Heb 3:7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
Heb 3:8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
Heb 3:9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
Heb 3:10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
Heb 3:11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
Heb 3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
Heb 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Tempting God. Tempting God is really disbelieving in God, isn't it?
When we tempt a person to do something it's the same as daring them to do it. Come on, we tell them, show me you can do this or that, I bet you can't do it so you have to show me you can. We try to get them to PROVE themselves. When something is proven to get someone to believe it in, the faith is gone.
We ask friends and family to trust us based on their knowledge of our love and care for them, trust that we will do nothing to hurt them. Time and again that trust is abused and people have learned not to trust, not to have faith in each other.
God isn't human and He called for people to trust in Him. People wanted proof. People wanted God to prove Himself to them rather than to prove themselves to God.
Heb 3:7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
Heb 3:8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
Heb 3:9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
Heb 3:10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
Heb 3:11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
Heb 3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
Heb 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness- when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
We can't make the same mistakes. Individually in our lives we can't tempt God, we can't ask God to prove Himself. To tempt God, to prove God is to grieve God. Having no faith in God will cost people so much- it will cost them eternal life.
What is an evil heart of unbelief departing from the living God? Lack of faith. Unbelief- no faith.
I've mentioned my favorite verse before and I'll use it again only this time including the whole passage-
Mar 9:14 And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them.
Mar 9:15 And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him.
Mar 9:16 And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them?
Mar 9:17 And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;
Mar 9:18 And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.
Mar 9:19 He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.
Mar 9:20 And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
Mar 9:21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
Mar 9:22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
Mar 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Mar 9:24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
Mar 9:25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
Mar 9:26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
Mar 9:27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.
Here is a desperate father who only wants his son healed, a son that had been afflicted since he was a child with a spirit that made him deaf, dumb, feel pain, foam at the mouth, gnash his teeth, all as he wastes away. How desperate this poor father was to have his son healed. He brought him to the disciples of Jesus, men that had power given to them by Jesus to heal and cast out evil spirits, yet the disciples could not help him. How devastating that had to be to the father. Then the master of the disciples arrives and this is his last hope to have his son healed. He tells the Lord about his son and Jesus answers by saying this--
'O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?'
Faithless!
Jesus said- IF THOU CANST BELIEVE ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE TO HIM THAT BELIEVETH.
The opposite is true isn't it? Nothing is possible to them that do not believe.
Our only hope is faith in our Savior. Our hope lies in NOT tempting God, in not asking God to prove Himself but rather believing without the proof. We have to believe, we can't be faithless! If we doubt our belief we have to pray as that father who desperately wanted his son to be healed-- with tears-- LORD, I BELIEVE HELP THOU MINE UNBELIEF.
Can you imagine the anguish, the desperate hope? Anyone who has faced having a loved one in pain, anyone who can comprehend the situation if they haven't experienced it, can put themselves in that father's position. A lot of people pray and tell God they'd do anything if only they'd help that loved one. This father told Jesus face to face, he believed and then said HELP THOU MINE UNBELIEF. Why? Why did he add that last bit? Help though mine unbelief? Because the least little bit of doubt might have been enough to stop Jesus from healing his son and that man understood and wanted nothing, not even the possibility of the slightest disbelief in himself to keep his son from being healed. The helplessness we have in saving ourselves is in this too, isn't it? Think about it. We have to believe! We can't tempt God, we can't ask Him to prove Himself, we must have faith.
Heb 3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
Heb 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Exhort one another daily…lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Sin is soooooo incredibly deceitful. More on that tomorrow though.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord may we have faith in Him, may we not tempt Him in any way. By His love now and forever!
Amen.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Forgiveness or Excuses?
Excerpt from Weight of Glory - "On Forgiveness" C.S. Lewis (Capitalization and paragraph separation -my emphasis)
'I find that when I think I am asking God to forgive me I am often in reality (unless I watch myself very carefully) asking Him to do something quite different. I am asking Him not to forgive me but to EXCUSE me. But there is all the difference in the world between forgiving and excusing.
Forgiveness says--
"Yes, you have done this thing, but I accept your apology; I will never hold it against you and everything between us two will be exactly as it was before. "
But excusing says--
"I see that you couldn't help it or didn't mean it; you weren't really to blame."
If one was not really to blame then there is nothing to forgive.
In that sense forgiveness and excusing are almost opposites.
Of course, in dozens of cases, either between God and man, or between one man and another, there may be a mixture of the two. Part of what seemed at first to be the sins turns out to be really nobody's fault and is excused; the bit that is left over is forgiven.
…. But the trouble is that what we call "asking God's forgiveness" very often really consists in asking God to ACCEPT our excuses.
What leads us into this mistake is the fact that there usually is some amount of excuse, some
"extenuating circumstances."
We are so very anxious to point these out to God (and to ourselves) that we are apt to FORGET the really important thing; that is, the bit left over, the bit which the excuses don't cover, the bit which is INEXCUSABLE but NOT, thank God, UNFORGIVEABLE . And if we forget this, we shall go away IMAGINING that we have repented and been forgiven when all that has really happened is that we have satisfied ourselves with our OWN EXCUSES. They may be very bad excuses; we are all too easily satisfied about ourselves. '
*******
Imagining we have repented and been forgiven when all that has really happened is that we have satisfied ourselves with our own excuses.
Come on, admit it there is truth in what Mr. Lewis is saying here, a lot of truth.
Isa 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Do you imagine those who believe their evil is good- truly imagine it evil? People are deceived all the time. There is so much sin today that is acceptable to mankind that is unacceptable to God and has been since forever. We've drawn a sin cloak around our lives that hides the sins in our lives so that we can feel good about ourselves and not worry that we might be sinning. We EXCUSE our sins. We make excuses all the time. If only *this* wasn't like *this* then I wouldn't do *this*. If only I lived in a monastery I wouldn't have all these temptations around me. If only Soandso didn't do this or that, I wouldn't do this and that. It's horrible but we do it all the time and we've begun to do it on a subconscious level too. We tell ourselves- God understands. Haven't you done that before? Truthfully, haven't you thought those words before? Why do we do this? We do it because we believe if we don't then we'll NEVER have any hope of being God's. We call it giving ourselves hope. Am I excusing it? NO! I'm naming it. It's a FALSE hope, but we grasp onto it and hold it tightly in this tornado of sin whirling about our lives. Wouldn't it be better if we let go of false hope and released ourselves into the reality of the sin in our lives and TRUST in our LORD to save us. We have to stop trusting in ourselves to save ourselves. Our hope can't be in our goodness, but in HIS. We have to truly start looking at the sin in our lives as the deadly poison it is. Only when we stop making excuses will we be able to seek true forgiveness. Lay it all on the table as the saying goes. Put it all out there without any excuses and seek to repent and ask for the only path to true life we have- forgiveness from our Savior. Our Savior seeing us covered in vile, poisonous, deadly sins and choosing to give us forgiveness because we know only HE can save us, His blood covers our sins. We don't cover our sins, He covers them in His blood. We need the poison covered by the anti-venom of Christ's holy blood.
It's not easy to take stock in our lives. It's not easy at all. Not easy but a necessity.
May God help us all. We live in a world where satan and all his helpers are more than willing to give us delusions of ourselves. Please Lord, help us remove the blinders to the sin in our lives. Help us precious Savior to keep from excusing the sin in our lives. We throw ourselves at your merciful feet. Bless us Lord, please…bless us.
By Your Grace!
Amen.
'I find that when I think I am asking God to forgive me I am often in reality (unless I watch myself very carefully) asking Him to do something quite different. I am asking Him not to forgive me but to EXCUSE me. But there is all the difference in the world between forgiving and excusing.
Forgiveness says--
"Yes, you have done this thing, but I accept your apology; I will never hold it against you and everything between us two will be exactly as it was before. "
But excusing says--
"I see that you couldn't help it or didn't mean it; you weren't really to blame."
If one was not really to blame then there is nothing to forgive.
In that sense forgiveness and excusing are almost opposites.
Of course, in dozens of cases, either between God and man, or between one man and another, there may be a mixture of the two. Part of what seemed at first to be the sins turns out to be really nobody's fault and is excused; the bit that is left over is forgiven.
…. But the trouble is that what we call "asking God's forgiveness" very often really consists in asking God to ACCEPT our excuses.
What leads us into this mistake is the fact that there usually is some amount of excuse, some
"extenuating circumstances."
We are so very anxious to point these out to God (and to ourselves) that we are apt to FORGET the really important thing; that is, the bit left over, the bit which the excuses don't cover, the bit which is INEXCUSABLE but NOT, thank God, UNFORGIVEABLE . And if we forget this, we shall go away IMAGINING that we have repented and been forgiven when all that has really happened is that we have satisfied ourselves with our OWN EXCUSES. They may be very bad excuses; we are all too easily satisfied about ourselves. '
*******
Imagining we have repented and been forgiven when all that has really happened is that we have satisfied ourselves with our own excuses.
Come on, admit it there is truth in what Mr. Lewis is saying here, a lot of truth.
Isa 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Do you imagine those who believe their evil is good- truly imagine it evil? People are deceived all the time. There is so much sin today that is acceptable to mankind that is unacceptable to God and has been since forever. We've drawn a sin cloak around our lives that hides the sins in our lives so that we can feel good about ourselves and not worry that we might be sinning. We EXCUSE our sins. We make excuses all the time. If only *this* wasn't like *this* then I wouldn't do *this*. If only I lived in a monastery I wouldn't have all these temptations around me. If only Soandso didn't do this or that, I wouldn't do this and that. It's horrible but we do it all the time and we've begun to do it on a subconscious level too. We tell ourselves- God understands. Haven't you done that before? Truthfully, haven't you thought those words before? Why do we do this? We do it because we believe if we don't then we'll NEVER have any hope of being God's. We call it giving ourselves hope. Am I excusing it? NO! I'm naming it. It's a FALSE hope, but we grasp onto it and hold it tightly in this tornado of sin whirling about our lives. Wouldn't it be better if we let go of false hope and released ourselves into the reality of the sin in our lives and TRUST in our LORD to save us. We have to stop trusting in ourselves to save ourselves. Our hope can't be in our goodness, but in HIS. We have to truly start looking at the sin in our lives as the deadly poison it is. Only when we stop making excuses will we be able to seek true forgiveness. Lay it all on the table as the saying goes. Put it all out there without any excuses and seek to repent and ask for the only path to true life we have- forgiveness from our Savior. Our Savior seeing us covered in vile, poisonous, deadly sins and choosing to give us forgiveness because we know only HE can save us, His blood covers our sins. We don't cover our sins, He covers them in His blood. We need the poison covered by the anti-venom of Christ's holy blood.
It's not easy to take stock in our lives. It's not easy at all. Not easy but a necessity.
May God help us all. We live in a world where satan and all his helpers are more than willing to give us delusions of ourselves. Please Lord, help us remove the blinders to the sin in our lives. Help us precious Savior to keep from excusing the sin in our lives. We throw ourselves at your merciful feet. Bless us Lord, please…bless us.
By Your Grace!
Amen.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Partakers of the heavenly callng
Heb 3:1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;
Partakers of the heavenly calling--- US.
We are partakers of the heavenly calling. You and I are partakers if we choose to seek eternal life and not be of this world. The heavenly calling is salvation though Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. We need to consider the APOSTLE and HIGH PRIEST of our profession- Christ Jesus.
Consider.
Consider
CONSIDER, v.t. [L., to consider, to view attentively, to sit by; to sit. See Sit. The literal sense is, to sit by or close, or to set the mind or the eye to; hence, to view or examine with attention.]
1. To fix the mind on, with a view to a careful examination; to think on with care; to ponder; to study; to meditate on.
We have to fix our mind on our Savior.
We have to carefully examine our Savior.
We have to think on our Savior.
We have to ponder our Savior.
We have to meditate on our Savior.
All those things will have us considering our Savior. We can't just give him a cursory examination from time to time. We can't box Him into five minutes here, a half hour there, an hour whenever. We have to have Him a part of ALL we do, not just some of what we do. We can't set our Savior aside or tell Him to close His eyes and turn around for a bit when we want to do something sinful. When we sit down to watch our favorite tv show He needs to be on our mind- not put in a corner while we get our laughs in.
Heb 3:1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;
Heb 3:2 Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.
Our Savior- who was faithful to HIM that appointed HIM. Faithful to His Father. Isn't that beautiful? He was faithful to His Father in all that He did.
Another who was faithful was Moses. But our Savior was MORE worthy of glory than the faithful Moses. When people have leaders and those leaders lead well they tend to revere them, they tend to give them honor and respect for being such great leaders. Moses was a great leader, by the power of God he set free God's people and led them to the promised land- being used of God to reveal the ways of God to man- God's laws, the Sanctuary service and much more. It's no surprise that Moses is consider a great man, a faithful man. But as great as Moses was, Jesus was much, much greater. To say that there is a man more worthy than Moses to those who hold Moses to be their greatest leader is saying a lot!
We have in our more modern history some great leaders- Washington, Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr. -- these are men that have impacted history and we've set them us as being worthy of remembrance. If was say this man is greater than Lincoln ever was, that's saying a lot. If someone comes along and people say he's greater than Martin Luther King Jr. instantly we understand that this newcomer has to be amazing.
Our Lord and Savior is worthy of more honor than Moses- worth more immeasurably.
Heb 3:3 For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.
Heb 3:4 For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.
God built ALL THINGS. You cannot be greater than that, you can't. You cannot be more worthy.
Heb 3:5 And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;
Heb 3:6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
We are of Christ's house, He is Son over His house, He is ruler over us, caretaker over us, as any head of household Christ reigns over us IF WE LET HIM! We are in His house willingly, not as underage children forced to live in a household good or bad. We aren't kept in Christ by force. We are not hostages to Him. People come and go all the time, but it's best to remain in HIM- HOLD FAST in Him. The Bible tells us to hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the HOPE firm unto the end. Christ is our hope, our ONLY hope.
I was talking with someone the other day who suffers with chronic pain and they mentioned how death would be preferable to the pain (no they aren't suicidal). The subject of death and the life after death had come up and so on. We talked for a bit and what we fail to realize a lot of time is the fact that our lives here are so temporary, so short. Even if we live till 100 it's short compared to eternity. All the pain we feel now can consume us, can ruin us. This temporary life can ruin us and WILL ruin us if satan has his way. Satan stops at NOTHING to ruin us- if it's not one thing it's another, if it's not with bad things he'll use good things- yes, satan uses good things as well as bad to entrap us. Our only hope is in Christ, remaining firmly in Christ with all our confidence and hope in Him.
We are Christ's house-- IF we hold fast.
IF.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord we will Hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope in CHRIST! Firm unto the end.
Amen.
Partakers of the heavenly calling--- US.
We are partakers of the heavenly calling. You and I are partakers if we choose to seek eternal life and not be of this world. The heavenly calling is salvation though Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. We need to consider the APOSTLE and HIGH PRIEST of our profession- Christ Jesus.
Consider.
Consider
CONSIDER, v.t. [L., to consider, to view attentively, to sit by; to sit. See Sit. The literal sense is, to sit by or close, or to set the mind or the eye to; hence, to view or examine with attention.]
1. To fix the mind on, with a view to a careful examination; to think on with care; to ponder; to study; to meditate on.
We have to fix our mind on our Savior.
We have to carefully examine our Savior.
We have to think on our Savior.
We have to ponder our Savior.
We have to meditate on our Savior.
All those things will have us considering our Savior. We can't just give him a cursory examination from time to time. We can't box Him into five minutes here, a half hour there, an hour whenever. We have to have Him a part of ALL we do, not just some of what we do. We can't set our Savior aside or tell Him to close His eyes and turn around for a bit when we want to do something sinful. When we sit down to watch our favorite tv show He needs to be on our mind- not put in a corner while we get our laughs in.
