Here are some Apostolic passages to study alongside Parsha #miketz ("At the end", #genesis 41:1-44:17), plus links to related commentary and videos: https://www.americantorah.com/....2021/04/27/parsha-mi

This is an in-depth study on the rise and fall of civilizations from a biblical perspective. Key points:
• The time it takes for societies to fall is a lot longer than we think.
• The timeline between Adam and the flood is about 1600 years.
• The United States is a metaphor for Israel and a wicked nation simultaneously.
• Specifically, how the New Testament shifted the focus from a singular nation back to a global effort of salvation similar to the pre-flood era.
• Very specific instances of falling away in the present day and why it is so difficult to get people to repent today.

https://firstcenturychristiani....ty.net/tribulation-t

On this date in history, 12/10/1930: American poet, Emily Dickinson, is born in Amhurst, Massachusetts. #otd #tdih #literaryhistory

Here's our Sabbath sermon archive from yesterday: https://firstfruits.cc/blog/20....23/12/10/a-light-in-

Proverbs 4:27, “Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your feet away from evil.” Deuteronomy 28:14, “Do not turn aside to the right or to the left from any of the words I command you today, and do not go after other gods to serve them.” We often think of the narrow path that leads to finding the small gate. Isaiah describes it as a highway (Isaiah 35:8) possibly because there is much freedom to do good as we walk in the way of the Creator. Leaving the highway leads to doing evil in the eyes of the Creator.

Come see all I read in this November 2023 Wrap Up video!

Lily Portion for Today

Mothers, prayer is not a fruitless effort to try and change the will of Elohiym; it is a childlike desire to get to know YHVH’s will and to obey it. (Prayer: Thank You Abba, that we need only follow in true obedience wherever you lead us. Guide my family every step. Amein.)

It's that time of year again, folks! Where those of us who don't blindly follow the rituals everybody else does get called legalistic, LOL! Keep the trees outside and alive! Save the trees!

https://firstcenturychristiani....ty.net/bible-topics-

"Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you."

Jn 15

There is a temptation for people to confuse 'nature' (the wilderness) with nature music videos - which they watch wistfully on polished screens. If they actually set foot in the wilderness, there's a likelihood they would set their foot in dung.

Let's say you take a thousand pictures of the wilderness, just looking any which way; then pick out all the nice shots: the flower, the sunset, the silhouetted tree - and get rid of them. You've already seen those. All the 99.99% of the pictures - random shots into twigs and weeds and mud and dust - are equally wilderness, and 99.99% percent of it. No rule of thirds, no golden rectangle, no balanced or framed shots - the selection and composing of these is indeed man-made art, and what is man-made is not wilderness any more than a skyscraper.

Skyscrapers are a part of nature - the natural world, God's creation - as much as any ragged bird's nest. The fake idea of the wilderness being pristine and pretty has been used to fuel an arrogance of man-made prettiness and tidiness, and at the same time despising of things man-made as being not of God's creation.

Prettiness is not wrong - blanket despising of man-made things is wrong. And arrogance, whether on behalf of neatness and prettiness or any other reason, is deadly wrong. Neatness and polish are a gift of God - which, like wealth, must be rigorously kept in its place, because it is beset with temptations to evil against God.

Can God trust you with this gift?

#sabbathposts 2023/12/09