised Abram and his wife Sarai that one day they would be parents, even though they were old and had no children.

God wasn’t sure that Abram understood.  So that night He took him outside, and said, “Do you see all the stars that are in the sky”?  When Abram looked up, the whole night sky was full of stars,  so many in fact that he would never be able to count them.  Then God said, “That is how many children you will have”.

Quite a few years later when Abram was ninety-nine years old (older than even your grandparents)  the Lord decided to change Abram’s name to Abraham, which means “father of many.”  He also changed Sarai’s name to Sarah.

God told them again that they would be parents and that they would have a boy.  This time Abraham laughed so hard he fell on his face!  It was hard to believe that he and Sarah would have a child in their old age.

One day three visitors came to Abraham’s house.  He hurried to meet them.  “May I get you something to eat and drink?”  Abraham asked.  “Please come in and join us, and have a rest on the couch.”

The visitors agreed, so Abraham brought them some fresh bread, milk, and hamburgers.

While the visitors were eating, they asked Abraham, “Where is your wife Sarah?”  Abraham thought this was a little  strange, but he replied, “She’s in the other room”.

Then one of the men spoke and said, “I will come back to see you at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

Now Sarah was listening behind the living room door.  She started to laugh, but covered her mouth and laughed to herself because she didn’t want to be heard.  Then she said to herself, “How can I have a child, I’m almost one hundred years old?”

Later when the visitors had left,  Abraham and Sarah realized that the man who had told them this was indeed God.

A year later Sarah did have a son.  She and Abraham named him Isaac, which means “he laughs.”  

They were very excited, and remembered to thank God for Isaac.

“There is no peace like the peace of those whose minds are possessed with full assurance that they have known God, and God has known them, and that this relationship guarantees God’s favor to them in life, through death and on forever.”  — a quote from JI Packer