Heb 3:1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;
Heb 3:2 Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.
Our Savior- who was faithful to HIM that appointed HIM. Faithful to His Father. Isn't that beautiful? He was faithful to His Father in all that He did.
Another who was faithful was Moses. But our Savior was MORE worthy of glory than the faithful Moses. When people have leaders and those leaders lead well they tend to revere them, they tend to give them honor and respect for being such great leaders. Moses was a great leader, by the power of God he set free God's people and led them to the promised land- being used of God to reveal the ways of God to man- God's laws, the Sanctuary service and much more. It's no surprise that Moses is consider a great man, a faithful man. But as great as Moses was, Jesus was much, much greater. To say that there is a man more worthy than Moses to those who hold Moses to be their greatest leader is saying a lot!
We have in our more modern history some great leaders- Washington, Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr. -- these are men that have impacted history and we've set them us as being worthy of remembrance. If was say this man is greater than Lincoln ever was, that's saying a lot. If someone comes along and people say he's greater than Martin Luther King Jr. instantly we understand that this newcomer has to be amazing.
Our Lord and Savior is worthy of more honor than Moses- worth more immeasurably.
Heb 3:3 For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.
Heb 3:4 For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.
God built ALL THINGS. You cannot be greater than that, you can't. You cannot be more worthy.
Heb 3:5 And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;
Heb 3:6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
We are of Christ's house, He is Son over His house, He is ruler over us, caretaker over us, as any head of household Christ reigns over us IF WE LET HIM! We are in His house willingly, not as underage children forced to live in a household good or bad. We aren't kept in Christ by force. We are not hostages to Him. People come and go all the time, but it's best to remain in HIM- HOLD FAST in Him. The Bible tells us to hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the HOPE firm unto the end. Christ is our hope, our ONLY hope.
I was talking with someone the other day who suffers with chronic pain and they mentioned how death would be preferable to the pain (no they aren't suicidal). The subject of death and the life after death had come up and so on. We talked for a bit and what we fail to realize a lot of time is the fact that our lives here are so temporary, so short. Even if we live till 100 it's short compared to eternity. All the pain we feel now can consume us, can ruin us. This temporary life can ruin us and WILL ruin us if satan has his way. Satan stops at NOTHING to ruin us- if it's not one thing it's another, if it's not with bad things he'll use good things- yes, satan uses good things as well as bad to entrap us. Our only hope is in Christ, remaining firmly in Christ with all our confidence and hope in Him.
We are Christ's house-- IF we hold fast.
IF.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord we will Hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope in CHRIST! Firm unto the end.
Amen.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Our Preserver!
Psa 40:11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
Continually preserve me. We need continual preservation, don't we? If someone could preserve you - keep you for God wouldn't you jump at the chance to be preserved? We need our LORD's lovingkindness and His truth to preserve us. We CAN'T preserve ourselves. Yes, I'm stressing this point, we CAN'T preserve ourselves. God's beloved men and women of the past ages didn't preserve themselves, their faith in God to preserve them is what endeared them to God. They believed in Him, they trust in Him, and they kept God first and foremost in their lives. Did they always do that? No, perhaps not, they- like us- lived in a world of sin and they had their temptations to face and their failures to trust, but they sought forgiveness from the only source of forgiveness- God. They understood the errors of their ways and repented, seeking to reestablish that connection with God. We don't want God to withhold His tender mercies from us. We need His tender mercies. We need God's lovingkindness and for His truth to preserve us. Without God's truth, without His lovingkindness we cannot prevail, we will not be preserved. When something isn't preserved it decays. We paint on preserver over wood for our patios, for pool decks, for garden rails, for fences and we do that or buy them pre-preserved so they'll last as long as possible, so nature's elements won't decay them. Throughout the years we take measures to keep the wood preserved by reapplying the necessary preserver- even if it's constant fresh coats of paint. We don't want the things we own to decay faster than they have to and we don't want our relationship with God to decay, do we? We need to be preserved by Him. Only He can preserve us. We can't go out and buy preservation for eternal life. There are no relationship preserver cans stocked on our stores shelves, we can't slather on spiritual preserver as we can put paint on a fence rail. We can go to our great Preserver and ask Him to continually preserve us with His lovingkindness and His truth by His tender mercy.
Listen to this next verse--
Psa 40:12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.
Can you relate to that verse? Seriously, can you? I know I can. We need to be preserved because evil will compass about us. Our cherished sins will take hold of us so that the weight of them will drag us done, keeping us from even looking upwards. How many sins? One? Two? Can you look at your life and pick out the sins? Can you number your sins? Or are they more than the hair on your head? For anyone who is bald you know can remember having a head filled with hair as a youth, yes? Could you count the numbers of hair you had on your head then? Can we who have a head filled with hair now count them? It's feasible right? But what would possess someone to do so? The analogy here is the reality that sins in our lives can be so incredibly numerous they weigh us down, they hold onto us refusing to allow us to look up even, causing our hearts to fail and yes, really fail. When hearts ache in spiritual pain it's a real thing, a real spiritual agony in our lives. Have you known spiritual agony? Who is the ONLY one that can help us when spiritual oppression covers us, when evils surround us, when we are beset on every side by satan and his followers- human or angels? The LORD is the only help we have and we only need the LORD, not a thousand different remedies. There is only ONE cure, ONE remedy, ONE help and it's so incredibly powerful it can defeat innumerable sin attacks. Like any remedy we have to take it. Remedies don't just come to us out of nowhere and force themselves upon us. We have to take them. Some might argue and say they can remember being forced to take medicine as a child, or even as an adult who isn't entirely lucid. That may all be true, but the sin remedy is NEVER forced upon us, NEVER! We have to willingly take this remedy and take it often and always.
We have to pray...
Psa 40:13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.
This reminds me of one of my favorite Bible verses-
Mar 9:24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
Lord deliver me! Lord make haste to help me! Lord I believe, help mine unbelief!
Praise God He hears us! Praise God He love us! Praise God! All glory and honor to our Creator, to our Redeemer, to our Preserver!
In His love, His grace, His righteousness now and forever!
Amen.
Continually preserve me. We need continual preservation, don't we? If someone could preserve you - keep you for God wouldn't you jump at the chance to be preserved? We need our LORD's lovingkindness and His truth to preserve us. We CAN'T preserve ourselves. Yes, I'm stressing this point, we CAN'T preserve ourselves. God's beloved men and women of the past ages didn't preserve themselves, their faith in God to preserve them is what endeared them to God. They believed in Him, they trust in Him, and they kept God first and foremost in their lives. Did they always do that? No, perhaps not, they- like us- lived in a world of sin and they had their temptations to face and their failures to trust, but they sought forgiveness from the only source of forgiveness- God. They understood the errors of their ways and repented, seeking to reestablish that connection with God. We don't want God to withhold His tender mercies from us. We need His tender mercies. We need God's lovingkindness and for His truth to preserve us. Without God's truth, without His lovingkindness we cannot prevail, we will not be preserved. When something isn't preserved it decays. We paint on preserver over wood for our patios, for pool decks, for garden rails, for fences and we do that or buy them pre-preserved so they'll last as long as possible, so nature's elements won't decay them. Throughout the years we take measures to keep the wood preserved by reapplying the necessary preserver- even if it's constant fresh coats of paint. We don't want the things we own to decay faster than they have to and we don't want our relationship with God to decay, do we? We need to be preserved by Him. Only He can preserve us. We can't go out and buy preservation for eternal life. There are no relationship preserver cans stocked on our stores shelves, we can't slather on spiritual preserver as we can put paint on a fence rail. We can go to our great Preserver and ask Him to continually preserve us with His lovingkindness and His truth by His tender mercy.
Listen to this next verse--
Psa 40:12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.
Can you relate to that verse? Seriously, can you? I know I can. We need to be preserved because evil will compass about us. Our cherished sins will take hold of us so that the weight of them will drag us done, keeping us from even looking upwards. How many sins? One? Two? Can you look at your life and pick out the sins? Can you number your sins? Or are they more than the hair on your head? For anyone who is bald you know can remember having a head filled with hair as a youth, yes? Could you count the numbers of hair you had on your head then? Can we who have a head filled with hair now count them? It's feasible right? But what would possess someone to do so? The analogy here is the reality that sins in our lives can be so incredibly numerous they weigh us down, they hold onto us refusing to allow us to look up even, causing our hearts to fail and yes, really fail. When hearts ache in spiritual pain it's a real thing, a real spiritual agony in our lives. Have you known spiritual agony? Who is the ONLY one that can help us when spiritual oppression covers us, when evils surround us, when we are beset on every side by satan and his followers- human or angels? The LORD is the only help we have and we only need the LORD, not a thousand different remedies. There is only ONE cure, ONE remedy, ONE help and it's so incredibly powerful it can defeat innumerable sin attacks. Like any remedy we have to take it. Remedies don't just come to us out of nowhere and force themselves upon us. We have to take them. Some might argue and say they can remember being forced to take medicine as a child, or even as an adult who isn't entirely lucid. That may all be true, but the sin remedy is NEVER forced upon us, NEVER! We have to willingly take this remedy and take it often and always.
We have to pray...
Psa 40:13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.
This reminds me of one of my favorite Bible verses-
Mar 9:24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
Lord deliver me! Lord make haste to help me! Lord I believe, help mine unbelief!
Praise God He hears us! Praise God He love us! Praise God! All glory and honor to our Creator, to our Redeemer, to our Preserver!
In His love, His grace, His righteousness now and forever!
Amen.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Jesus Suffered- Being Tempted
Heb 2:16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Heb 2:17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Heb 2:18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
The nature of angels- spiritual and yet able to appear human. Appear being the key word there- for as much as angels can appear as men to mankind when necessary that will NEVER give them true flesh and blood, never give them humanity.
Jesus didn't choose an angel's form to come to us.
Jesus didn't choose to keep His spirit form that could disappear at will. He didn't choose a spirit form that had powers to do things humans can't. However, while He didn't choose to keep His spirit form but rather took on humanity in its flesh filled with blood- His relationship with the Father enabled Him to do things sinning humans who have separated themselves from God by sin cannot do. Jesus relied on the power of God and did the following supernatural acts...
Joh 6:19 So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid.
(Walked on water)
Luk 4:28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
Luk 4:29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
Luk 4:30 But he passing through the midst of them went his way
(Was able to disappear as He was being led away.)
Mat 17:1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
Mat 17:2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
(Transfigured)
So, while Jesus was connected to the Father- One with Him in a way that we cannot be until His return and sin no longer separates us from our God- He was able to claim the power of His Father which He used to perform miracles and to do miraculous acts. He did NOT take on the nature of angels, He took on OUR nature.
Why is it important to differentiate between this fact- that Jesus did not take on the nature of angels but of humans? Because angels were made a little superior to us. Angels were NOT made in God's image. Angels do not possess flesh and blood. Angels already decided their fate- 1/3 of them chose to follow Satan, 2/3 chose to remain with God and there is NO chance for them to repent any more, no chance for them to find salvation because that part of their existence has been decided. These beings who do not die at the end of a set number of years, these beings have no flesh to fast corruption over time, these beings do not age - growing old and dying, decaying through the ravages of time. These beings- these angels face a choice having free will to disobey God and once that choice was made that was that. Can they be blotted out of existence? Yes. And the evil angels will face their ultimate punishment of no longer existing when sin is done away with once and for all. Jesus did NOT take on the nature of the created angels. Jesus took on our humanity because it was us He was to sacrifice Himself for.
Heb 2:17… Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Heb 2:18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
That HE might be a MERCIFUL and FAITHFUL HIGH PRIEST in things pertaining to God.
To MAKE a RECONCILIATION for the SINS of the PEOPLE.
Made like his BRETHERN! Made like you and me so He could understand only the way one being us could understand.
Because HE HIMSELF SUFFERED BEING TEMPTED
He is able to SUCCOUR THEM that ARE TEMPTED
He faced temptation. REAL temptation. He wasn't place in some protective wrapping, encased in a sin repelling suit. There was NOTHING artificial about Jesus' humanity. Like I mentioned before, the ONLY thing Jesus had that we don't is being ONE with the Father, without sin separating Him from Him. It wasn't until Jesus took on the sins of humanity that He was separated from His Father and cried out in anguish- 'Mat 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?'
Yes, I've spoken of this before and yes, just recently, but it warrants repeating again and again. Jesus SUFFERED being tempted. He SUFFERED.
Have you ever suffered being tempted to sin? What does that suffering mean? It means there is a war inside you, a desire to give into the temptation. You only suffer because you DO NOT give into the temptation. If you'd just give in, you'd no longer suffer the fight- but you might suffer with remorse. Jesus NEVER suffered the remorse of giving into a temptation and sinning. He suffered the temptation! The very, very real temptation. Again, people don't like to believe in our Savior's humanity, the part of our Savior that was human enough to even suffer a being tempted. Jesus? Tempted? NO, no way, not my Jesus. Yes! Your Jesus! He felt our desires, He felt our ambitions, He felt all of that because if He did not, then He DID NOT suffer being tempted as we are and He is NOT able to succor US who are tempted. If HE wasn't tempted like WE are tempted He couldn't fully understand on the level of being human what it means to be tempted. Because He didn't sin, because He never broke the bond, the at-one-ment with His Father He was and is worthy to save us. Even with the full force of temptation facing Him, the worst of the worst of temptations in His own right, as each of our temptations are different from one another's, He never gave into the temptation. He suffered though, and if you don't want to believe that our GOD Jesus suffered with temptation then His suffering was in vain to you. You can keep your delusions if you like, but one day the delusions will be wiped away and only truth will remain and that truth tells us that Jesus suffered being tempted… and is now able, because of all He went through, to succor us- help us.
What a marvelous Gift we were given, a priceless Gift.
As we face temptation whether it's in the next minute, the next hour, the next day, or next week - we need to cling to our Savior, praying to Him, seeking that connection with Him, going to His word, pleading HIS righteousness, His power to save and by His grace resist that temptation- even if it means resisting unto blood. We've taken sin and trivialized it way too much so that it's seemingly lost it's power of destruction, of causing death. We've sugar-coated sin, especially our pet temptations and pampered sins that really aren't so bad because they aren't like those disgusting sins. Sin is sin is sin. Temptation is something our Savior faced and He knew we'd face it too. Only by His grace can we overcome through HIM, not of ourselves. But we need to … Resist the devil!
Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
We need to… resist unto blood!
Heb 12:4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
By the grace of God we are SAVED! May we, through the power of the Holy Spirit, resist the devil even if it means resisting unto blood. May we see sin for what it is and not trivialize it away. Let the horrors of sin be faced, may all sin be seen for what it is and be repented of, resisted. Let us cling to our Savior, our Lord now and forever!
Amen.
Heb 2:17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Heb 2:18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
The nature of angels- spiritual and yet able to appear human. Appear being the key word there- for as much as angels can appear as men to mankind when necessary that will NEVER give them true flesh and blood, never give them humanity.
Jesus didn't choose an angel's form to come to us.
Jesus didn't choose to keep His spirit form that could disappear at will. He didn't choose a spirit form that had powers to do things humans can't. However, while He didn't choose to keep His spirit form but rather took on humanity in its flesh filled with blood- His relationship with the Father enabled Him to do things sinning humans who have separated themselves from God by sin cannot do. Jesus relied on the power of God and did the following supernatural acts...
Joh 6:19 So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid.
(Walked on water)
Luk 4:28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
Luk 4:29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
Luk 4:30 But he passing through the midst of them went his way
(Was able to disappear as He was being led away.)
Mat 17:1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
Mat 17:2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
(Transfigured)
So, while Jesus was connected to the Father- One with Him in a way that we cannot be until His return and sin no longer separates us from our God- He was able to claim the power of His Father which He used to perform miracles and to do miraculous acts. He did NOT take on the nature of angels, He took on OUR nature.
