Month: April 2017

Are You The One? Mark 14:61-62

I believe every generation born asks this question sooner or later! Caiaphas the High Priest asked Jesus this question! After Judas betrayed Jesus the Jews apprehended Jesus and a mock trial was held! Jesus was a threat to the religious leaders of Israel as He is to the religious system today! The religious leaders raised up false accusers against Jesus to nail Him! However the false witnesses could not agree with their testimonies! Why was Jesus such a threat? They had their long robes and long prayers but Jesus at the snap of His fingers raised the dead, healed the blind and the lame, walked on water and cast out demons! So Caiaphas had to ask the question that he dreaded to ask and inside knew this was probably the guy! Jesus are you the Christ the Son of the Blessed? What was he really asking? Let us break these words down one Greek word at a time! Christ means the anointed one! That is He was covered with the Glory of God! The word son used here, “Hulos”, is a specific word reserved for the Son of God as opposed to the generic word used meaning the offspring of parents! The word Blessed is reserved for God who is worthy of praise! Humans can be favored by circumstances however these circumstances can change and usually will over time! God is the creator of all and we are the recipients of His love! Jesus replied to his question with an affirmative yes and added more as we see in verse 62. Caiaphas then accused Jesus of blasphemy and Jesus persecution and execution followed! Suffering can come because of who you are! Good or bad! Jesus suffering was pre-planned by God! Jesus always referred to “His Father” except at the Cross! At the Cross Jesus said, “My God why have you forsaken me?” Have you ever felt forsaken? There are many benefits for following Jesus such as eternal life, peace, joy, love, long suffering, patience and the list goes on! Also remember many suffer today because of His name! Such as the Christians in the Middle East, Africa and places including America! It is not easy to suffer for who you are however Jesus suffered because of who we are! Sinners saved by Grace! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Sequel to Judas Iscariot

Remember in the previous blog posting I asked you some questions about Judas Iscariot? One of those questions was why did Jesus not cast the devil out of Judas Iscariot? Jesus cast seven devil’s out of Mary Magdalene! Well, you say the plot to betray Jesus would have been spoiled! It says in the Gospel of Luke that Satan entered Judas! The Prince of devil’s entered Judas! The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Darkness have an order of rank! The problem for Jesus is that He will not cast Satan out of Satan! You will still have Satan left! It would also preclude eternal judgment for Satan! Jesus made a way for God to enter us and dwell in us! The Holy Spirit secures us until Christ returns for us! Remember the lunatic that had a legion of devil’s? Jesus cast them out into the pigs! No doubt if any of us had a legion of devil’s in us we would also be a lunatic! However this nut was not beyond redemption yet Judas was? My Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil. Not money but the love of it! From the drug dealer to the Ponzi scheme on Wall Street! Judas was in love with money! He loved money to the point of betraying God! Welcome to the ministry! This opened the door for Satan the Chief of all demons to enter Judas! Even thought he repented it did no good! The cries of Hell are not so much about the heat and fire but there is no possibility of redemption from it! We should be reminded of the rich man and Lazarus! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Judas Iscariot Mark 14:10

Judas has gotten some bad press over the centuries! He earned it! Where did he go wrong? Books have been written about him and some even supporting him? The Gnostic writings claim Jesus made a deal with Judas? It says in the Gospel of Luke that Satan entered Judas! How do you get to that point? Jesus cast out demons for people so why not Judas? What we do know about Judas is that he loved money! He was the treasurer for the ministry! He got mad at the woman who spent all her money on Jesus burial perfume! So who was Judas? Did he graduate first in his class? Was he a common criminal? Did he have a record? Jesus recruited him! Was it intentional? Army recruiters end up with Medal of Honor winners and deserters! Has Jesus recruited you? Are you going to switch sides? Jesus said it would have been better if Judas had not been born! Not a five star rating! Put that in your resume! Did his mommy love him? Did the stork deliver him or take him away? Was it providence for Judas? He had a free will. Have you ever made a bad choice? You know like God does not exist and Jesus is a fraud and I will do what I want? Did you vote for Hillary? Trump? Millions voted for Adolf Hitler? Buyers remorse on that one! Do you follow a religion or ideology that endorses killing people? Judas could not see any benefit for following Jesus? No financial gain? No fame only persecution! Don’t take any script or money with you on your journey! Eat what is placed on your plate! No five star hotels! Foxes have holes and birds have nests but me? Sleep out in the desert with scorpions! Judas thought at least I can get 30 pieces of silver out of Jesus! The High Priest and the scribe want him out of the way anyway! I can use religion to make money! What a novel idea! Judas was simply following the crowd! My grandpa told me as a teenager never to follow the crowd! Look what the mob did to Jesus Jimmy! I posted on an earlier blog what happened to those who plotted against Jesus! That is Caiaphus the High Priest, Herod, Pilot and the rest. They all came to a bad end! So what side of history will you and I be on? You will either support Christ’s Kingdom or Satan’s Kingdom! The choice is ours! But choices matter! In this life we will follow only one! There are no refunds on our choices! We could be like the thief on the Cross who at the last minute got into Heaven! Why gamble with eternity? The best time to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior is right now! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

