“And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.”  Mark 11:13 (ESV).

My name is Abraham Hamilton, III and this is The Hamilton Corner.

From a distance, the fig leaves gave Jesus the impression that there was fruit on the tree.  Upon closer inspection, the tree was fruitless.

Perfect church attendance and ministry activity cannot replace actual Christ-like fruit produced in our lives.

From a distance, it can appear as though we’re bearing fruit but what would we find with a closer look?

Are we content with fruitful appearance or do we yearn for the real thing?

“Then Elisha prayed and said, 'O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see…'”  Excerpt from 2 Kings 6:17 (ESV)

My name is Abraham Hamilton, III and this is The Hamilton Corner.

One morning, Elisha’s young servant went out first thing and saw the Syrian army surrounding Elisha’s home town. The servant was racked with fear and cried out to Elisha, “What will we do?” Elisha said, “Don’t be afraid.  There are more with us than are with them.”  Then Elisha prayed, "LORD, open this young man’s eyes.” The servant then saw mountain full of horses and chariots of fire!

As opposition mounts in our lives, fear not, the LORD - who is in us and with us - is greater than the hostility present in the world.

"Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”  John 15:2

No one likes to suffer difficult circumstances.  In this era of easy believe-ism it's often conveyed, “If life isn’t always smooth we’re doing something wrong.”

The Scripture teaches us, however, that our LORD often meets fruitful branches with additional pruning.  The pruning is not punishment.  Its actually to make us even more fruitful.

If you’re in a rough spot right now, take heart.  What may feel like the squeeze to end all squeezes could very well be the LORD’s pruning for additional fruitfulness.

When the LORD prunes us He does so for our good.

"By mercy and truth iniquity is purged; and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.” Proverbs 16:6 (KJV).

My name is Abraham Hamilton III and this is the Hamilton Minute.

We live in a day when churches are filled with people ready to hear and receive God’s mercy. Unfortunately, however, it is often accompanied by a de-emphasis or concealment of the truth of God’s Word.

Paul, the salvation-by-grace-through-faith Apostle, was asked if salvation is solely a product of grace what benefit then does the law provide. Paul responded, “Without the law, I wouldn’t have known God’s righteous standard and how far away from it I was.”

Any presentation of God’s mercy absent of God’s truth is no Gospel at all.

Iniquity is purged by mercy and truth.

Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Psalm 119:89 (ESV)

My name is Abraham Hamilton III, and this is the Hamilton Minute.

The American republic was founded on the principle that rights are given to us by God, not man.  As a result, men nor government can take them away. That’s why our Declaration of Independence refers to our rights as inalienable rights.

Government’s role then is to protect the rights that God has given to us.

The first freedom listed in the bill of rights, which government is entrusted to protect, is religious liberty.  The founders did this because they know that free exercise of religion is the fulcrum for all liberty.

Wherever the flame of religious liberty is extinguished, all liberty is imperiled.

"Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.' This is a desert place” Acts 8:26.

My name is Abraham Hamilton, III and this is The Hamilton Minute.

At the height of a Holy Spirit outpouring in Samaria, where the Gospel was being preached with great power and droves of people were converting to follow Christ, the LORD instructed Philip to leave Samaria and head south to Gaza.

Philip didn’t know a divine appointment awaited him.

Through his ministry to the Ethiopian Eunuch, the Gospel would spread to Africa.

He left the crowd. To serve one.

I call this step down faith. It's easy to step up for the attention and applause of the masses, but do we have step down faith?

“You will know them by their fruits.”  Matthew 7:16(a) (NASB).

My name is Abraham Hamilton, III and this is The Hamilton Minute.

Russia is building a 764-mile undersea pipeline to Germany called Nord Stream 2. The U.S. is opposed to this pipeline. Former President Trump and Congress sanctioned ships involved in its construction.

As recently as March 18, 2021 Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said,

Nord Stream 2 is a bad deal — for Germany, for Ukraine, and for our Central and Eastern European allies and partners.

So, why is Mr. J. Robinette Biden now waiving sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 and its Putin-allied CEO, giving the green light to the pipeline?