Why is it important to differentiate between this fact- that Jesus did not take on the nature of angels but of humans? Because angels were made a little superior to us. Angels were NOT made in God's image. Angels do not possess flesh and blood. Angels already decided their fate- 1/3 of them chose to follow Satan, 2/3 chose to remain with God and there is NO chance for them to repent any more, no chance for them to find salvation because that part of their existence has been decided. These beings who do not die at the end of a set number of years, these beings have no flesh to fast corruption over time, these beings do not age - growing old and dying, decaying through the ravages of time. These beings- these angels face a choice having free will to disobey God and once that choice was made that was that. Can they be blotted out of existence? Yes. And the evil angels will face their ultimate punishment of no longer existing when sin is done away with once and for all. Jesus did NOT take on the nature of the created angels. Jesus took on our humanity because it was us He was to sacrifice Himself for.
Heb 2:17… Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Heb 2:18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
That HE might be a MERCIFUL and FAITHFUL HIGH PRIEST in things pertaining to God.
To MAKE a RECONCILIATION for the SINS of the PEOPLE.
Made like his BRETHERN! Made like you and me so He could understand only the way one being us could understand.
Because HE HIMSELF SUFFERED BEING TEMPTED
He is able to SUCCOUR THEM that ARE TEMPTED
He faced temptation. REAL temptation. He wasn't place in some protective wrapping, encased in a sin repelling suit. There was NOTHING artificial about Jesus' humanity. Like I mentioned before, the ONLY thing Jesus had that we don't is being ONE with the Father, without sin separating Him from Him. It wasn't until Jesus took on the sins of humanity that He was separated from His Father and cried out in anguish- 'Mat 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?'
Yes, I've spoken of this before and yes, just recently, but it warrants repeating again and again. Jesus SUFFERED being tempted. He SUFFERED.
Have you ever suffered being tempted to sin? What does that suffering mean? It means there is a war inside you, a desire to give into the temptation. You only suffer because you DO NOT give into the temptation. If you'd just give in, you'd no longer suffer the fight- but you might suffer with remorse. Jesus NEVER suffered the remorse of giving into a temptation and sinning. He suffered the temptation! The very, very real temptation. Again, people don't like to believe in our Savior's humanity, the part of our Savior that was human enough to even suffer a being tempted. Jesus? Tempted? NO, no way, not my Jesus. Yes! Your Jesus! He felt our desires, He felt our ambitions, He felt all of that because if He did not, then He DID NOT suffer being tempted as we are and He is NOT able to succor US who are tempted. If HE wasn't tempted like WE are tempted He couldn't fully understand on the level of being human what it means to be tempted. Because He didn't sin, because He never broke the bond, the at-one-ment with His Father He was and is worthy to save us. Even with the full force of temptation facing Him, the worst of the worst of temptations in His own right, as each of our temptations are different from one another's, He never gave into the temptation. He suffered though, and if you don't want to believe that our GOD Jesus suffered with temptation then His suffering was in vain to you. You can keep your delusions if you like, but one day the delusions will be wiped away and only truth will remain and that truth tells us that Jesus suffered being tempted… and is now able, because of all He went through, to succor us- help us.
What a marvelous Gift we were given, a priceless Gift.
As we face temptation whether it's in the next minute, the next hour, the next day, or next week - we need to cling to our Savior, praying to Him, seeking that connection with Him, going to His word, pleading HIS righteousness, His power to save and by His grace resist that temptation- even if it means resisting unto blood. We've taken sin and trivialized it way too much so that it's seemingly lost it's power of destruction, of causing death. We've sugar-coated sin, especially our pet temptations and pampered sins that really aren't so bad because they aren't like those disgusting sins. Sin is sin is sin. Temptation is something our Savior faced and He knew we'd face it too. Only by His grace can we overcome through HIM, not of ourselves. But we need to … Resist the devil!
Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
We need to… resist unto blood!
Heb 12:4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
By the grace of God we are SAVED! May we, through the power of the Holy Spirit, resist the devil even if it means resisting unto blood. May we see sin for what it is and not trivialize it away. Let the horrors of sin be faced, may all sin be seen for what it is and be repented of, resisted. Let us cling to our Savior, our Lord now and forever!
Amen.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Our Brother
Heb 2:11 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren
Sanctified
SANC'TIFIED, pp.
1. Made holy; consecrated; set apart for sacred services.
2. Affectedly holy.
He that makes holy and those who are made holy by Him are all of one. That thought is amazing really. There is no special criteria to meet except we be made holy. No snickering and thinking- 'Is that all.' Seriously. We aren't to make ourselves holy but be made holy. We can't make ourselves holy- there is nothing in us to do that. We have no power to make anything holy, we have no holiness of our own- none. HE that sanctifieth- we can be sanctified and by God's will and His grace, through His love we will be made holy and be one with the One who makes us holy. Imagine, our God- imagine, our Savior-imagine, our Redeemer, our Sanctifier not being ashamed to call us brothers.
Brothers. Related to Christ by HIS choice. It's amazing that we have such a wonderful Savior who doesn't want to rule over us with an iron fist, who doesn't want to punish us arbitrarily.
Listen to these words...
Heb 2:12 Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
Heb 2:13 And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.
Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Heb 2:15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
We are partakers of Jesus' death and His life saving blood. We are a part of His plan of salvation. Jesus gave His life, Jesus gave His flesh, Jesus gave His blood and through that sacrifice we find life. We are partakers of the life of Christ. We are part of that life, that continued life, the life that is eternal, the life that rose from the grave and ascended to heaven, the life that is related to ours- brothers, relatives, partakers together. The amazing realization that we part take of Christ's life today, right now, right this moment, is something that is too overwhelming to fully comprehend. We have to comprehend it though, we have to make it REAL. We have to have a living, viable life with Christ as a REAL person- yes, I said person!!! Yes, He is a God, God the Son. He is also a human being and we tend to take him out of that realm completely and only think of Him on His throne in heaven. Jesus was real flesh and blood, He had bones, muscles, He had hair, eyes, hands, feet, fingers, toes-- He was human! He was a divine human, yes, there is no doubt about that at all. He was divine but He became one of us, for us. That miracle, that blessing in undeniably beyond anything we can understand. By His grace we will be with Him one day, thanking Him in person, face to face, falling to our knees before Him, our God, our Brother, our Holy Brother.
In His love!
Amen.
Sanctified
SANC'TIFIED, pp.
1. Made holy; consecrated; set apart for sacred services.
2. Affectedly holy.
He that makes holy and those who are made holy by Him are all of one. That thought is amazing really. There is no special criteria to meet except we be made holy. No snickering and thinking- 'Is that all.' Seriously. We aren't to make ourselves holy but be made holy. We can't make ourselves holy- there is nothing in us to do that. We have no power to make anything holy, we have no holiness of our own- none. HE that sanctifieth- we can be sanctified and by God's will and His grace, through His love we will be made holy and be one with the One who makes us holy. Imagine, our God- imagine, our Savior-imagine, our Redeemer, our Sanctifier not being ashamed to call us brothers.
Brothers. Related to Christ by HIS choice. It's amazing that we have such a wonderful Savior who doesn't want to rule over us with an iron fist, who doesn't want to punish us arbitrarily.
Listen to these words...
Heb 2:12 Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
Heb 2:13 And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.
Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Heb 2:15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
We are partakers of Jesus' death and His life saving blood. We are a part of His plan of salvation. Jesus gave His life, Jesus gave His flesh, Jesus gave His blood and through that sacrifice we find life. We are partakers of the life of Christ. We are part of that life, that continued life, the life that is eternal, the life that rose from the grave and ascended to heaven, the life that is related to ours- brothers, relatives, partakers together. The amazing realization that we part take of Christ's life today, right now, right this moment, is something that is too overwhelming to fully comprehend. We have to comprehend it though, we have to make it REAL. We have to have a living, viable life with Christ as a REAL person- yes, I said person!!! Yes, He is a God, God the Son. He is also a human being and we tend to take him out of that realm completely and only think of Him on His throne in heaven. Jesus was real flesh and blood, He had bones, muscles, He had hair, eyes, hands, feet, fingers, toes-- He was human! He was a divine human, yes, there is no doubt about that at all. He was divine but He became one of us, for us. That miracle, that blessing in undeniably beyond anything we can understand. By His grace we will be with Him one day, thanking Him in person, face to face, falling to our knees before Him, our God, our Brother, our Holy Brother.
In His love!
Amen.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Captain of Our Salvation
Heb 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
Heb 2:10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
The captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
What does that mean exactly? Perfect through sufferings.
Luk 22:15 and he said unto them, `With desire I did desire to eat this passover with you before my suffering
Act 1:3 to whom also he did present himself alive after his suffering, in many certain proofs, through forty days being seen by them, and speaking the things concerning the reign of God.
Pe 2:19 for this is gracious, if because of conscience toward God any one doth endure sorrows, suffering unrighteously;
1Pe 2:20 for what renown is it , if sinning and being buffeted, ye do endure it ? but if, doing good and suffering for it , ye do endure, this is gracious with God,
1Pe 2:21 for to this ye were called, because Christ also did suffer for you, leaving to you an example, that ye may follow his steps,
1Pe 2:22 who did not commit sin, nor was guile found in his mouth,
1Pe 2:23 who being reviled--was not reviling again, suffering--was not threatening, and was committing himself to Him who is judging righteously
1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange at the fiery suffering among you that is coming to try you, as if a strange thing were happening to you,
1Pe 4:13 but, according as ye have fellowship with the sufferings of the Christ, rejoice ye, that also in the revelation of his glory ye may rejoice--exulting;
1Pe 4:19 so that also those suffering according to the will of god, as to a stedfast Creator, let them commit their own souls in good doing.
Suffering.
Suffering
SUF'FERING, ppr. Bearing; undergoing pain, inconvenience or damage; permitting; allowing.
SUF'FERING, n. The bearing of pain, inconvenience or loss; pain endured; distress, loss or injury incurred; as sufferings by pain or sorrow; sufferings by want or by wrongs.
Pain, sorrow, damage…
Christ suffered. Christ who relived the suffering of so many. Christ who took away the pain many suffered with for years. Christ who healed, who helped, who forgave so many during His ministry was called to suffer.
I have a question… the Son of God, pure from sin lived in a world filled with sin and pain, and suffering. Could it be that He suffered more than we can fully comprehend? He did say this…
Luk 22:15 and he said unto them, `With desire I did desire to eat this passover with you before my suffering
Could it be that it wasn't until He was to cry out these words-- Mat 27:46 and about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a great voice, saying, `Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' that is, `My God, my God, why didst Thou forsake me?'
…that He didn't feel the full effect of the suffering, when He was alone on the cross. Yes, He felt the pain of the physical abuse, abuse that He suffered without deserving it at all whatsoever, but the mental , emotional anguish of feeling abandoned had to be beyond our comprehension, why? Because we are not alone- ever. We have not been abandoned even at our lowest point. We have access to our forgiving Father, our longsuffering Father, our Savior, no matter what we go through. Christ was alone. He had to bear the pain, the suffering alone to give to us salvation. We are called to suffer, Christ being our example.
1Pe 2:21 for to this ye were called, because Christ also did suffer for you, leaving to you an example, that ye may follow his steps,
People think this is horrible, that we are called to suffer. But if you live in this world, you suffer. There is no way you can live here and live in Christ's love without suffering. This world is filled with so much suffering that our suffering can even come from watching others suffer. If we are heartless, if we give ourselves over to Satan we will have a lack of compassion, we won't suffer as much. Compassion won't be as prominent in our lives. Have you ever wondered how some people can abuse others, how they can purposely cause them pain, and even enjoy it? Have you ever witnessed the suffering of another without your heart aching for their pain? Maybe you can answer yes to those questions, I don't know, but if the answer is yes then falling on your knees and begging God to give you a heart that truly loves your fellowman is in order. Satan has twisted us, Satan has warped us into self-centered people whose main purpose is self- even when we help others He's twisted it into being a selfish act. Take some time to notice the selfishness in other- not to condemn them NO WAY, but sometimes when we see something in another it can be a reflection for us. We can see ourselves in them. We need to recognize how selfish we are in so many ways, even little ways. Our greatest example, the greatest light we need to look to is our SAVIOR, in His light we can see our failings and cling to His light, not ours. We need to be bathed fully in HIS light, having NONE of our own. HE is the LIGHT! We are to be illuminated by Him, any light we have to show to others is HIS light, not our light. When our light shines before others it's to glorify GOD, not to bring us glory. When we suffer, even if it's pain from witnessing the suffering of others we are following in the example of our Lord and Savior. It's when we no longer suffer that we really should wonder about our walk with Christ. I'm not saying we can't have any joy in our lives. We can praise and glorify our Lord and Savior and we can even find the Peace that passes understanding in Christ, but in this world of sin, reeking of thousands of years of sin ruled by the prince of darkness, suffering will be ours. We may count it JOY when we suffer, but that joy is in the knowledge that we have a Savior whose suffering brought us salvation. There is hope and joy in the world to come, in living with our Lord and Savior. Our joy needs to be in Christ. If we find joy in ourselves without Christ we are deceiving ourselves, or being deceived. Our joy, our hope, our faith, our love, our light is all IN CHRIST!
Heb 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
Heb 2:10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
The captain of OUR salvation perfect through sufferings.
Sin brings suffering.
Joy in suffering is knowing sin has been defeated by our Lord, by our Savior!
May God bless and keep us always IN HIM! May we suffer as He suffered and count it all joy knowing salvation is found in Him, that beyond ALL suffering lives our Savior and life everlasting in HIM!
By His Grace!
Amen.
Heb 2:10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
The captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
What does that mean exactly? Perfect through sufferings.
Luk 22:15 and he said unto them, `With desire I did desire to eat this passover with you before my suffering
Act 1:3 to whom also he did present himself alive after his suffering, in many certain proofs, through forty days being seen by them, and speaking the things concerning the reign of God.
Pe 2:19 for this is gracious, if because of conscience toward God any one doth endure sorrows, suffering unrighteously;
1Pe 2:20 for what renown is it , if sinning and being buffeted, ye do endure it ? but if, doing good and suffering for it , ye do endure, this is gracious with God,
1Pe 2:21 for to this ye were called, because Christ also did suffer for you, leaving to you an example, that ye may follow his steps,
1Pe 2:22 who did not commit sin, nor was guile found in his mouth,
1Pe 2:23 who being reviled--was not reviling again, suffering--was not threatening, and was committing himself to Him who is judging righteously
1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange at the fiery suffering among you that is coming to try you, as if a strange thing were happening to you,
1Pe 4:13 but, according as ye have fellowship with the sufferings of the Christ, rejoice ye, that also in the revelation of his glory ye may rejoice--exulting;
1Pe 4:19 so that also those suffering according to the will of god, as to a stedfast Creator, let them commit their own souls in good doing.
Suffering.
Suffering
SUF'FERING, ppr. Bearing; undergoing pain, inconvenience or damage; permitting; allowing.
SUF'FERING, n. The bearing of pain, inconvenience or loss; pain endured; distress, loss or injury incurred; as sufferings by pain or sorrow; sufferings by want or by wrongs.
Pain, sorrow, damage…
Christ suffered. Christ who relived the suffering of so many. Christ who took away the pain many suffered with for years. Christ who healed, who helped, who forgave so many during His ministry was called to suffer.
I have a question… the Son of God, pure from sin lived in a world filled with sin and pain, and suffering. Could it be that He suffered more than we can fully comprehend? He did say this…
Luk 22:15 and he said unto them, `With desire I did desire to eat this passover with you before my suffering
Could it be that it wasn't until He was to cry out these words-- Mat 27:46 and about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a great voice, saying, `Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' that is, `My God, my God, why didst Thou forsake me?'
