Ashes to Fire #5

3. 1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from
your country, your people and your father’s
household to the land I will show you. 2 “I
will make you into a great nation, and I will
bless you; I will make your name
great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will
bless those who bless you, and whoever
curses you I will curse; and all peoples on
earth will be blessed through you.”

4. 6Abram traveled through the land as far as
the site of the great tree of Moreh at
Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were
in the land. 7The LORD appeared to Abram
and said, “To your offspring [seed] I will
give this land.”

6. 18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and
so became the father of many nations, just as it had
been said to him, “So shall your offspring
be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the
fact that his body was as good as dead—since he
was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s
womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver
through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but
was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to
God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to
do what he had promised.

7. 17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him,
offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had
embraced the promises was about to sacrifice
his one and only son, 18 even though God had
said to him, “It is through Isaac that your
offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham
reasoned that God could even raise the dead,
and so in a manner of speaking he did receive
Isaac back from death.

8. 16Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so
that it may be by grace and may be
guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not
only to those who are of the law but also to
those who have the faith of Abraham. He is
the father of us all. 17 As it is written: “I have
made you a father of many nations.” He is our
father in the sight of God, in whom he
believed—the God who gives life to the dead
and calls into being things that were not.

9. 16I will make your seed like the dust of the
earth, so that if anyone could count the dust,
then your seed could be counted.

18. 11 But when Christ came as high priest of the
good things that are now already here, he
went through the greater and more perfect
tabernacle that is not made with human
hands, that is to say, is not a part of this
creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the
blood of goats and calves; but he entered the
Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood,
thus obtaining eternal redemption.

19. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes
of a heifer sprinkled on those who are
ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that
they are outwardly clean.14 How much more,
then, will the blood of Christ, who through the
eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to
God, cleanse our consciences from acts that
lead to death, so that we may serve
the living God!

20. 13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover,
Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts
he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and
others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he
made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the
temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered
the coins of the money changers and overturned
their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get
these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house
into a market!”

21. 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal
for your house will consume me.”
18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can
you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I
will raise it again in three days.”
20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build
this temple, and you are going to raise it in three
days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of
was his body.

23. 14For he himself is our peace, who has made
the two groups one and has destroyed the
barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.

25. 23Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the
Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell
you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the
ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.
But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

26. 16Don’t you know that you yourselves are
God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in
your midst?

27. 25Anyone who loves their life will lose it,
while anyone who hates their life in this world
will keep it for eternal life.

28. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me;

29. • and where I am, my servant also will be.
My Father will honor the one who serves me.

30. 26So in Christ Jesus you are all children of
God through faith, 27 for all of you who were
baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves
with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile,
neither slave nor free, nor is there male and
female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If
you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s
seed, and heirs according to the promise.