Jason Sneed Foundation Verses

Foundation Verse #5 – Isaiah 30:15

Let’s do a quick review of what we have covered over the past four weeks:

  1. Foundation Verse #1 – Genesis 1:1
  2. Foundation Verse #2 – Matthew 6:24
  3. Foundation Verse #3 – Proverbs 3:5
  4. Foundation Verse #4 – Psalm 1:6

QuietOur fifth foundation verse is found in Isaiah 30:15 – For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling,

This verse requires us to go back a little bit in this chapter for some content. We can see that God is talking to His people, the Jews. He is giving them a warning because they have become very rebellious. Instead of following after God, they have chosen to go in their own direction and follow after their own desires (wow, sounds a lot like today’s christians!).

The prophets tried to tell explain to them their sinful ways but the Jewish people did not want to hear anything about God. Because of their sinful ways, God allowed them to be overthrown. The people began to cry out that they needed to return to God alone.

This is where our foundation verses comes in. God was speaking to them and telling them that if you will return to me and rest in me, you will be saved (find safety).

The last part of the verses says, “…in quietness and in trust shall be your strength”. Too many times we hustle through our day without even stopping to listen to what God is saying to us. We need to be quiet and still before HIM. In that quiet and stillness, we can begin to trust Him more and more.

Are you being quiet in the presence of God? Are you trusting HIM?

Come, every soul by sin oppressed,
there’s mercy with the Lord;
and he will surely give you rest,
by trusting in his Word.

Only trust him, only trust him,
only trust him now.
He will save you, he will save you,
he will save you now.

Jason Sneed Foundation Verses

Foundation Verses #4 – Psalm 1:6

How are you doing on your foundation verses memorization? Hiding these words in our heart will help us in times of temptation or when we need an answer and don’t have our Bibles with us.

Today’s foundation verse comes from the book of Psalm – Psalm 1:6:

Righteous“For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish”

The book of Psalms begins with a stark contracts of pictures. One side we see the righteous man and the other we see the wicked. The Psalmist continues by painting a picture of a tree that is firmly “planted by streams of water”. The reason for this tree being so firmly planted is because “his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night”.

The Psalmist quickly does a 180 and shows us the other side. Verse 4 says,

The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

While the first half of this chapter focuses on the godly person, the second half focuses on the ungodly.

I would ask you today to look through God’s eyes at both of these people. The ungodly seem to be “have it all”, but from God’s stand point they are destined for judgement.

Don’t miss this: Warren Weirsbe says this about the word “know”:

The verb “knows” in verse 6 doesn’t mean that God is aware of them intellectually and has the godly on his mind. Rather, it means that God has chosen them and providentially watched over them and brought them finally to His glory. The word “know” is used, as in Amos 3:2, to mean “to choose, to enter into covenant relationship with, to be personally acquainted with”.

If you are a child of God know this, you are blessed! And with that blessing we need to be a blessing to others, especially to those who do not know Christ as their Savior.

Which direction are you going in today?

Jason Sneed Foundation Verses

Foundation Verse #2 – Matthew 6:24

Matthew-624-10-03-13“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Nothing like jumping into a verse like this on the second week of the foundation verses but what a verse it is!

Remember, God told us last week (Foundation Verse #1) that HE created everything and now HE is telling us that we have a choice. We have a choice to choose between HIM or money.

The word “serve” here indicates the work of a slave. Since a slave is the sole property of one master, he must give the master exclusive service. This verse is telling us that we are either going to be a slave to Jesus Christ or we are going to be a slave to money.

The last part of this verse is very, very clear – a person CAN NOT serve both God and money!

Materialism will do the following to a person:

  • Enslave the heart – Matthew 6:19-21
  • Enslave the mind – Matthew 6:22-23
  • Enslave the will – Matthew 6:24

It is important for us to not only look at this verse but look at the verses preceding this verse. These verses are talking about laying up treasures in heaven. Verse 21 tells us,

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also

Let me encourage you today to not place your trust (or your heart, mind or will) in money!

Charles Spurgeon said it like this:

God and the world will never agree, and however much we may attempt it, we shall never be able to serve both. Our danger is that in trying to gain money, or in the pursuit of any other object, we should put it out of its place, and allow it to get the mastery of our mind. Gain and godliness cannot both be masters of our souls: we can serve two, but not “two masters. ” You can live for this world, or live for the next; but to live equally for both is impossible. Where God reigns, the lust of gain must go.

Jason Sneed Foundation Verses

Foundation Verse #1 – Genesis 1:1

Today we begin our journey as we look to dig deeper into God’s Word and to lay a foundation of what we believe. In my last post about the Foundation Verses, I challenged you to join me and to memorize these verses so that we can do what I Peter 3:15 tells us to do –

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

So, are you ready? Here we go…

Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

genesis-1-1-bible-lock-screenIn the movie The Sound of Music, there is a song that many of us have heard before and I believe these words are true for our first foundation verse. The words of this song say,

Let’s start at the very beginning
A very good place to start
When you read you begin with A-B-C
When you sing you begin with do-re-mi

As we look at this verse, it is imperative that we “start at the beginning” and know Genesis 1:1. It was God that created everything – not man nor was it a “big band” – IT WAS GOD!

Hebrews 11:3 tells us,

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

I love that when God speaks – things happen!

Warren Weirsbe say the following about Genesis 1:1,

When you consider the acts of God recorded in Genesis 1:1, you can’t help but bow in reverent worship, for His creative acts reveal a God of power and wisdom whose word carries authority.

In the beginning, GOD!

Follow Up Verses: Psalm 33:9, Romans 4:17

Jason Sneed Foundation Verses

Foundation Verses

With the new year comes resolutions. Resolutions to do all kinds of things: exercise, lose weight, spend more time with family, eat less, save more money (or save money at all), be a better friend, father, mother, sister, brother or parent. While all of these are great and have their place, I started wondering how many of us made a resolution to be more grounded in God’s Word and know more about HIM?

Fighter VersesOver the past few years, I have had an app on my phone entitled Fighter Verses. (This is an app from Desiring God) I love this app because it is a great app for Bible memory. When we have God’s Word hid in our hearts, we can remember these verses when we are going through trials or temptations in our life. Not only is it a great app for Bible memory, it also gives a great list of foundation verses for children to learn. Children can not only hide God’s Word in their heart but they can become more grounded in His Word and know Him more.

I started thinking, if these verses are good for kids to know, how much more would it be for adults to know. These are verses that we should make the foundation for our faith. If we don’t know what we believe, how are we to reach this world for Christ?

Because of this, I am going to go through this list of foundations verses over the next year. I will cover one foundation verse each week. I would love for you to join me on this journey as we look at these verses and make a resolution to dig deeper into God’s Word and get to know HIM better in 2015, all the while, memorizing these verses and hiding them in our hearts.

Are you ready? Be watching this blog next Monday for the first Foundation Verse!