…that He didn't feel the full effect of the suffering, when He was alone on the cross. Yes, He felt the pain of the physical abuse, abuse that He suffered without deserving it at all whatsoever, but the mental , emotional anguish of feeling abandoned had to be beyond our comprehension, why? Because we are not alone- ever. We have not been abandoned even at our lowest point. We have access to our forgiving Father, our longsuffering Father, our Savior, no matter what we go through. Christ was alone. He had to bear the pain, the suffering alone to give to us salvation. We are called to suffer, Christ being our example.
1Pe 2:21 for to this ye were called, because Christ also did suffer for you, leaving to you an example, that ye may follow his steps,
People think this is horrible, that we are called to suffer. But if you live in this world, you suffer. There is no way you can live here and live in Christ's love without suffering. This world is filled with so much suffering that our suffering can even come from watching others suffer. If we are heartless, if we give ourselves over to Satan we will have a lack of compassion, we won't suffer as much. Compassion won't be as prominent in our lives. Have you ever wondered how some people can abuse others, how they can purposely cause them pain, and even enjoy it? Have you ever witnessed the suffering of another without your heart aching for their pain? Maybe you can answer yes to those questions, I don't know, but if the answer is yes then falling on your knees and begging God to give you a heart that truly loves your fellowman is in order. Satan has twisted us, Satan has warped us into self-centered people whose main purpose is self- even when we help others He's twisted it into being a selfish act. Take some time to notice the selfishness in other- not to condemn them NO WAY, but sometimes when we see something in another it can be a reflection for us. We can see ourselves in them. We need to recognize how selfish we are in so many ways, even little ways. Our greatest example, the greatest light we need to look to is our SAVIOR, in His light we can see our failings and cling to His light, not ours. We need to be bathed fully in HIS light, having NONE of our own. HE is the LIGHT! We are to be illuminated by Him, any light we have to show to others is HIS light, not our light. When our light shines before others it's to glorify GOD, not to bring us glory. When we suffer, even if it's pain from witnessing the suffering of others we are following in the example of our Lord and Savior. It's when we no longer suffer that we really should wonder about our walk with Christ. I'm not saying we can't have any joy in our lives. We can praise and glorify our Lord and Savior and we can even find the Peace that passes understanding in Christ, but in this world of sin, reeking of thousands of years of sin ruled by the prince of darkness, suffering will be ours. We may count it JOY when we suffer, but that joy is in the knowledge that we have a Savior whose suffering brought us salvation. There is hope and joy in the world to come, in living with our Lord and Savior. Our joy needs to be in Christ. If we find joy in ourselves without Christ we are deceiving ourselves, or being deceived. Our joy, our hope, our faith, our love, our light is all IN CHRIST!
Heb 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
Heb 2:10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
The captain of OUR salvation perfect through sufferings.
Sin brings suffering.
Joy in suffering is knowing sin has been defeated by our Lord, by our Savior!
May God bless and keep us always IN HIM! May we suffer as He suffered and count it all joy knowing salvation is found in Him, that beyond ALL suffering lives our Savior and life everlasting in HIM!
By His Grace!
Amen.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
World to Come- Salvation
Heb 2:5 For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.
Salvation. We are saved for a purpose, for life eternal. We are saved from this world that isn't anything like the world we need and long to be from. We are saved from eternal death, from eternal nothingness, from eternal darkness and given life in Christ from whom all love flows. We only get glimpses, tiny glimpses into the world of unconditional love, unselfish love, teeny tiny insights in our lives that are all markers pointing us to the one unconditional, unselfish love that saves us. We can look on the outside of people and some appear to be very unselfish, and very Christ-like, but the fact remains we don't know their hearts. By their fruit we shall know them and some appear to have the best fruit in the world- so Christ-like it puts us to total shame. What it comes down to is our own lives- because they are the only thing we really know. I know my heart and wish it were more Christ-like. I know my failings, my sins, my inner evils just as you all know your own. We can ask for forgiveness, we can repent, and we can be saved! We can be given the world to come. We can hope for a place in that world ruled by love in its purest form without sin marring anything. We can pray and have faith that we will be in that world to come a world that angels will be in subjection to.
1. Being in a position or in circumstances that place one under the power or authority of another or others
Pasted from
Angels will be under the power and authority of God. We will share in that world with God, with angels. God's power, God's authority will always and forever be supreme! God- from whom ALL blessings flow.
Angels- spiritual beings we imagine act of their own accord but God's angels are all in subjection to God and do the bidding of the Lord. Does this mean they are enslaved to God? Some would have you believe that's exactly what is means, that God wants to make us all slaves to Him. That's not true, not true at all whatsoever. When you serve the one you love, when you put yourself into subjection of the one you love to obey them you are NOT a slave to them. Freely the love is given, freely the serving is offered. The angels consider themselves blessed to serve God. While the devil would have us twist things and make subjection to God seem like a punishment, and evil all on its own, it's a lie from the father of lies.
*
Heb 2:6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
Heb 2:7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands
Psa 8:4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
Psa 8:5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
Psa 8:6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
Psa 8:7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
Psa 8:8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
Psa 8:9 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
Man- made a little lower than the angels and yet crowned with glory and honor.
There have been movies about angels detesting humans because God made angels to be above them and yet has crowned them with glory and honor. Angels of God by their very nature minister unto man all through love, there is no animosity though Satan would have us believe there is. Satan would have us put our sinful nature onto the unfallen angels and give them traits that fallen humans have, or that evil fallen angels have. It's not like that at all.
What is man? We are God's creation. We are so important to Him that His Son took on our flesh and became human so He could save us through the sacrifice of Himself. We don't understand, we can't understand just how important we are to God, just how much He loves us. Our love towards God is unequaled to His love for us and our righteousness is filthy, unequal to Christ's pure righteousness that we so desperately need to claim while giving up our selfish need to believe we can be righteous on our own.
Praise God for His amazing LOVE! Praise God!
May we fully be immersed in the Love of God, may we live for the world to come where self is nothing compared to selflessness in Christ.
By His glory, by His grace!
Amen.
Salvation. We are saved for a purpose, for life eternal. We are saved from this world that isn't anything like the world we need and long to be from. We are saved from eternal death, from eternal nothingness, from eternal darkness and given life in Christ from whom all love flows. We only get glimpses, tiny glimpses into the world of unconditional love, unselfish love, teeny tiny insights in our lives that are all markers pointing us to the one unconditional, unselfish love that saves us. We can look on the outside of people and some appear to be very unselfish, and very Christ-like, but the fact remains we don't know their hearts. By their fruit we shall know them and some appear to have the best fruit in the world- so Christ-like it puts us to total shame. What it comes down to is our own lives- because they are the only thing we really know. I know my heart and wish it were more Christ-like. I know my failings, my sins, my inner evils just as you all know your own. We can ask for forgiveness, we can repent, and we can be saved! We can be given the world to come. We can hope for a place in that world ruled by love in its purest form without sin marring anything. We can pray and have faith that we will be in that world to come a world that angels will be in subjection to.
1. Being in a position or in circumstances that place one under the power or authority of another or others
Pasted from
Angels will be under the power and authority of God. We will share in that world with God, with angels. God's power, God's authority will always and forever be supreme! God- from whom ALL blessings flow.
Angels- spiritual beings we imagine act of their own accord but God's angels are all in subjection to God and do the bidding of the Lord. Does this mean they are enslaved to God? Some would have you believe that's exactly what is means, that God wants to make us all slaves to Him. That's not true, not true at all whatsoever. When you serve the one you love, when you put yourself into subjection of the one you love to obey them you are NOT a slave to them. Freely the love is given, freely the serving is offered. The angels consider themselves blessed to serve God. While the devil would have us twist things and make subjection to God seem like a punishment, and evil all on its own, it's a lie from the father of lies.
*
Heb 2:6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
Heb 2:7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands
Psa 8:4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
Psa 8:5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
Psa 8:6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
Psa 8:7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
Psa 8:8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
Psa 8:9 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
Man- made a little lower than the angels and yet crowned with glory and honor.
There have been movies about angels detesting humans because God made angels to be above them and yet has crowned them with glory and honor. Angels of God by their very nature minister unto man all through love, there is no animosity though Satan would have us believe there is. Satan would have us put our sinful nature onto the unfallen angels and give them traits that fallen humans have, or that evil fallen angels have. It's not like that at all.
What is man? We are God's creation. We are so important to Him that His Son took on our flesh and became human so He could save us through the sacrifice of Himself. We don't understand, we can't understand just how important we are to God, just how much He loves us. Our love towards God is unequaled to His love for us and our righteousness is filthy, unequal to Christ's pure righteousness that we so desperately need to claim while giving up our selfish need to believe we can be righteous on our own.
Praise God for His amazing LOVE! Praise God!
May we fully be immersed in the Love of God, may we live for the world to come where self is nothing compared to selflessness in Christ.
By His glory, by His grace!
Amen.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Salvation- God bears witness
Heb 2:3 ...how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him
Heb 2:4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will
So great salvation- first spoken by the Lord- confirmed by those who heard the Lord.
God also bore witness of this great salvation. How?
With signs.
With wonders.
With different miracles.
With gifts of the Holy Ghost.
To reveal salvation to the world many steps were taken. The unveiling was in reality miraculous in many ways so that it would be undeniable.
Salvation undeniable yet denied by the vast majority of those who witnessed first hand and by the vast majority today, and all throughout the ages.
If signs and wonders, if miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost were not enough- nothing would be enough. Do we want this today? Do we demand today to see signs, to witness wonders, to experience miracles, to be declared by a tongue of fire that the Holy Ghost has gifted us? Would we even recognize a sign, a wonder, a miracle, a gift? We are so jaded by so many things and our skepticism has only grown deeply embedded in our lifestyles. We are quick to judge on the side of negativity and we call it by the name realism- we are just being realistic about things. The truth of the matter is that we join with the throngs that stood in a crowd and cried out for our Savior to be crucified when we deny active faith, when we refuse to believe real miracles, real signs, real wonders, and real gifts from the Holy Ghost. Yes, we do have to be extremely cautious because Satan will try and imitate all of these things and he will succeed in deceiving many, but just because Satan will use these things, doesn't mean God won't use them. We can differentiate between the two by taking everything to the Word of God. Should we seek signs and wonders, miracles and gifts? Not to the exclusion of a faith that stands on just that… faith alone.
All has to be done according to God's will- not our will. All was done according to God's will when God's Son took on humanity and chose to offer His life to bring us salvation.
Salvation is REAL!
Salvation! A word that means what exactly?
sal·va·tion
[sal-vey-shuhn]
Show IPA
–noun
1.
the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction, etc.
2.
the state of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.
3.
a source, cause, or means of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.
4.
Theology . deliverance from the power and penalty of sin; redemption.
Pasted from
Saved! Redeemed! Delivered!
So many people today don't even believe they are in need of salvation. Satan has done His work well. People don't believe they are in a state of captivity because the captivity is to sin and they don't believe in sin. Yes, they might believe in *certain* sins but they don't commit those *certain* sins - they aren't criminals and so they have no need of being saved, they aren't captive to anything at all, thank you very much.
Satan worked with all stops out when Jesus was working His ministry on earth and since Jesus won salvation for all that would accept it, Satan has stopped at nothing, working harder and harder to deceive using every single tactic he can. So what if you believe, he'll steer that belief into the 'saved by works' mentality. So what if you show faith in God, he'll guide you to have more faith in yourself. For every single bit of godliness that exists, Satan and his minions have counter measures to put into place. Is it no wonder the path is so narrow? Is it no wonder few there be that find that path? Ask for God to take the spiritual blinders off you, ask for the eyesalve so needed so we can see all the truth, so that we can see His ways and then by His grace, by His power walk in those ways.
Salvation! Brought to us undeserving sinners by God! We can't neglect this so great salvation, God has done all He can to bear witness to its reality.
By His grace, by His mercy, in His love, His righteousness now and forever!
Amen!
Heb 2:4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will
So great salvation- first spoken by the Lord- confirmed by those who heard the Lord.
God also bore witness of this great salvation. How?
With signs.
With wonders.
With different miracles.
With gifts of the Holy Ghost.
To reveal salvation to the world many steps were taken. The unveiling was in reality miraculous in many ways so that it would be undeniable.
Salvation undeniable yet denied by the vast majority of those who witnessed first hand and by the vast majority today, and all throughout the ages.
If signs and wonders, if miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost were not enough- nothing would be enough. Do we want this today? Do we demand today to see signs, to witness wonders, to experience miracles, to be declared by a tongue of fire that the Holy Ghost has gifted us? Would we even recognize a sign, a wonder, a miracle, a gift? We are so jaded by so many things and our skepticism has only grown deeply embedded in our lifestyles. We are quick to judge on the side of negativity and we call it by the name realism- we are just being realistic about things. The truth of the matter is that we join with the throngs that stood in a crowd and cried out for our Savior to be crucified when we deny active faith, when we refuse to believe real miracles, real signs, real wonders, and real gifts from the Holy Ghost. Yes, we do have to be extremely cautious because Satan will try and imitate all of these things and he will succeed in deceiving many, but just because Satan will use these things, doesn't mean God won't use them. We can differentiate between the two by taking everything to the Word of God. Should we seek signs and wonders, miracles and gifts? Not to the exclusion of a faith that stands on just that… faith alone.
All has to be done according to God's will- not our will. All was done according to God's will when God's Son took on humanity and chose to offer His life to bring us salvation.
Salvation is REAL!
Salvation! A word that means what exactly?
sal·va·tion
[sal-vey-shuhn]
Show IPA
–noun
1.
the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction, etc.
2.
the state of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.
3.
a source, cause, or means of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.
4.
Theology . deliverance from the power and penalty of sin; redemption.
Pasted from
Saved! Redeemed! Delivered!
So many people today don't even believe they are in need of salvation. Satan has done His work well. People don't believe they are in a state of captivity because the captivity is to sin and they don't believe in sin. Yes, they might believe in *certain* sins but they don't commit those *certain* sins - they aren't criminals and so they have no need of being saved, they aren't captive to anything at all, thank you very much.
Satan worked with all stops out when Jesus was working His ministry on earth and since Jesus won salvation for all that would accept it, Satan has stopped at nothing, working harder and harder to deceive using every single tactic he can. So what if you believe, he'll steer that belief into the 'saved by works' mentality. So what if you show faith in God, he'll guide you to have more faith in yourself. For every single bit of godliness that exists, Satan and his minions have counter measures to put into place. Is it no wonder the path is so narrow? Is it no wonder few there be that find that path? Ask for God to take the spiritual blinders off you, ask for the eyesalve so needed so we can see all the truth, so that we can see His ways and then by His grace, by His power walk in those ways.
Salvation! Brought to us undeserving sinners by God! We can't neglect this so great salvation, God has done all He can to bear witness to its reality.
By His grace, by His mercy, in His love, His righteousness now and forever!
Amen!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Plead my cause, oh LORD!
During my recent Bible studies on Friday evenings we've been studying Spiritual Warfare. As most people know - when we get closer to the Lord the Devil gets mad. We are attacked. It's not fiction- it's reality. Satan would have us believe it's fiction, Satan would have us believe any attacks by him have to be the stuff of exorcisms. The every day ordinary life is Satan-free, right? That's how Satan would have us think. The nasty little every day irritations can't be from him, He doesn't bother himself with tiny stuff.
It's a lie, and He's the father of lies. Satan works his evil in every way he can in the smallest ways possible. He's not going to exert any more effort than needed to capture the spiritual life of a person. Satan will not go to great lengths if only small upsets are enough to take over a person and bring them to despair that they'll ever be able to be the Lord's fully.