No XL Pipeline for the U.S., but a Russian pipeline to Germany is just fine.

“But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.”  James 2:9 (NASB).

My name is Abraham Hamilton, III and this is The Hamilton Minute.

As part of its “long journey toward becoming an anti-racist organization,” Bethany Christian Services now believes allowing less melanated families to adopt minority children from the foster system “can cause a lot of harm.”

As a result, Bethany now favors “overhauling” the Multi-Ethnic Placement Act, which bars skin color based discrimination in placing a child into an adoptive family.

Bethany should remove the word Christian from its name because there’s nothing Christ-like in allowing children to languish in the system solely because they require a forever family to have the right skin color.

“You shall not steal.”  Exodus 20:15 (NASB).

My name is Abraham Hamilton, III and this is The Hamilton Minute.

The J. Robinette Biden administration has proposed a new $1.8 trillion so-called “infrastructure” spending package. They plan to make a massive increase in enforcement at the IRS a central component of this new spending plan.

How do they plan to do it? Increase the IRS budget to beef up the number of agents and new tools and technology at the IRS to increase collections and audits of American citizens to bolster the government’s financial coffers.

That’s it. That’s the plan. Tax like crazy. Spend like crazy. Redistribute like crazy.

We are witnessing the establishment of the American politburo, complete with an expanding taxation collection force.

“Marriage is to be held in honor among all.”  Hebrews 13:4(a) (NASB).

My name is Abraham Hamilton, III and this is The Hamilton Minute.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has announced that he and Melinda Gates are getting a divorce. The revelation comes after news reports revealed that Bill Gates has spent long weekends together with his former girlfriend, Ann Winblad, at her beach house in North Carolina for decades.

These same reports indicate that Melinda Gates approved of this private vacation time. The thing that was apparently too much for Melinda Gates was the revelation of Bill’s cozy relationship with Jeffery Epstein.

God designed marriage as a holy institution that reflects the relationship between Christ and His Church.

Marriage is one man and one woman. For Life.

“When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.”  Proverbs 29:2 (ESV).

My name is Abraham Hamilton, III and this is The Hamilton Minute.

House Republicans ousted Liz Chaney from the GOP Conference Chair position and voted 134-46 to replace her with New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik. In doing, so they chose Stefanik over Representative Chip Roy of Texas.

As Conference Chair, Stefanik will have control of the party purse strings to roll out money to get Republicans she favors elected to Congress. The problem here is that policy wise Stefanik is just as much of RINO as Cheney, maybe even more.

The election was more about Trump loyalty than constitutionalism. In bypassing Roy, the GOP seems uninterested in conservatism.

“And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them.”  Isaiah 3:4 (ESV).

My name is Abraham Hamilton, III and this is The Hamilton Minute.

Over 120 of our nations retired Generals and Admirals penned an open letter in which they said,

We are in a fight for our survival as a Constitutional Republic like no other time since our founding in 1776. The conflict is between supporters of Socialism and Marxism vs. supporters of Constitutional freedom and liberty.

They also said,

Under a Democrat Congress and the Current Administration, our Country has taken a hard left turn toward Socialism and a Marxist form of tyrannical government which must be countered… The survival of our Nation… and liberty… are at stake.

Will our nation listen?

“When the wicked rule, the people groan.”  Proverbs 29:2(b) (ESV).

My name is Abraham Hamilton, III and this is The Hamilton Minute.

Only 120 some odd days into the Mr. J. Robinette Biden administration, and it’s looking like the return of the Jimmy Carter days as the world is on fire… almost over night. Filling stations with no gas up and down the east coast, 178,622 illegal aliens tried to cross our southern border in April—a two decade high, in Israel Arab terrorists are on the verge of “full scale war,” prices are skyrocketing, inflation is shooting fear through the market… and… where is Mr. Biden.

From basement campaigning to the basement president?

There’s a new condition percolating through America. It’s called Biden regret.

My name is Abraham Hamilton III and this is the Hamilton Minute.

The day of Pentecost concluded with 3000 converts being added to the initial body of 120 believers.  Then that 3120 spent time together daily going to the temple and interacting in each other’s homes. They devoted themselves continually to the apostle’s teaching, fellowship, sharing meals together and praying together.

