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Ron Bailey

Ron Bailey

Ron Bailey ( - )

Ron Bailey is the full-time curator of Bible Base. The first Christians were people who loved and respected the Jewish scriptures as their highest legacy, but were later willing to add a further 27 books to that legacy. We usually call the older scriptures ‘the Old Testament’ while we call this 27 book addition to the Jewish scriptures ‘the New Testament’. It is not the most accurate description but it shows how early Christians saw the contrast between the ‘Old’ and the ‘New’.

It has been my main life-work to read, and study and think about these ancient writings, and then to attempt to share my discoveries with others. I am never more content than when I have a quiet moment and an open Bible on my lap. For much of my life too I have been engaged in preaching and teaching the living truths of this book. This has given me a wide circle of friends in the UK and throughout the world. This website is really dedicated to them. They have encouraged and challenged and sometimes disagreed but I delight in this fellowship of Christ-honouring Bible lovers.

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Ron Bailey

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Abraham, My Friend The Making of a Praying Man Chapter Four: New Beginnings Melchizedek; time to sit and eat In our previous devotional we gave an overview of Abraham’s encounter with kings, confederates and a priest. We can take time now to think a little more about his remarkable meeting with that... Read More
Ron Bailey

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Abraham, My Friend The Making of a Praying Man Chapter Four: New Beginnings Melchizedek; revealer of God Last week we began to think about Abraham’s encounter with the priest Melchizedek and we began to ask our questions. Who was this man and why did his meeting with Abraham have such a profound eff... Read More
Ron Bailey

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Abraham, My Friend The Making of a Praying Man Chapter Four: New Beginnings The Lord hath need… We are meditating on Abraham's meeting with Melchizedek and have tried to identify some key elements of this encounter. We have seen authentic "communion" with God, a genuine priest’s power to bless in th... Read More
Ron Bailey

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Abraham, My Friend The Making of a Praying Man Chapter Four: New Beginnings and he believed in Jehovah… Genesis 15 contains one of the most important verses in the Bible. The verse becomes the basis for a major New Testament doctrine; justification by faith. It is sometimes said that Christianity ha... Read More
Ron Bailey

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Abraham, My Friend The Making of a Praying Man Chapter Four: New Beginnings the people of the God of Abraham “Sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings;” wrote William Cowper, “It is the Lord, Who rises with healing in His wings:” Sometimes the same light surprises the Christian while... Read More
Ron Bailey

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Abraham, My Friend The Making of a Praying Man Chapter Four: New Beginnings person-to-person Let’s gather up some fragments that remain from this account of Abraham’s faith. (New Readers to this column should be warned that the ‘fragments which remained’ ultimately proved to be more that the origina... Read More
Ron Bailey

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Chapter Four: New Beginnings particular responsibility and a look at the accounts This week’s devotional is a little more ‘technical’. We are going to see how Paul expounds Abraham’s experience. Please don’t be put off by that; these are vital truths which will more than repay your having to think a... Read More
Ron Bailey

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Abraham, My Friend The Making of a Praying Man Justice divine is satisfied How can God, at one and the same time, be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus? (Rom 3:26 KJV) That was the question we left hanging in the air in the previous devotional. There is a saying used in the UK w... Read More
Ron Bailey

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Abraham, My Friend The Making of a Praying Man Oh the blessednesses… Perhaps you think we are a little pre-occupied with this simple phrase; For what saith the scripture? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. (Rom 4:3 ASV) I hope not. Justification by faith is in ... Read More
Ron Bailey

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Abraham, My Friend The Making of a Praying Man from grace to grace Just a final catch-up as regards Abraham and justification by faith and then we will move on to later steps in his pilgrimage. The best exposition of the verse And he believed in Jehovah; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness. ... Read More
Ron Bailey

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Abraham, My Friend The Making of a Praying Man_31 The Seed - Part 1 As I promised we will now return to the narrative of Genesis 15. There is so much material in this chapter that it is easy to forget that the incidents that it records all took place within a 24 period. It is important, however, not... Read More
Ron Bailey

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Abraham, My Friend The Making of a Praying Man_32 The Seed Part 2 For me Bible study often begins with an ‘idea, or hunch, or revelation’. (Choose whichever you think most appropriate.) I then ‘destruction test’ the idea by thinking through parallel passages or passages which have the same idea or w... Read More
Ron Bailey

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Abraham, My Friend The Making of a Praying Man_33 ready, steady, wait It is amazing to see how often exhilarating mountain top experiences are followed by the testings in the valley. Paradise and Adam’s receiving of his wife is followed by his testing by Satan. David’s final conquest of his enemies ... Read More
Ron Bailey

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Abraham, My Friend The Making of a Praying Man_34 Abrahamic Perfection I want to say more about Genesis 16 but I think it will make more sense if we revisit later rather than try to look too far ahead. In essence, Ishmael was ‘fathered’ by ‘uncircumcised energy’. Such children can have long lives an... Read More
Ron Bailey

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A Covenant with Abraham I have opted for the title above very consciously. We often speak of the Abrahamic Covenant but this covenant was very narrow in its inception. Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said unto him… I will make my covenant between me and thee. (Gen17:1 KJV) This is not a general coven... Read More
Ron Bailey

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Why circumcision? I promised I would return to the account of the birth of Ishmael but I have been somewhat reluctant to start on this devotional, simply because of the propriety of the topic. In many ways the Bible is a very primitive book and issues which would not usually be discussed in mixed co... Read More
Ron Bailey

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Beware the Midianites In our last devotional we began to explore some of the implications of the ritual of circumcision and the continuing truths that are implied in the typology. Let’s recap briefly. Circumcision is a picture of ‘no confidence in the flesh’. It is the picture of ‘denying’ oneself a... Read More
Ron Bailey

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a long history of a moment (with apologies to Stephen Hawking) Let’s begin by reminding ourselves of the place that this personal covenant between God and Abraham has in the overall revelation of God’s purposes. This is something we need to do often with the scriptures. Events are often being worked... Read More
Ron Bailey

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the sitting, running, lying, standing man Some 38 devotionals ago, Greg asked me begin a serious of devotionals with the brief of covering some foundation issues. As the website has ‘prayer’ as a main focus I decided that I could combine both by a meditation on the preparation of Abraham as ‘a prayi... Read More
Ron Bailey

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they that wait upon the Lord And then after the sitting, running, lying, and working comes the standing; And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. (Gen 18:8 KJV) He is the servant here, waiting upon... Read More

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