Today I was attacked spiritually in a very vicious way and I didn't exhibit any Christ-like qualities as I was assaulted. The attack came from more than one side and just threw me for a loop. No, I'm not going to relate some amazing, supernatural occurrence to you. It wasn't a supernatural occurrence but rather situations set up to entice me to be overcome by the sin of unrighteous anger. In the blink of an eye one occurrence took place and while that spark ignited the fire a heart beat later another occurrence caused that small flame to explode and I felt an awful rage of anger and logically there was no real reason for any of it to happen! None! I don't understand why, I just know that I succumbed to the attack and reacted just how Satan wanted me to react. The guilt, the shame, the awful knowledge that my spiritual life was so lacking I could be so easily goaded into sinning pained me something awful. Knowing that others witnessed my unwarranted anger, knowing others were the victims of my failing made me feel sick. Recognizing it all for what it was- a Satanic attack- not of the spectacular but of the ordinary- was a blessing. Asking for forgiveness, letting the others know it was an attack- helped me get through it without too much spiritual damage- PRAISE GOD!
The reason I'm writing about this here in my Bible Study is because we need to recognize the enemy for what He is and what He does. We need to realize His workings not as an excuse like some think we use it for, but for the reality we live in. We need to BLAME Satan for what He does, for what He orchestrates, for the evil He incites, we CAN'T let Him place the blame on us as if He doesn't exist, or worse still we can't let Him place the blame on God.
This Psalm of David has been brought to my attention several times lately and with good reason-
Psa 35:1 A Psalm of David. Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.
Psa 35:2 Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.
Psa 35:3 Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.
Psa 35:4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.
Psa 35:5 Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.
Psa 35:6 Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD persecute them.
The angel of the LORD chase them.
The angel of the LORD persecute them.
Satan is an evil angel and he has many minions of like kind. We might read something like the verses above and instantly imagine living in a time of warfare with human enemies after us- something I know I don't live with at all in that respect. What I live with is spiritual warfare. I need to pray this prayer- I need to ask the Lord to strive with me, to fight against them that fight against me- and those who are the 'them' might just be evil angels, not other human beings. We are told to put on armor- Spiritual armor. We are told to take a helmet, a shield, a sword, a belt, boots, a breastplate- armor. Here in this Psalm David is pleading to God- 'take hold of a shield and buckler- draw out the spear.' Spiritual armor! We need our spiritual enemies to be just as confounded, to be put to shame, to turn back, to be brought to confusion. We need the spiritual enemy to be as chaff in the wind- we need the angel of the Lord to persecute them.
We are in a battle! We are, we really, really are and we can't let anything in this world convince us otherwise. As soon as we begin to believe the battle is fictional we are lost.
It is my prayer along with David's- Plead my cause, O LORD. Plead my cause! Please God- Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation!
By His grace!
Amen.
It's a lie, and He's the father of lies. Satan works his evil in every way he can in the smallest ways possible. He's not going to exert any more effort than needed to capture the spiritual life of a person. Satan will not go to great lengths if only small upsets are enough to take over a person and bring them to despair that they'll ever be able to be the Lord's fully.
Today I was attacked spiritually in a very vicious way and I didn't exhibit any Christ-like qualities as I was assaulted. The attack came from more than one side and just threw me for a loop. No, I'm not going to relate some amazing, supernatural occurrence to you. It wasn't a supernatural occurrence but rather situations set up to entice me to be overcome by the sin of unrighteous anger. In the blink of an eye one occurrence took place and while that spark ignited the fire a heart beat later another occurrence caused that small flame to explode and I felt an awful rage of anger and logically there was no real reason for any of it to happen! None! I don't understand why, I just know that I succumbed to the attack and reacted just how Satan wanted me to react. The guilt, the shame, the awful knowledge that my spiritual life was so lacking I could be so easily goaded into sinning pained me something awful. Knowing that others witnessed my unwarranted anger, knowing others were the victims of my failing made me feel sick. Recognizing it all for what it was- a Satanic attack- not of the spectacular but of the ordinary- was a blessing. Asking for forgiveness, letting the others know it was an attack- helped me get through it without too much spiritual damage- PRAISE GOD!
The reason I'm writing about this here in my Bible Study is because we need to recognize the enemy for what He is and what He does. We need to realize His workings not as an excuse like some think we use it for, but for the reality we live in. We need to BLAME Satan for what He does, for what He orchestrates, for the evil He incites, we CAN'T let Him place the blame on us as if He doesn't exist, or worse still we can't let Him place the blame on God.
This Psalm of David has been brought to my attention several times lately and with good reason-
Psa 35:1 A Psalm of David. Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.
Psa 35:2 Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.
Psa 35:3 Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.
Psa 35:4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.
Psa 35:5 Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.
Psa 35:6 Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD persecute them.
The angel of the LORD chase them.
The angel of the LORD persecute them.
Satan is an evil angel and he has many minions of like kind. We might read something like the verses above and instantly imagine living in a time of warfare with human enemies after us- something I know I don't live with at all in that respect. What I live with is spiritual warfare. I need to pray this prayer- I need to ask the Lord to strive with me, to fight against them that fight against me- and those who are the 'them' might just be evil angels, not other human beings. We are told to put on armor- Spiritual armor. We are told to take a helmet, a shield, a sword, a belt, boots, a breastplate- armor. Here in this Psalm David is pleading to God- 'take hold of a shield and buckler- draw out the spear.' Spiritual armor! We need our spiritual enemies to be just as confounded, to be put to shame, to turn back, to be brought to confusion. We need the spiritual enemy to be as chaff in the wind- we need the angel of the Lord to persecute them.
We are in a battle! We are, we really, really are and we can't let anything in this world convince us otherwise. As soon as we begin to believe the battle is fictional we are lost.
It is my prayer along with David's- Plead my cause, O LORD. Plead my cause! Please God- Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation!
By His grace!
Amen.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Jesus' Prayer
What a blessing it is for us personally to hear these words of our Savior--
Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word
That's you and me Jesus is talking about! Jesus is praying for you and me! This prayer is so important for us. Jesus told us specifically that when we pray we shouldn't do so with vain repetitions, that we shouldn't make a great show of it, no public spectacle when we pray but rather go to a closet and pray there, do so in private rather than put your praying on display. So after being told all this we are greatly privileged, blessed, to hear one of Jesus' prayers. Jesus would go away in private to do most of His praying, but this prayer was one we were meant to hear. A prayer to His Father. Communication with His Father, with God the Father, how amazing is this! We get to listen as Jesus speaks with His Father when mentions US.
Let's really listen to this prayer-- Joh 17:1-26
These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said--
Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.
As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!
Joh 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Amazing! Jesus doesn't pray for the world! How shocking that news might be for many who preach that we are to pray for the world. Jesus isn't praying for the world. Jesus knows this world as it is belongs to the prince of darkness. Jesus prays for those that God has given to Him. Those God has given to Him do not find this world to be theirs either.
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
We are NOT supposed to fit in! We are not supposed to look, be, feel, act like the world! We are not supposed to be like the majority! We are not to have their same thoughts or actions. We are not to seek acceptance from the world. If you are hoping to fit in, hoping that the Lord will answer your prayer to make you more like the world- more acceptable to others- then you are not in harmony with Jesus at all. You've had to have heard that that there is a "right" way and a "wrong" way to do things. The right way to most people is the one that doesn't rock any boats, that doesn't make you stand out in a crowd. The wrong way is to go about it in a way that will cause unrest, unease, making people feel uncomfortable- in a way that doesn't conform. Am I suggesting people who serve their Lord and Savior are to be unruly? No. I'm suggesting that we need to stand up for Christ and not be ashamed of Him and do so in a way that the world may not accept. Don't hide our faith, don't try to fit in with the world just so the world accepts you. What good is having the acceptance of EVERYONE on this world and not having the acceptance of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior? Do your peers accept you? Does your family accept you? Do co-workers accept you? Do your neighbors accept you? Do they all follow the Lord? Are they too not of this world? If they are of this world and not of Jesus then you need to ask yourself if you are conforming to their ways- being accepting of their worldliness- so you are accepted, or are they tolerating your ways, the ways of our Lord?
Jesus lived in this world but wasn't of this world! He is our great example. I want to be of Jesus' world, not this world. The more uncomfortable, the more ill-at-ease, the more strange I feel in this world the better, as long as the world I belong to is the same as Jesus' world.
May God bless us as Jesus' prayer is prayed for us even now. By the mercy of our Lord, by His grace!
In Christ now and forever and ever, always.
Amen.
Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word
That's you and me Jesus is talking about! Jesus is praying for you and me! This prayer is so important for us. Jesus told us specifically that when we pray we shouldn't do so with vain repetitions, that we shouldn't make a great show of it, no public spectacle when we pray but rather go to a closet and pray there, do so in private rather than put your praying on display. So after being told all this we are greatly privileged, blessed, to hear one of Jesus' prayers. Jesus would go away in private to do most of His praying, but this prayer was one we were meant to hear. A prayer to His Father. Communication with His Father, with God the Father, how amazing is this! We get to listen as Jesus speaks with His Father when mentions US.
Let's really listen to this prayer-- Joh 17:1-26
These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said--
Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.
As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!
Joh 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Amazing! Jesus doesn't pray for the world! How shocking that news might be for many who preach that we are to pray for the world. Jesus isn't praying for the world. Jesus knows this world as it is belongs to the prince of darkness. Jesus prays for those that God has given to Him. Those God has given to Him do not find this world to be theirs either.
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
We are NOT supposed to fit in! We are not supposed to look, be, feel, act like the world! We are not supposed to be like the majority! We are not to have their same thoughts or actions. We are not to seek acceptance from the world. If you are hoping to fit in, hoping that the Lord will answer your prayer to make you more like the world- more acceptable to others- then you are not in harmony with Jesus at all. You've had to have heard that that there is a "right" way and a "wrong" way to do things. The right way to most people is the one that doesn't rock any boats, that doesn't make you stand out in a crowd. The wrong way is to go about it in a way that will cause unrest, unease, making people feel uncomfortable- in a way that doesn't conform. Am I suggesting people who serve their Lord and Savior are to be unruly? No. I'm suggesting that we need to stand up for Christ and not be ashamed of Him and do so in a way that the world may not accept. Don't hide our faith, don't try to fit in with the world just so the world accepts you. What good is having the acceptance of EVERYONE on this world and not having the acceptance of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior? Do your peers accept you? Does your family accept you? Do co-workers accept you? Do your neighbors accept you? Do they all follow the Lord? Are they too not of this world? If they are of this world and not of Jesus then you need to ask yourself if you are conforming to their ways- being accepting of their worldliness- so you are accepted, or are they tolerating your ways, the ways of our Lord?
Jesus lived in this world but wasn't of this world! He is our great example. I want to be of Jesus' world, not this world. The more uncomfortable, the more ill-at-ease, the more strange I feel in this world the better, as long as the world I belong to is the same as Jesus' world.
May God bless us as Jesus' prayer is prayed for us even now. By the mercy of our Lord, by His grace!
In Christ now and forever and ever, always.
Amen.
Friday, August 20, 2010
How shall we escape....
Heb 2:1-3 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him
Every transgression
Every disobedience…
…will receive its just reward.
Make NO mistake people! No mistake! We have to give EARNEST HEED to what we know, because if we don't, if we just let what we know of salvation slip away we will NOT ESCAPE! If we neglect salvation we will NOT ESCAPE! It's not automatic, eternal life in Christ is NOT automatic. What is automatic is eternal death if we neglect the great salvation of our Savior.
Are you giving earnest heed to your Salvation? What happens when you stop heeding salvation? What happens when eternal life ceases to be a concern and all that matters is the life you have right here on earth now? Should thoughts of salvation be daily thoughts? Should the eternal be a daily contemplation or just something you think about once in a while, from time to time? Should our eternal life be something like retirement? You think about it occasionally and even make a few plans for it, you accept a few conditions here and there about investing in your retirement fund, but it isn't something you bother yourself with every day. Maybe the older you get the more you think about it and then as it approaches you have constant thoughts. If we treat our eternal life in the same way there is a great chance that we will have neglected salvation. No, you say? You will have saved up for eternal life? You will have put away a little something? It doesn't work like that. It's not retirement, it's not a new phase of life as you wait for inevitable dying. Eternal life is just that - eternity. It's so much more important than any sort of retirement. Eternal life needs earnest heeding. Eternal life needs to be experienced every day, constantly. Eternal life needs to be part of our daily life now, not something we think about later on.
How else shall we escape?
Do you really believe that life is nothing more than birth, aging, and death? Do you really believe that here and now is all that life consists of? The real world is the eternal world, not this world we are living on right now. The real world exists beyond this one. Satan would have us believe that this is the real world and all there is and everything else is mere fantasy. Satan would have us believe that we don't have to concern ourselves with heeding earnestly anything spiritually discerned- if we keep our thoughts in the real world, on real problems, on real life will we be okay- that's Satan's plan for any and all he can convince.
Heb 2:1-3 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him
Unless we recognize our sinning and seek salvation through repentance and the grace of our Lord and Savior, unless we realize our need of constant salvation through the righteousness of God's Son, we will have to pay a price for every sin, for every transgression. Our Savior paid the price for us, but we have to live in Him, making that gift available to us. Salvation is the gift of God and it's a gift we have to have in our hearts at all times, a salvation pacemaker if you will. Something with us at all times, working at all times on our behalf. We cannot accept salvation and like a real pacemaker forget about it being there after awhile, we need to be aware of God always. We need to be aware of God's love and the gift of God always. Once you accept Christ as your Savior you are choosing to live for Him.
Mat 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.
The only way this verse if pertinent is if we are praying daily, right? Our Lord and Savior would have us praying daily, He would have us living in Him daily.
Joh 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
Joh 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Joh 17:13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Joh 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Joh 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
Joh 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
Joh 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Joh 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Joh 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
Joh 17:25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord! By His will! Please Lord, please… let the love that God the Father loved His Son with be in us , and Christ be in us now and always! In His righteousness, in His amazing love!
Amen.
Every transgression
Every disobedience…
…will receive its just reward.
Make NO mistake people! No mistake! We have to give EARNEST HEED to what we know, because if we don't, if we just let what we know of salvation slip away we will NOT ESCAPE! If we neglect salvation we will NOT ESCAPE! It's not automatic, eternal life in Christ is NOT automatic. What is automatic is eternal death if we neglect the great salvation of our Savior.
Are you giving earnest heed to your Salvation? What happens when you stop heeding salvation? What happens when eternal life ceases to be a concern and all that matters is the life you have right here on earth now? Should thoughts of salvation be daily thoughts? Should the eternal be a daily contemplation or just something you think about once in a while, from time to time? Should our eternal life be something like retirement? You think about it occasionally and even make a few plans for it, you accept a few conditions here and there about investing in your retirement fund, but it isn't something you bother yourself with every day. Maybe the older you get the more you think about it and then as it approaches you have constant thoughts. If we treat our eternal life in the same way there is a great chance that we will have neglected salvation. No, you say? You will have saved up for eternal life? You will have put away a little something? It doesn't work like that. It's not retirement, it's not a new phase of life as you wait for inevitable dying. Eternal life is just that - eternity. It's so much more important than any sort of retirement. Eternal life needs earnest heeding. Eternal life needs to be experienced every day, constantly. Eternal life needs to be part of our daily life now, not something we think about later on.
How else shall we escape?
Do you really believe that life is nothing more than birth, aging, and death? Do you really believe that here and now is all that life consists of? The real world is the eternal world, not this world we are living on right now. The real world exists beyond this one. Satan would have us believe that this is the real world and all there is and everything else is mere fantasy. Satan would have us believe that we don't have to concern ourselves with heeding earnestly anything spiritually discerned- if we keep our thoughts in the real world, on real problems, on real life will we be okay- that's Satan's plan for any and all he can convince.
