The first commandment sets the stage for understanding Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac. God wanted to know: Would Abraham put Him first and have no other god?

Faith permitted Enoch, Noah, and Abraham to receive God's personal calling. Like our patriarchs, we were called while we lived in the wicked world.

God's calling is personal and individual rather than general, opening otherwise closed minds, replacing spiritual blindness with spiritual understanding.

Faith is simple in concept; it is believing what God says. Yet it is difficult to display in our lives, and it is often tested. Here is some evidence of faith.

Abraham is the only biblical character singled out as a type of God the Father. He is also the only one to be called 'friend of God,' and is a good model.

Abraham's resolute intent to sacrifice Isaac displayed his unreserved devotion to God's purpose for him. We must display the same kind of tenacity.

Based on his long friendship with God, Abraham could systematically calculate the reliability of God's promises even in the lack of visual evidence.

We learn from Abraham's experience to trust God even when we have incomplete information. When we attempt to take the expedient way out, we will run into trouble.

Using assumptions, some have concocted some nine conflicting calendars. The preservation of the oracles has not been entrusted to the church but to the Jews.

Far from being blind, faith is based on analyzing, comparing, adding up from evidence in God's Word, our own experience, and our calling by God's Holy Spirit.

The love of Abraham for Isaac serves as an emblem for the love of the Father for His Son and for all the children of Adam and Eve.

Abraham embodied living by faith. Through perpetually living in a tent, he demonstrated his complete trust and reliance upon God.

Faithfulness in a person ultimately rests on his or her trust in God, and if a person is going to be faithful, its because he or she believes what God says.

Abraham was willing to lay down his life to rescue his nephew Lot. His sacrifice shows us what kind of effort and sacrifice is needed to wage spiritual war.

The story of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac encourages God's people that they need never doubt God commitment and ability to give them everything they need.

The constant tests to which God submits His people enable them to build character by responding in faith. God perfected Abraham's faith through difficult trials.

We must turn from our own gossamer righteousness to God's solid righteousness, accepting a higher standard than the rest of society.

'Grace' is a term that represents God's awesome generosity toward us, His continuously flowing blessings and saving acts. It goes beyond just forgiveness.

The scattering of the church was God-ordained, providing a test for godliness. The isolating demonstrated by some groups is an abomination and an affront.

Not all waiting is actually waiting on God. We might convince ourselves that we are waiting on God, when He is really waiting for us to move forward.

God based the promises He gave to His friend Abraham on the patriarch's proclivity to believe Him even when he had only partial (and disturbing) information.

The virtue of love gets the most attention, yet the life of Abraham illustrates how foundational faith—belief and trust in God—is to love and salvation.

The seven 'I will' promises Got made to Abraham were truly foundational promises, impacting the lives of multiple billions of people up to the present day.

Far more than on any other hero of faith, Hebrews concentrates on Abraham as the father of the faithful, the Bible's premier example of walking with God.

Jesus and Abraham rose above their emotional pulls by exercising living faith—a faith built on acts of obedience. Faith can never be separated from works.

Abraham, the father of the faithful, did not have a blind faith; it was based upon observation of God's proven track record of faithfulness.

Americans (like most of the Western world) tend to be skeptical, cynical, and jaded, demanding mountains of evidence before becoming convinced of anything.

A spiritual Israelite undergoes a metamorphosis in which his own self-centered will is broken so that God's creative work can be completed within him.

Imagination, coupled by the power of the Holy Spirit, helps us to understand the power and reality of the invisible. Faith as a concept is immaterial.

The promise given to Abraham was actually the Gospel, extending God's blessing to his family and all the nations — eternal promises of land and people.

The name Isaac—'laughter'—suggests his optimistic disposition, someone not afflicted by fear and doubt. Isaac serves as a type of Christ, honoring his father.

Trials define who we are by placing choices before us, forcing us to have faith in God. Character is built by making right, though difficult, choices.

As a biblical motif, the third day indicates a colossal turn-around from hopelessness to victory. The third day revival motif recurs throughout Scripture.

The New Covenant, which writes God's law onto the heart, in no way does away with any aspect of the law. Works do not justify us, they sanctify us.

Contrary to Dominion Theology, the Parables of the Mustard Seed and Leaven are not about the church but describe the history and condition of Israel.

We must emulate Christ, who learned through suffering, preparing Himself for His role as High Priest. Giving in alienates us from the fellowship with God.

God wants us to take our salvation seriously, walking in love, light, and wisdom, attaining the know-how to work out our own salvation, redeeming the time.

Selfishness in any form turns Christianity on its head, making a mockery of the many sacrifices that form its foundation and the grace of God that makes it possible.

The timing of Christ's crucifixion does not coincide with the Passover, but instead lines up with the covenant God made with Abraham, marking a major fulfillment.

Real saving faith is a gift from God, but we are obligated to walk by this faith, developing incremental levels of faith through obedience.

Like Jesus and other heroes of faith, we need to look beyond the present to the long term effects of the trials and tests we go though, seeing their value.

When people allow fear to rule them, they lose their mind. Fear of God, however, is not mind killing, but inspires a reverential awe of the Creator.

In 2018, what is known as 'the ultimate storm,' whose 155 MPH winds generated waves 80 feet high, failed to scuttle a small boat out of New Zealand, Tonga.

Faith from God will be required to endure and profit from trials, bringing about character and genuineness of faith, as well as patience and trust in God.

The Kingdom of God is our goal, and our vision of what it means gives us compelling motivation to overcome, grow, and bear fruit in preparation for eternal life.

Commitment to a course of action is essential for physical or spiritual success. Faith motivates and sustains right action, protecting us from wavering.

Vision is a picture in the mind's eye that is undergirded by faith and scriptural revelation, enabling one to anticipate events that have not yet occurred.

Christ will empower us, but will not live our lives for us. The marching orders for our pilgrimage derive from God's Word, containing His holy law.

The work of God does not always stay the same, continually shifting media, techniques, and approaches, similar to the Israelites following the Cloud.

The dwelling in booths and the sacrifices were the context for rejoicing at the Feast of Tabernacles. The booths depict our current lives as pilgrims.