The 3120 that made up the early church came from Turkey, the middle east and Africa, and included Arabs and Romans.  In addition to the geographic and ethnic diversity, they also spoke different languages.  Yet they were made one family in Christ Jesus.

Scripture has the answer to the issues we face today.

"And Moses said, ‘I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned’” Exodus 3:3.

My name is Abraham Hamilton, III and this is The Hamilton Minute.

In the burning bush encounter Scripture records that it began as Moses kept Jethro’s flock Exodus 3:1.

“When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, 'Moses, Moses!' And he said, 'Here I am'" Exodus 3:4.

Notice, God didn’t speak to Moses until He gave full attention to what God was trying to show him.

Diligent attention to daily duty is necessary.  We must be careful, however, not to allow duty to become an idol.  Are our hearts still sensitive to God? Can God still get our attention?

For just as the body is one and has many members and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For the body does not consist of one member but of many 1 Corinthians 12:12, 14 (ESV).

My name is Abraham Hamilton, III and this is The Hamilton Minute.

Look briefly at one of your fingers. You’ve just witnessed one of the greatest displays of God’s creative intent there is. No other person in all the world, even an identical twin, shares your fingerprint.

God specifically designed each of us to be unique. That means we shouldn’t try to carbon copy anyone else in the Christian faith.

If God made you an arm in His body or a kneecap, praise be to our glorious God for drawing us to become a part of His body.

How freeing it is to realize that we were never meant to copy anyone-but Jesus.

“Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward” Hebrews 10:35 (ESV).

My name is Abraham Hamilton, III and this is The Hamilton Minute.

Sometimes there’s a delay between crying out to God in prayer and seeing those prayers answered.

It is imperative for us in those times that we don’t waver in our confidence in our God.

The next verse goes on to say, “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.” Hebrews 10:36 (ESV).

You see, the delay between supplication and delivered answer is one of the ways God develops endurance in us.

He desires that the roots of our faith grow down deep, that we become trees planted by rivers of living water … steadfast, immovable, always abounding in His work. In this we grow beyond superficial Christianity.

Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?”

My name is Abraham Hamilton, III and this is The Hamilton Minute.

At the climax of the account when Jesus restored Peter’s personal relationship with him, and Peter’s call to ministry, He saw John following them.

Jesus had just predicted that Peter would give his life for the Gospel, when Peter said, “What about John, LORD?”

Jesus responded, “What does he have to do with your calling? You follow me.”

With those words, Jesus hit a consistent flaw of the human condition.  We derive value and self-worth by comparing ourselves to other people.

Your ups, your downs, your failures, your victories were never meant to be compared to other people.

We have been called to serve an audience of One. The only approval you need is His.

“When the wicked increase, transgression increases.”  Proverbs 29:16(a) (NASB).

My name is Abraham Hamilton, III and this is The Hamilton Minute.

California's Secretary of State has announced that the requisite threshold number of verified signatures needed to place a recall initiative on the ballot in California has now been satisfied.

After imposing draconian Covid—related measures upon Californians, his treatment of churches like Grace Community Church in Los Angeles and North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara, which pleaded for Newsom to relent after being fined thousands of dollars for meeting in their building, all while he dined publicly, and mask-free, in expensive Napa Valley restaurants like the French Laundry, Californians have had enough!

Gavin Newsom may become next CA governor recalled from office.

“Darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples.”  Isaiah 60:2 (NASB).

My name is Abraham Hamilton, III and this is The Hamilton Minute.

In his response to Mr. J. Robinette Biden’s joint congressional address, Senator Tim Scott highlighted his own experience with discrimination, expressed a need for common ground on discussions of race in America, referred to America’s terrible history on racism, and stated directly that our journey toward [racial] healing is not finished. He also he stated, in light of our national progress, that America is not a racist country.

The entire world of regressivism descended upon en masse because of that statement.

The very next day Vice-President Kamala Harris said America is not racist country.

Regressives continue to excoriate Senator Scott. Kamala Harris… not so much.