Heb 2:1-3 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him
Unless we recognize our sinning and seek salvation through repentance and the grace of our Lord and Savior, unless we realize our need of constant salvation through the righteousness of God's Son, we will have to pay a price for every sin, for every transgression. Our Savior paid the price for us, but we have to live in Him, making that gift available to us. Salvation is the gift of God and it's a gift we have to have in our hearts at all times, a salvation pacemaker if you will. Something with us at all times, working at all times on our behalf. We cannot accept salvation and like a real pacemaker forget about it being there after awhile, we need to be aware of God always. We need to be aware of God's love and the gift of God always. Once you accept Christ as your Savior you are choosing to live for Him.
Mat 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.
The only way this verse if pertinent is if we are praying daily, right? Our Lord and Savior would have us praying daily, He would have us living in Him daily.
Joh 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
Joh 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Joh 17:13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Joh 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Joh 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
Joh 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
Joh 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Joh 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Joh 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
Joh 17:25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord! By His will! Please Lord, please… let the love that God the Father loved His Son with be in us , and Christ be in us now and always! In His righteousness, in His amazing love!
Amen.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
No angel sits at the right hand of God.
Heb 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?
None. He said this to NONE of the angels. So while angels have their place in the grand scheme of things, a great place, they cannot compare to the Son of God.
Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
Angels sent forth to minister to ME! Angels sent forth to minister to YOU! We would be heirs of salvation and we have angels to help us. Even in our darkest hour angels are surrounding us- protecting our salvation. Would we have it any other way? Sometimes we want help right now for our temporal life and that's not such a bad thing, but more importantly we need help for our eternal life and suffering here and now is nothing as long as we holdfast to the prize of salvation. Life weebles and wobbles all the time. One day it's wonderful the next day it's filled with horror. Everything in our life can be taken from us. All our money can be stolen, lost, spent. Our health can go from perfect to deadly in a blink of an eye. There is NOTHING in this world that can't be stripped from us, nothing! I've heard these words in a song, but they are from the Bible--
Php 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Php 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Everything is counted as loss. Anything we have, everything we've gained whether it's mental gain, emotional gain, physical gain… it's all counted as loss… if we have Christ!
There isn't ONE thing you can possess in any fashion that is worth more than the possession of salvation through our Lord and Savior.
Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
We ARE ministered to. We might not realize it, but we are and in the ONLY way that matters, in a way we cannot fathom, in the way of the invisible. We can't see the angels that surround us as we engage in this unseen war that most people don't even WANT to realize exists. The unseen war is fiction and fairy tale, the stuff of fantasy to the majority of people. The unseen war isn't real- ask most people you meet if they believe in the unseen war, the battle of principalities and powers and they'll give you a look that tells you that you belong in a loony bin.
Keep it real. You've heard that before, right? Keep it real. This is as real as it gets. Eternal life real. I refuse to believe that this screwed up life right now is the only life we are supposed to ever have. Call me crazy if you want, but I'd rather be considered living in a dream world than having my feet firm in reality if it means giving up my belief in eternal life, my belief in the unseen world beyond this one.
Angels sent forth to minister to us- heirs of salvation. Are you an heir of salvation? By the grace of our Lord, through His love, mercy, His forgiveness and His righteousness we can be heirs of salvation. And being heirs of salvation we can be assured that behind the veil that separates our sight from the unseen world angels are there to keep us in our path of salvation, protecting us, ministering to us in the way of the eternal all because of our Savior's love! All because our Lord sit's at the Father's right hand.
Heb 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?
No angels sits at the right hand of God, our Savior sits there and the angels are sent forth by Him to help us. Praise God!
In His Love now and forever!
Amen.
None. He said this to NONE of the angels. So while angels have their place in the grand scheme of things, a great place, they cannot compare to the Son of God.
Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
Angels sent forth to minister to ME! Angels sent forth to minister to YOU! We would be heirs of salvation and we have angels to help us. Even in our darkest hour angels are surrounding us- protecting our salvation. Would we have it any other way? Sometimes we want help right now for our temporal life and that's not such a bad thing, but more importantly we need help for our eternal life and suffering here and now is nothing as long as we holdfast to the prize of salvation. Life weebles and wobbles all the time. One day it's wonderful the next day it's filled with horror. Everything in our life can be taken from us. All our money can be stolen, lost, spent. Our health can go from perfect to deadly in a blink of an eye. There is NOTHING in this world that can't be stripped from us, nothing! I've heard these words in a song, but they are from the Bible--
Php 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Php 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Everything is counted as loss. Anything we have, everything we've gained whether it's mental gain, emotional gain, physical gain… it's all counted as loss… if we have Christ!
There isn't ONE thing you can possess in any fashion that is worth more than the possession of salvation through our Lord and Savior.
Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
We ARE ministered to. We might not realize it, but we are and in the ONLY way that matters, in a way we cannot fathom, in the way of the invisible. We can't see the angels that surround us as we engage in this unseen war that most people don't even WANT to realize exists. The unseen war is fiction and fairy tale, the stuff of fantasy to the majority of people. The unseen war isn't real- ask most people you meet if they believe in the unseen war, the battle of principalities and powers and they'll give you a look that tells you that you belong in a loony bin.
Keep it real. You've heard that before, right? Keep it real. This is as real as it gets. Eternal life real. I refuse to believe that this screwed up life right now is the only life we are supposed to ever have. Call me crazy if you want, but I'd rather be considered living in a dream world than having my feet firm in reality if it means giving up my belief in eternal life, my belief in the unseen world beyond this one.
Angels sent forth to minister to us- heirs of salvation. Are you an heir of salvation? By the grace of our Lord, through His love, mercy, His forgiveness and His righteousness we can be heirs of salvation. And being heirs of salvation we can be assured that behind the veil that separates our sight from the unseen world angels are there to keep us in our path of salvation, protecting us, ministering to us in the way of the eternal all because of our Savior's love! All because our Lord sit's at the Father's right hand.
Heb 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?
No angels sits at the right hand of God, our Savior sits there and the angels are sent forth by Him to help us. Praise God!
In His Love now and forever!
Amen.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Everything can fail but our LORD!
Heb 1:10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
Heb 1:11 They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
Heb 1:12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
Have you ever made anything? Stupid question, right? Of course you've made things. You've followed a recipe, you've planted a flower, you've taken a blank piece of paper and drawn on it, you've had an art project in school that you had to create, right? You've taken things and used them to create other things. There are very few people who have never held a crayon and drawn a picture. Even people who live in complete poverty and only have mud puddles to play with end up creating things. A scrap of cloth along with an imagination becomes so much. We know what creation is and we can only grasp minutely that the foundation of this earth we live on was created by our Lord. Scientists and skeptics, the faithless of all walks would have us believe we just are. End of story, we exist and that's that. Sure, let's toy with the idea of mankind transforming from ape creatures over millions and billions of years, and let us entertain the idea of alien creatures planting us here millions of years ago. Let us even imagine that life itself popped into existence in some watery ooze and as a microscopic creature crawled out of that ooze and became a human being over years of transformation. The belief that our world was created by our Lord takes faith. Faith that some call foolishness. Not only did the Lord lay the foundation of earth He laid the foundation of the HEAVENS.
We look at our world and the heavens and believe they are everlasting- barring any unforeseen asteroid, or nuclear war. Yet they aren't. This world is waxing old, wearing out… is it the greenhouse effect? We are calling it that and at the same time denying it. This world can perish, SHALL perish. Whatever the reason behind it all - as we search for reasons so it can be stopped- it will continue to wax old, it will continue to wear out. Sin has degraded not only the people but the world in devastating ways. Only the Lord's mercy has kept this world from being destroyed.
This world and the heavens will wax old, they shall perish, like an old shirt they will be folded up…tossed away…changed! And while this earth is changed, and while the heavens perish, the LORD will NEVER change. The Lord's years will NEVER fail.
Everything we know can disappear and fade away. Everything we believe is tangible all around us can perish, everything! We can't allow ourselves to believe that anything on earth or in the heavens is untouchable by our Lord. So many people like to explain away Biblical miracles by finding supposed scientific reasons for those miracles- anything so that their faith doesn't have to be engaged. Those people will come face to face with our Lord and Savior one day and in that day all their reasoning's will mean nothing.
Can we fix the world? No.
Can we fix the sin problem? No.
Can God fix the world? Yes.
Can God fix the sin problem? Yes.
God can fix the world, and God can fix the sin problem, in fact He has. We know that this world isn't our home, that there will be a new world. We know that God's Son sacrificed Himself so that we would not have to eternally die and sin would not eternally live. We know all this by FAITH! By FAITH in our LORD, in our SAVIOR, our CREATOR!
This world was created, it didn't just happen by chance. This world and the heavens are God's handiwork and there are many, many miraculous, stunning sights on this earth from the tiniest miracle to the largest- all created, not just in existence by happenstance.
Faith.
Heb 1:10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
Heb 1:11 They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
Heb 1:12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
EVERYTHING can fail, but our LORD. Nothing is sure but our LORD. In all things, when lives are turned upside-down in a blink of an eye, our LORD is sure.
All praise, all glory, and all honor unto our LORD forever and ever without end!
Amen!
Heb 1:11 They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
Heb 1:12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
Have you ever made anything? Stupid question, right? Of course you've made things. You've followed a recipe, you've planted a flower, you've taken a blank piece of paper and drawn on it, you've had an art project in school that you had to create, right? You've taken things and used them to create other things. There are very few people who have never held a crayon and drawn a picture. Even people who live in complete poverty and only have mud puddles to play with end up creating things. A scrap of cloth along with an imagination becomes so much. We know what creation is and we can only grasp minutely that the foundation of this earth we live on was created by our Lord. Scientists and skeptics, the faithless of all walks would have us believe we just are. End of story, we exist and that's that. Sure, let's toy with the idea of mankind transforming from ape creatures over millions and billions of years, and let us entertain the idea of alien creatures planting us here millions of years ago. Let us even imagine that life itself popped into existence in some watery ooze and as a microscopic creature crawled out of that ooze and became a human being over years of transformation. The belief that our world was created by our Lord takes faith. Faith that some call foolishness. Not only did the Lord lay the foundation of earth He laid the foundation of the HEAVENS.
We look at our world and the heavens and believe they are everlasting- barring any unforeseen asteroid, or nuclear war. Yet they aren't. This world is waxing old, wearing out… is it the greenhouse effect? We are calling it that and at the same time denying it. This world can perish, SHALL perish. Whatever the reason behind it all - as we search for reasons so it can be stopped- it will continue to wax old, it will continue to wear out. Sin has degraded not only the people but the world in devastating ways. Only the Lord's mercy has kept this world from being destroyed.
This world and the heavens will wax old, they shall perish, like an old shirt they will be folded up…tossed away…changed! And while this earth is changed, and while the heavens perish, the LORD will NEVER change. The Lord's years will NEVER fail.
Everything we know can disappear and fade away. Everything we believe is tangible all around us can perish, everything! We can't allow ourselves to believe that anything on earth or in the heavens is untouchable by our Lord. So many people like to explain away Biblical miracles by finding supposed scientific reasons for those miracles- anything so that their faith doesn't have to be engaged. Those people will come face to face with our Lord and Savior one day and in that day all their reasoning's will mean nothing.
Can we fix the world? No.
Can we fix the sin problem? No.
Can God fix the world? Yes.
Can God fix the sin problem? Yes.
God can fix the world, and God can fix the sin problem, in fact He has. We know that this world isn't our home, that there will be a new world. We know that God's Son sacrificed Himself so that we would not have to eternally die and sin would not eternally live. We know all this by FAITH! By FAITH in our LORD, in our SAVIOR, our CREATOR!
This world was created, it didn't just happen by chance. This world and the heavens are God's handiwork and there are many, many miraculous, stunning sights on this earth from the tiniest miracle to the largest- all created, not just in existence by happenstance.
Faith.
Heb 1:10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
Heb 1:11 They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
Heb 1:12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
EVERYTHING can fail, but our LORD. Nothing is sure but our LORD. In all things, when lives are turned upside-down in a blink of an eye, our LORD is sure.
All praise, all glory, and all honor unto our LORD forever and ever without end!
Amen!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Christ's Authority- Christ's Rghteousness
Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Heb 1:4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
God's Son… made so much better than the angels.
People would doubt that there could be anything better than being like an angel, wouldn't they? Think about it. Who wouldn't want to have a spirit form that can transform into solid form at will? We make movies about this sort of dream life, this supernatural ability, this super power. Jesus was made HUMAN. Was Jesus able to turn into all spirit form and no flesh as a human being before He died and was raised from the dead in His human form that others were not to touch until He ascended to the Father? We know that He could walk on water, we know that He could get a boat and all the people in it to a shore having been in the middle of the lake in a blink of an eye, we know that He could change water into wine, we know He could heal people. We know that Jesus possessed powers that He could use and even give to others to use. Jesus was made BETTER than the angels, and by inheritance He obtained a more excellent name. Jesus had the best of both worlds- spiritual and physical, human and God. Angels are not gods. Angels are created beings. Jesus is from everlasting in His spirit form. He was created in the womb of a human to take on human form- his substance joined with human substance- a baby conceived in a miracle of the Spirit. Jesus also experienced the worst of humanity, this is something we can never forget.
Angels can never be human. Angels may be able to take on the appearance of flesh, but they can never be flesh. So many humans trapped in decaying flesh, trapped in bodies filled with aches and pains, disease and frailty, long for the disappearance of their flesh bodies wanting what angels have-- yet we have NO real concept of what angels experience.
We do know that our human flesh will be transformed in the twinkling of an eye when Christ comes and takes us to heaven with Him, even the dead in Christ will rise and take on this new, transformed body and it's easy for me to assume it will be a body like Jesus' body after He rose from the grave and ascended to His Father.
Heb 1:5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
There is so much to contemplate when thinking about what it means - Jesus being made so much better than the angels. Only to Jesus did God ever say- '...Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee, And again I will be to him a Father and he shall be to me a Son'
No angel ever heard those words from God. Jesus- a god in and of Himself- was there creating the worlds. Jesus- a god in and of Himself- lowered himself to take on human flesh, divesting Himself of His spirit form. Jesus- a god in and of Himself- the son of God the Father- received honor from the Father as no angel ever could.
Heb 1:6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
Heb 1:7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
God made the angels spirits.
God made the angels-his ministers- flames of fire.
But...
Heb 1:8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
Amazing! God said to His Son-
Thy throne O God
is for ever and ever
a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
Christ's righteousness is the sceptre of the kingdom, a sceptre is a symbol of authority. Christ's symbol of His authority is His righteousness, that is so beautiful! It really is beautiful. Is it no wonder we need Christ's righteousness? We have none of our own and only Christ's righteousness will prevail. Christ's authority, by His authority we live.
Heb 1:9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
Beautiful.
The love of righteousness.
The hate of sin.
Jesus anointed with the oil of gladness above all others.
You know, Satan thinks He's better than our Savior, better than God's Son. Satan dared to tempt Jesus with things as one who is greater than the Son of God.
Mat 4:8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Mat 4:9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
How incomprehensible!!! That Satan, a fallen angel, full of sin, the father of lies is deluded into believing he could have anything the Son of God could want.
Satan would give to the Son of God, as if the Son of God couldn't take anything He wanted, as if the world wasn't already His.
Yes, the Son of God was anointed with the oil of gladness above all.
The Son of God who for OUR SAKE took on human flesh in all its frailty, who suffered, who died for us. There is no other love so amazing, none!
In His righteousness, in His love, by His grace, through His mercy!!!
All glory to God and His Son!
Amen.
Heb 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Heb 1:4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
God's Son… made so much better than the angels.
People would doubt that there could be anything better than being like an angel, wouldn't they? Think about it. Who wouldn't want to have a spirit form that can transform into solid form at will? We make movies about this sort of dream life, this supernatural ability, this super power. Jesus was made HUMAN. Was Jesus able to turn into all spirit form and no flesh as a human being before He died and was raised from the dead in His human form that others were not to touch until He ascended to the Father? We know that He could walk on water, we know that He could get a boat and all the people in it to a shore having been in the middle of the lake in a blink of an eye, we know that He could change water into wine, we know He could heal people. We know that Jesus possessed powers that He could use and even give to others to use. Jesus was made BETTER than the angels, and by inheritance He obtained a more excellent name. Jesus had the best of both worlds- spiritual and physical, human and God. Angels are not gods. Angels are created beings. Jesus is from everlasting in His spirit form. He was created in the womb of a human to take on human form- his substance joined with human substance- a baby conceived in a miracle of the Spirit. Jesus also experienced the worst of humanity, this is something we can never forget.
Angels can never be human. Angels may be able to take on the appearance of flesh, but they can never be flesh. So many humans trapped in decaying flesh, trapped in bodies filled with aches and pains, disease and frailty, long for the disappearance of their flesh bodies wanting what angels have-- yet we have NO real concept of what angels experience.
We do know that our human flesh will be transformed in the twinkling of an eye when Christ comes and takes us to heaven with Him, even the dead in Christ will rise and take on this new, transformed body and it's easy for me to assume it will be a body like Jesus' body after He rose from the grave and ascended to His Father.
Heb 1:5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
There is so much to contemplate when thinking about what it means - Jesus being made so much better than the angels. Only to Jesus did God ever say- '...Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee, And again I will be to him a Father and he shall be to me a Son'
No angel ever heard those words from God. Jesus- a god in and of Himself- was there creating the worlds. Jesus- a god in and of Himself- lowered himself to take on human flesh, divesting Himself of His spirit form. Jesus- a god in and of Himself- the son of God the Father- received honor from the Father as no angel ever could.
Heb 1:6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
Heb 1:7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
God made the angels spirits.
God made the angels-his ministers- flames of fire.
But...
Heb 1:8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
Amazing! God said to His Son-
Thy throne O God
is for ever and ever
a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
Christ's righteousness is the sceptre of the kingdom, a sceptre is a symbol of authority. Christ's symbol of His authority is His righteousness, that is so beautiful! It really is beautiful. Is it no wonder we need Christ's righteousness? We have none of our own and only Christ's righteousness will prevail. Christ's authority, by His authority we live.
Heb 1:9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
Beautiful.
The love of righteousness.
The hate of sin.
Jesus anointed with the oil of gladness above all others.
You know, Satan thinks He's better than our Savior, better than God's Son. Satan dared to tempt Jesus with things as one who is greater than the Son of God.
Mat 4:8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Mat 4:9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
How incomprehensible!!! That Satan, a fallen angel, full of sin, the father of lies is deluded into believing he could have anything the Son of God could want.
Satan would give to the Son of God, as if the Son of God couldn't take anything He wanted, as if the world wasn't already His.
Yes, the Son of God was anointed with the oil of gladness above all.
The Son of God who for OUR SAKE took on human flesh in all its frailty, who suffered, who died for us. There is no other love so amazing, none!
In His righteousness, in His love, by His grace, through His mercy!!!
All glory to God and His Son!
Amen.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Spoken Unto Us By His Son
Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
sun·dry
[suhn-dree]
1.
various or diverse
Pasted from
di·vers
[dahy-verz]
1.
several; various; sundry
Pasted from
God spoke to mankind through prophets.
Prophets-
G4396
prophētēs
prof-ay'-tace
From a compound of G4253 and G5346; a foreteller (“prophet”); by analogy an inspired speaker; by extension a poet: - prophet.
A foreteller-an inspired speaker-a poet.
We live in a day and age where believing in foretellers(fortune tellers), believing in 'inspired' speakers, believing any poet might be receiving messages from God to relate to us is very skeptical, but at the same time quirky enough to be accepted. Do you suppose it was always this way? Believers and non-believers? Skeptics and non-skeptics? Along with those the wavering sort who believe sometimes but not other times? It's factual that God used men to speak to His people, to speak to others, and they were called prophets. Wherever there is a true there is a false but when God needed to get His message across to one and all He did so and usually through miracles. When God sent messages that were meant for His people to take a leap of faith there wouldn't necessarily be any miracle to reveal the power of the one and only God. Messages from God came in different ways and at different times. God did not use just one way, and God did not just give His messages at a certain time. It was accepted without doubt that God used men and women to be His prophets. Here in Hebrews it continues…
Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds
The word continues…. God… spoke through His Son. The equating here between God choosing to use prophets -ordinary men- in the past to reveal His word and now using His Son is remarked upon. The past contained the word of God through ordinary human vessels, the present contained the Word of God through God's own Son. The importance of the words coming from God's Son, not originating from the Son but the Father can't be overlooked. Even Jesus pointed us to the fact He was doing the will of the Father, not His own will.
Joh 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
His entire life was spent doing the will of the Father. He was the ultimate prophet.
God appointed His Son to be heir of ALL things.
God made the worlds by His Son.
The uniqueness of God's Son can never be overlooked. His words holy. His words God's will.
Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high
God's Son- the brightness of His glory!
God's Son- the express image of His person!
God's Son- upholding ALL things by the word of His power!
God's Son- purged our sins.
God's Son- sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High.
Some people get confused by this part of the verse- 'purged our sins', as if sin no longer exists in us. When we think of purged we think of it with a sense of finality. Gone. God's Son earned the right to do away with sin in us. God's Son paid the price needed to rid the world of sin. God's Son could sit at the right hand of His Father sinless.
This literal translation from Young's Literal Translation of the Bible- says it a different way- 'through Himself having made a cleansing of our sins…'
Heb. 1:3 who being the brightness of the glory, and the impress of His subsistence, bearing up also the all things by the saying of his might--through himself having made a cleansing of our sins, sat down at the right hand of the greatness in the highest
And this translation is from the International Standard Version of the Bible.
Heb 1:3 He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact likeness of his being, and he holds everything together by his powerful word. After he had provided a cleansing from sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Highest Majesty
'After He had provided a cleansing from sins…'
Jesus provided a way for sin's purging. Jesus provided a way for sin's removal. Up until this time sin was only removed through the sacrificial sanctuary services by the priests, and more decidedly the High Priest once a year cleansed all the sin brought to the temple. A person brought their sin sacrifice and offered it with the assistance of a priest, after the sacrifice was made they left the temple with their sin covered by the blood of that sacrifice, the price had been paid for their sin. Yet, even after that act, once a year there was a full cleansing of the priests, rulers, people, and the temple itself, a day when ALL people had to afflict their souls, all had to fast and keep the day as holy.
No longer would anyone have to bring a sacrifice to the temple.
No longer would anyone have to have the assistance of an earthly priest.
God's Son was the Sacrifice and God's Son sits in the Heavenly Temple having made the sacrifice necessary for sin to be forgiven.
Jesus --
God's Son- the brightness of His glory!
God's Son- the express image of His person!
God's Son- upholding ALL things by the word of His power!
God's Son- purged our sins.
God's Son- sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High.
Studying the book of Hebrews is going to take some time, and I pray God blesses us all as we seek a fuller understanding of His will. Praise God for His amazing love, for the forgiveness He offers to us who deserve nothing. By the grace of our Lord, our Savior, alone are we saved- through faith in Him and all He's done for us.
All glory to God!
Amen.
sun·dry
[suhn-dree]
1.
various or diverse
Pasted from
di·vers
[dahy-verz]
1.
several; various; sundry
Pasted from
God spoke to mankind through prophets.
Prophets-
G4396
prophētēs
prof-ay'-tace
From a compound of G4253 and G5346; a foreteller (“prophet”); by analogy an inspired speaker; by extension a poet: - prophet.
A foreteller-an inspired speaker-a poet.
We live in a day and age where believing in foretellers(fortune tellers), believing in 'inspired' speakers, believing any poet might be receiving messages from God to relate to us is very skeptical, but at the same time quirky enough to be accepted. Do you suppose it was always this way? Believers and non-believers? Skeptics and non-skeptics? Along with those the wavering sort who believe sometimes but not other times? It's factual that God used men to speak to His people, to speak to others, and they were called prophets. Wherever there is a true there is a false but when God needed to get His message across to one and all He did so and usually through miracles. When God sent messages that were meant for His people to take a leap of faith there wouldn't necessarily be any miracle to reveal the power of the one and only God. Messages from God came in different ways and at different times. God did not use just one way, and God did not just give His messages at a certain time. It was accepted without doubt that God used men and women to be His prophets. Here in Hebrews it continues…
Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds
The word continues…. God… spoke through His Son. The equating here between God choosing to use prophets -ordinary men- in the past to reveal His word and now using His Son is remarked upon. The past contained the word of God through ordinary human vessels, the present contained the Word of God through God's own Son. The importance of the words coming from God's Son, not originating from the Son but the Father can't be overlooked. Even Jesus pointed us to the fact He was doing the will of the Father, not His own will.
Joh 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
His entire life was spent doing the will of the Father. He was the ultimate prophet.
God appointed His Son to be heir of ALL things.
God made the worlds by His Son.
The uniqueness of God's Son can never be overlooked. His words holy. His words God's will.
Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high
God's Son- the brightness of His glory!
God's Son- the express image of His person!
God's Son- upholding ALL things by the word of His power!
God's Son- purged our sins.
God's Son- sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High.
Some people get confused by this part of the verse- 'purged our sins', as if sin no longer exists in us. When we think of purged we think of it with a sense of finality. Gone. God's Son earned the right to do away with sin in us. God's Son paid the price needed to rid the world of sin. God's Son could sit at the right hand of His Father sinless.
This literal translation from Young's Literal Translation of the Bible- says it a different way- 'through Himself having made a cleansing of our sins…'
Heb. 1:3 who being the brightness of the glory, and the impress of His subsistence, bearing up also the all things by the saying of his might--through himself having made a cleansing of our sins, sat down at the right hand of the greatness in the highest
And this translation is from the International Standard Version of the Bible.
Heb 1:3 He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact likeness of his being, and he holds everything together by his powerful word. After he had provided a cleansing from sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Highest Majesty
'After He had provided a cleansing from sins…'
Jesus provided a way for sin's purging. Jesus provided a way for sin's removal. Up until this time sin was only removed through the sacrificial sanctuary services by the priests, and more decidedly the High Priest once a year cleansed all the sin brought to the temple. A person brought their sin sacrifice and offered it with the assistance of a priest, after the sacrifice was made they left the temple with their sin covered by the blood of that sacrifice, the price had been paid for their sin. Yet, even after that act, once a year there was a full cleansing of the priests, rulers, people, and the temple itself, a day when ALL people had to afflict their souls, all had to fast and keep the day as holy.
No longer would anyone have to bring a sacrifice to the temple.
No longer would anyone have to have the assistance of an earthly priest.
God's Son was the Sacrifice and God's Son sits in the Heavenly Temple having made the sacrifice necessary for sin to be forgiven.
Jesus --
God's Son- the brightness of His glory!
God's Son- the express image of His person!
God's Son- upholding ALL things by the word of His power!
God's Son- purged our sins.
God's Son- sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High.
Studying the book of Hebrews is going to take some time, and I pray God blesses us all as we seek a fuller understanding of His will. Praise God for His amazing love, for the forgiveness He offers to us who deserve nothing. By the grace of our Lord, our Savior, alone are we saved- through faith in Him and all He's done for us.
All glory to God!
Amen.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
The Whole Matter
Ecc 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Ecc 12:14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Exo 20:20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.
The conclusion of the WHOLE matter. We like conclusions. We like knowing what the whole matter is. We like knowing the end from the beginning especially when it concerns our eternal life. The matter is this… life. Isn't that what the matter is? Seriously. We live. We want to keep living. We want to live in health. We want to live in happiness. We want life as we imagined it was meant to be upon our creation. Life in peace, in wonder, in awe, in love. People will say that love without angst isn't love, but that's our warped minds playing that old tune. We've become so twisted and sin sick that we tell ourselves we need the bad to know what the good is. We are so wretched in our thinking that we can no longer believe that there can be good without evil. We imagine a life of pure boredom without any obstacles to overcome and that's how Satan would have us believe. As long as we continue in our sin sickness we are His.
The whole matter is life. Without life there is nothingness. We've most likely all seen depicted on television a person dying. Some of us may have even witnessed a death in real life. Certainly most of us have read this somewhere or other, that you can see life draining out of a person's eyes. The dead stare remains, the empty look into nothingness. Without life there really is nothing. The whole matter is life and not only life now, but life everlasting.
The absolute conclusion, the end of the whole matter is-- Fear God and keep His commandments. Whether this is reverencing God or actually fearing God it doesn't matter. To reverence God is to believe in His authority, respecting His authority as Creator, as Redeemer. To fear God is to understand that He holds all the power in His hands, power over our eternal life, power over our mortal life. The whole matter concluded is fearing God and keeping His commandments. Understanding that God is ruler over all and His commandments must be kept. God is a ruler, God has commands for us. Has God forever had commands to follow? God existing from everlasting to everlasting is the same from everlasting, right?
Psa 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
God is God. His ways haven't changed. God isn't going to change from one moment to the next making laws one day that are meaningless the next. In all He's done, God has done so with purpose with love His driving force.
If you had the power to rid the world of evil, would you?
Think about it, seriously. Would you destroy all evil? I'd love to say, of course you would. I'd like to think I would in a heartbeat. I can't see the end from the beginning though, and certainly not all life in between. God can see it all. To destroy sin is a much more complex matter than simply speaking it gone and it's gone. God has done all He can do, God has done everything within His power to save mankind. All that would be saved by a loving God, all that fear Him and keep His commandments which he's not kept secret, will be saved.
This is the WHOLE matter. Fearing God. Keeping God's commandments. God's commandments --
1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
We imagine them to be so though, don't we? Commands that are just TOO hard to keep. Commands that are IMPOSSIBLE for us to keep. If we are caught up in sin and have no love for God, then yes, His commands will seem impossible to keep. Through His love we can keep His commandments. Through His love we automatically keep His commandments. The question was raised not too long ago about God's commandments in heaven, with sin being this--
1Jn 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
The question was - did God have laws in heaven? If Satan sinned then He had to have transgressed the law of God. In a world where love abounds sin would be foreign to it. God's laws wouldn't have needed to be given like we have been given them.
There are a lot of questions, a lot of things we can't understand. God's love is real. God's love is revealed in His laws- and His laws are only burdensome when we would transgress them and do away with that love. We need to fall on the mercy of God. We need to beg forgiveness. We need to understand the whole matter and in understanding we need to determine through the righteousness of Christ to fear God and keep His commandments now and always.
Psa 103:17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children
By Your Grace!
Amen.
Ecc 12:14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Exo 20:20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.
The conclusion of the WHOLE matter. We like conclusions. We like knowing what the whole matter is. We like knowing the end from the beginning especially when it concerns our eternal life. The matter is this… life. Isn't that what the matter is? Seriously. We live. We want to keep living. We want to live in health. We want to live in happiness. We want life as we imagined it was meant to be upon our creation. Life in peace, in wonder, in awe, in love. People will say that love without angst isn't love, but that's our warped minds playing that old tune. We've become so twisted and sin sick that we tell ourselves we need the bad to know what the good is. We are so wretched in our thinking that we can no longer believe that there can be good without evil. We imagine a life of pure boredom without any obstacles to overcome and that's how Satan would have us believe. As long as we continue in our sin sickness we are His.
The whole matter is life. Without life there is nothingness. We've most likely all seen depicted on television a person dying. Some of us may have even witnessed a death in real life. Certainly most of us have read this somewhere or other, that you can see life draining out of a person's eyes. The dead stare remains, the empty look into nothingness. Without life there really is nothing. The whole matter is life and not only life now, but life everlasting.
The absolute conclusion, the end of the whole matter is-- Fear God and keep His commandments. Whether this is reverencing God or actually fearing God it doesn't matter. To reverence God is to believe in His authority, respecting His authority as Creator, as Redeemer. To fear God is to understand that He holds all the power in His hands, power over our eternal life, power over our mortal life. The whole matter concluded is fearing God and keeping His commandments. Understanding that God is ruler over all and His commandments must be kept. God is a ruler, God has commands for us. Has God forever had commands to follow? God existing from everlasting to everlasting is the same from everlasting, right?
Psa 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
God is God. His ways haven't changed. God isn't going to change from one moment to the next making laws one day that are meaningless the next. In all He's done, God has done so with purpose with love His driving force.
If you had the power to rid the world of evil, would you?
Think about it, seriously. Would you destroy all evil? I'd love to say, of course you would. I'd like to think I would in a heartbeat. I can't see the end from the beginning though, and certainly not all life in between. God can see it all. To destroy sin is a much more complex matter than simply speaking it gone and it's gone. God has done all He can do, God has done everything within His power to save mankind. All that would be saved by a loving God, all that fear Him and keep His commandments which he's not kept secret, will be saved.
This is the WHOLE matter. Fearing God. Keeping God's commandments. God's commandments --
1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
We imagine them to be so though, don't we? Commands that are just TOO hard to keep. Commands that are IMPOSSIBLE for us to keep. If we are caught up in sin and have no love for God, then yes, His commands will seem impossible to keep. Through His love we can keep His commandments. Through His love we automatically keep His commandments. The question was raised not too long ago about God's commandments in heaven, with sin being this--
1Jn 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
The question was - did God have laws in heaven? If Satan sinned then He had to have transgressed the law of God. In a world where love abounds sin would be foreign to it. God's laws wouldn't have needed to be given like we have been given them.
There are a lot of questions, a lot of things we can't understand. God's love is real. God's love is revealed in His laws- and His laws are only burdensome when we would transgress them and do away with that love. We need to fall on the mercy of God. We need to beg forgiveness. We need to understand the whole matter and in understanding we need to determine through the righteousness of Christ to fear God and keep His commandments now and always.
Psa 103:17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children
By Your Grace!
Amen.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Sanctuary Cleansing
Heb 3:1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;
Christ Jesus- the HIGH PRIEST of our profession.
The High Priest.
What is a High Priest?
High Priest according to Easton's Dictionary--
Aaron was the first who was solemnly set apart to this office (Exo_29:7; Exo_30:23; Lev_8:12). He wore a peculiar dress, which on his death passed to his successor in office (Exo_29:29, Exo_29:30). Besides those garments which he wore in common with all priests, there were four that were peculiar to himself as high priest (see Easton's Dictionary for a more thorough description). http://www2.mf.no/bibelprog/easton?word=high+priest
To the high priest alone it was permitted to enter the holy of holies, which he did only once a year, on the great Day of Atonement, for “the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest” (Heb. 9; 10).
Wearing his gorgeous priestly vestments, he entered the temple before all the people, and then, laying them aside and assuming only his linen garments in secret, he entered the holy of holies alone, and made expiation, sprinkling the blood of the sin offering on the mercy seat, and offering up incense. Then resuming his splendid robes, he reappeared before the people (Lev. 16). Thus the wearing of these robes came to be identified with the Day of Atonement.
*******
The High Priest-
It's very important for us to understand our Lord's role as a High Priest. This was an office held for many, many years through the line of the family of Aaron- of the tribe of Levi. An office that was held by a man and this man had special duties to perform as High Priest.
From the Jewish Encyclopedia-
Sanctity and Functions.
The distinguished rank of the high priest is apparent from the fact that his sins are regarded as belonging also to the people (Lev. iv. 3, 22). He was entrusted with the stewardship of the Urim and Thummim (Num. xxvii. 20 et seq.). On the Day of Atonement he alone entered the Holy of Holies, to make atonement for his house and for the people (Lev. xvi.); on that occasion he wore white linen garments instead of his ordinary and more costly vestments. He alone could offer the sacrifices for the sins of the priests, or of the people, or of himself (Lev. iv.); and only he could officiate at the sacrifices following his own or another priest's consecration (Lev. ix.). He also offered a meal- offering every morning and evening for himself and the whole body of the priesthood (Lev. vi. 14-15, though the wording of the law is not altogether definite). Other information concerning his functions is not given. He was privileged, probably, to take part at his own pleasure in any of the priestly rites. Josephus ("B. J." v. 5, § 7) contends that the high priest almost invariably participated in the ceremonies on the Sabbath, the New Moon, and the festivals. This may also be inferred from the glowing description given in Ecclus. (Sirach) i. of the high priest's appearance at the altar.
Pasted from
*******
Jesus is our High Priest in heaven. It's no coincidence that there would be High Priests performing many sacred duties connected to God's Holy Temple. The pattern of the heavenly recreated in the earthly. No, they are not the same in many ways because the difference between something heavenly and something earthly is greater than we can fathom. We were given an example to follow, an example of something greater. I can give you an example of something but it's not the something, only an example. I can give you a pattern and you can follow that completely but if I'm telling you to use materials that are indigenous to where you live it won't be the exact replica in the material sense as the one you are using the pattern for. I might have soft yarn to use in a crochet pattern for a shawl, but you might only have coarse yarn available. The coarse shawl won't be exact in material but it will be a exact duplicate of my shawl in construction. The heavenly sanctuary was the pattern for the earthly, the service to be perform was that which would bring man in communion with God. The heavenly sanctuary depicts that until sin is completely eradicated we have a need of a heavenly intercessor between us and God.
Let's read more about our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary-
Heb 3:1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus
Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Heb 7:26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens
Heb 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Perhaps a more thorough study of the book of Hebrews is called for. We need to learn about our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary. We talk about the end of the world and see so many signs of this growing closer and closer. Think about it… once every year the earthly sanctuary was to be cleansed on the Day of Atonement. There was a whole service that day dedicated to removing all the sin from the temple that had been placed there throughout the year, it wasn't something done with a few words. There were several sacrifices made to do this, several cleansing on that day of cleansing.
Lev 16:11 And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself:
Lev 16:15 Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat
Lev 16:17 And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel.
Lev 16:18 And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about.
Lev 16:20 And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat
This all took place on the day of atonement- reconciling of the holy place, of the tabernacle, of the congregation, of the altar- reconciliation for the high priest himself and his family, reconciliation for the people.
Christ our High Priest in a heavenly sanctuary is doing this work of reconciliation, this work of cleansing, full cleansing. Christ is ministering in the heavenly sanctuary for you and I and there will come a day when that work will be done. We don't know the day nor the hour, but we can read the signs of the times given to us.
Dan 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
Dan 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
A time will come when Christ will finish His work in the heavenly sanctuary, make no mistake about it, no mistake at all.
Rev 22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
Rev 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
Rev 22:13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Rev 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
This day will come.
Right now our High Priest, Jesus Christ is ministering in the Heavenly Sanctuary, a Sanctuary that will not be found in the New Jerusalem when it comes down out of heaven to earth. The sanctuary that reveals the fact that God wants to be reconciled to us and has done all He could to make this happen. There will be a day when the reconciliation is complete, but that day is not yet. We are still here on this sin-filled earth filled with it's loathsome evil, ruled by the prince of darkness. When the cleansing is complete and the very last individual that will be cleansed is cleansed by the sacrifice of our Savior's holy blood, then Christ will stand up, Christ will cease His mediation between God and man. A lot of people like to believe that it will NEVER cease. I've even written a lot of times- God's unending grace, but in truth, once all has been done that can be done, once all that would be saved are cleansed, there is no more hope, no more grace. The end will come. The end for many who are caught up in sin and refused the grace of their one and only Savior. No, this isn't what people want to hear, they'd rather be lulled by nice cushiony, soft words filled with nothing but hope without any possibility of losing the opportunity of grace. Grace should be unending, grace should be forever and ever, but for grace to be forever and ever that would mean sin remaining forever and ever. Continuous, unending grace, bringing forgiveness for sins needs sins to be forgiven to remain unending and I don't know about you but I want sin to end!!! Sin will end. Sin will be no more! Christ paid the highest price, a price we can't truly begin to fathom, so that sin could be finished, wiped out completely never to return. We are saved by grace.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God
Saved. Given the gift of God.
There will come a day when we are just and holy, no longer sinners all through the grace of our Savior. In that day we will no longer sin, and if we are no longer sinning, we don’t need to be forgiven any longer, we will have been forgiven completely!
Right now, right this moment as a write this, Christ, my Lord, my Savior, my High Priest in the Heavenly Sanctuary is still ministering for me. It is my prayer, my fervent prayer that when He finishes His work that I am covered in His grace, by His righteousness, that I am His, fully, wholly His doing His commandments, loving as He would love, loving Him first and foremost and others as He would have us love others. Is this your prayer too?
In His amazing love!
Amen.
Christ Jesus- the HIGH PRIEST of our profession.
The High Priest.
What is a High Priest?
High Priest according to Easton's Dictionary--
Aaron was the first who was solemnly set apart to this office (Exo_29:7; Exo_30:23; Lev_8:12). He wore a peculiar dress, which on his death passed to his successor in office (Exo_29:29, Exo_29:30). Besides those garments which he wore in common with all priests, there were four that were peculiar to himself as high priest (see Easton's Dictionary for a more thorough description). http://www2.mf.no/bibelprog/easton?word=high+priest
To the high priest alone it was permitted to enter the holy of holies, which he did only once a year, on the great Day of Atonement, for “the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest” (Heb. 9; 10).
Wearing his gorgeous priestly vestments, he entered the temple before all the people, and then, laying them aside and assuming only his linen garments in secret, he entered the holy of holies alone, and made expiation, sprinkling the blood of the sin offering on the mercy seat, and offering up incense. Then resuming his splendid robes, he reappeared before the people (Lev. 16). Thus the wearing of these robes came to be identified with the Day of Atonement.
*******
The High Priest-
It's very important for us to understand our Lord's role as a High Priest. This was an office held for many, many years through the line of the family of Aaron- of the tribe of Levi. An office that was held by a man and this man had special duties to perform as High Priest.
From the Jewish Encyclopedia-
Sanctity and Functions.
The distinguished rank of the high priest is apparent from the fact that his sins are regarded as belonging also to the people (Lev. iv. 3, 22). He was entrusted with the stewardship of the Urim and Thummim (Num. xxvii. 20 et seq.). On the Day of Atonement he alone entered the Holy of Holies, to make atonement for his house and for the people (Lev. xvi.); on that occasion he wore white linen garments instead of his ordinary and more costly vestments. He alone could offer the sacrifices for the sins of the priests, or of the people, or of himself (Lev. iv.); and only he could officiate at the sacrifices following his own or another priest's consecration (Lev. ix.). He also offered a meal- offering every morning and evening for himself and the whole body of the priesthood (Lev. vi. 14-15, though the wording of the law is not altogether definite). Other information concerning his functions is not given. He was privileged, probably, to take part at his own pleasure in any of the priestly rites. Josephus ("B. J." v. 5, § 7) contends that the high priest almost invariably participated in the ceremonies on the Sabbath, the New Moon, and the festivals. This may also be inferred from the glowing description given in Ecclus. (Sirach) i. of the high priest's appearance at the altar.
Pasted from
*******
Jesus is our High Priest in heaven. It's no coincidence that there would be High Priests performing many sacred duties connected to God's Holy Temple. The pattern of the heavenly recreated in the earthly. No, they are not the same in many ways because the difference between something heavenly and something earthly is greater than we can fathom. We were given an example to follow, an example of something greater. I can give you an example of something but it's not the something, only an example. I can give you a pattern and you can follow that completely but if I'm telling you to use materials that are indigenous to where you live it won't be the exact replica in the material sense as the one you are using the pattern for. I might have soft yarn to use in a crochet pattern for a shawl, but you might only have coarse yarn available. The coarse shawl won't be exact in material but it will be a exact duplicate of my shawl in construction. The heavenly sanctuary was the pattern for the earthly, the service to be perform was that which would bring man in communion with God. The heavenly sanctuary depicts that until sin is completely eradicated we have a need of a heavenly intercessor between us and God.
Let's read more about our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary-
Heb 3:1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus
Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Heb 7:26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens
Heb 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Perhaps a more thorough study of the book of Hebrews is called for. We need to learn about our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary. We talk about the end of the world and see so many signs of this growing closer and closer. Think about it… once every year the earthly sanctuary was to be cleansed on the Day of Atonement. There was a whole service that day dedicated to removing all the sin from the temple that had been placed there throughout the year, it wasn't something done with a few words. There were several sacrifices made to do this, several cleansing on that day of cleansing.
Lev 16:11 And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself:
Lev 16:15 Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat
Lev 16:17 And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel.
Lev 16:18 And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about.
Lev 16:20 And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat
This all took place on the day of atonement- reconciling of the holy place, of the tabernacle, of the congregation, of the altar- reconciliation for the high priest himself and his family, reconciliation for the people.
Christ our High Priest in a heavenly sanctuary is doing this work of reconciliation, this work of cleansing, full cleansing. Christ is ministering in the heavenly sanctuary for you and I and there will come a day when that work will be done. We don't know the day nor the hour, but we can read the signs of the times given to us.
Dan 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
Dan 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
A time will come when Christ will finish His work in the heavenly sanctuary, make no mistake about it, no mistake at all.
Rev 22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
Rev 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
Rev 22:13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Rev 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
This day will come.
Right now our High Priest, Jesus Christ is ministering in the Heavenly Sanctuary, a Sanctuary that will not be found in the New Jerusalem when it comes down out of heaven to earth. The sanctuary that reveals the fact that God wants to be reconciled to us and has done all He could to make this happen. There will be a day when the reconciliation is complete, but that day is not yet. We are still here on this sin-filled earth filled with it's loathsome evil, ruled by the prince of darkness. When the cleansing is complete and the very last individual that will be cleansed is cleansed by the sacrifice of our Savior's holy blood, then Christ will stand up, Christ will cease His mediation between God and man. A lot of people like to believe that it will NEVER cease. I've even written a lot of times- God's unending grace, but in truth, once all has been done that can be done, once all that would be saved are cleansed, there is no more hope, no more grace. The end will come. The end for many who are caught up in sin and refused the grace of their one and only Savior. No, this isn't what people want to hear, they'd rather be lulled by nice cushiony, soft words filled with nothing but hope without any possibility of losing the opportunity of grace. Grace should be unending, grace should be forever and ever, but for grace to be forever and ever that would mean sin remaining forever and ever. Continuous, unending grace, bringing forgiveness for sins needs sins to be forgiven to remain unending and I don't know about you but I want sin to end!!! Sin will end. Sin will be no more! Christ paid the highest price, a price we can't truly begin to fathom, so that sin could be finished, wiped out completely never to return. We are saved by grace.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God
Saved. Given the gift of God.
There will come a day when we are just and holy, no longer sinners all through the grace of our Savior. In that day we will no longer sin, and if we are no longer sinning, we don’t need to be forgiven any longer, we will have been forgiven completely!
Right now, right this moment as a write this, Christ, my Lord, my Savior, my High Priest in the Heavenly Sanctuary is still ministering for me. It is my prayer, my fervent prayer that when He finishes His work that I am covered in His grace, by His righteousness, that I am His, fully, wholly His doing His commandments, loving as He would love, loving Him first and foremost and others as He would have us love others. Is this your prayer too?
In His amazing love!
Amen.
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