$30000 Dollar Perfume! Mark 14:5

Would you spend thirty thousand dollars on perfume for your girl friend or wife? How about that much money spent on perfume for a burial! Probably not! Most Christian’s today would have picked up a bottle of perfume at Dollar Tree for Jesus! The pence or denarius was a day’s wage in the first Century! The pence was equal to ten asses or donkey’s and would have the purchasing power to get this many for a day’s wages! The day laborer and the Roman soldier got one denarius or about 20 cents for a day of labor! The denarius was a small silver coin. So the woman that anointed Jesus with this precious perfume spent 300 days labor for this act of love! The average American worker makes about 100 dollars per day wage. So the American worker at 300 day’s labor would spend thirty thousand dollars on Jesus perfume! If you were a millionaire and made 365 million dollars per year then he would spend 300 million dollars on Jesus perfume! Is it any wonder the crowd got upset at this woman? She was making them look bad! The crowd said the money could have been given to the poor! Jesus said the poor you always have with you! Since the 1960’s the American taxpayer has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on programs for the poor but the poor population has grown in numbers since then? Jesus complimented her and told her this anointing was for my burial. What she did stands as a memorial to her forever! You will meet her in Heaven! Today it is just like pulling teeth to get Christian’s to tithe their income to the church? They will not do it unless they get an income tax deduction! Forget about the offering? I find it difficult sometimes when people want God’s Blessings but will not invest into His Kingdom? We get prayer requests for health and prosperity but not a penny investment into God’s Kingdom? The only rationale I can come up with is that they do not believe God exists but in case He does pray for me! It is like playing the lottery! Buy me a ticket in case you win! This woman had wisdom to invest in the Kingdom while she was living on earth that paid eternal dividends! Her memorial stands 2000 years later! Another interesting word us for perfume is spikenard. Two Greek words make up this English word! It literally means a genuine true beloved friend of foreign origin! Are you a true beloved friend of Jesus? Is He like a treasure of foreign origin to you? Like my grandpa used to say put your money where your mouth is! Put up or shut up! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Passover! Mark 14:1

Did you ever get passed over in school? You know your grades were lousy! Ever get passed over when interviewing for a job? Ever been passed over for a promotion? Ever feel passed over when you ended up with a ugly woman on a blind date? Is the system rigged as Donald Trump would say? Sometimes being passed over is a good thing! Like being bumped from a flight and later the plane crashes with all killed on board! How about being passed over by the military due to a physical problem but yet the 156000 who were not passed over lost their lives in war! How about being bumped from a cruise ship named the Titanic in 1912? The Passover sacrifice was dedicated to the Lord! A lamb without blemish! Jesus was sharing the Passover meal with his disciples the night He was betrayed by Judas! No one names their kid Judas or Adolf! Jesus took the bread and broke it and said this is my body eat it! He took the cup and said this is my blood shed for many drink it! The Jewish Passover was celebrated thousands of years before Christ in Egypt during the Exodus! The Jews were spared God’s judgment over Pharaoh and Egypt because they applied the Passover lamb sacrificial blood over the door mantel posts of their homes! Their first born were spared from death! Because of Jesus sacrificial death for you judgment is passed over for you! You miss separation and death and eternal judgment by God for your sin! Eternal death is one thing you want to miss out on in life! Do not play the lottery with God! Lightning can strike once or twice but for all eternity? Where there is smoke there is fire! The sacrificial Passover lamb was roasted for you! Do not reject it! Partake of Christ’s body and blood and escape the fires of Hell! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Faith & Baptism! Mark 16:16 (Greek Translation)

“He that puts his faith or trust in me and is submerged in water as a profession of their faith shall be saved from sickness and death. He that disobeys shall be judged and condemned!” Comment: I substituted faith and trust for belief because it is the same Greek word. Belief is a verb and requires a response or action! Baptism is an act of obedience based upon your faith in Christ! So the old proverbial question is does baptism by itself save you or is it Christ alone who saves you or it is both? Jesus was baptized yet the thief on the Cross who was saved was not baptized? Baptism is an identification with Christ! In the early church baptism was a public identification with Christ! Baptism was not done in a church building but along a stream, river, lake or sea shore for unbelievers to see! Today we could live behind the four walls of a church and unbelievers would never know you were saved! This is where much of the American church is today! To publicly profess Christ outside a church is foreign to much of the church today? If the unbelieving world does not know you are a Christian God probably does not know either? When you enter the cultural war with gays, lesbians, Muslims and abortionist you are a target! Worship has to be more than the Sunday only crowd! Your Pastor cannot save you! You want me to serve Jesus seven days a week, 24-7? I do not have time? Remember that old hymn, “Take Time to be Holy.” The word time means to honor! If you do not worship God in this life then where? Get some Gospel tracts and start there! Distribute them wherever you go! Give them to store clerks at Walmart, McDonald’s, Best Buy, Sears, Burger King, Waffle House, Post office, Government Federal State and County offices or wherever you go! Jesus does not have a denominational name stamped on His forehead! Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved! In the previous verse 15 Jesus said, “Go out into all the world and preach the Gospel to all the world.” The Greek word used for preach means to publically proclaim the Gospel! Although they do that professional ministers was not who Jesus was talking to! Jesus was talking to me and you! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

The Barbarian Barabbas!

Except for Jesus everyone is a barbarian! You cannot make yourself Holy but Jesus can! Crucify Him was also your cry from your mother’s womb! You and I sent Jesus to the Cross! Religion crucified Jesus and religion today persecutes Jews and Christians! Repentant sinners have come to recognize there is no power within men to change their wicked ways only Christ has the power with love to change the heart! Atheists and world religions have one objective! That is to frame an ideology where men do not have to change their moral behavior! If you believe there is no God then you do not have to change your behavior! You have no one to answer to! If you kill and murder in the name of religion you try to use God to justify your sin! Christ has come to save you from yourself and others! Like Barabbas you should have gone to the gallows but were set free as Christ paid your penalty! Christ without sin took your sin on the Cross! The passion took away and covered your sin in His blood! Compassion means to suffer with! Christ took on the suffering of the world! Only God could do this for you! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Worship!

What you worship owns you! So what do we worship? What do you spend your time thinking about? Do we have any idol’s? Some could be sex, money, fame, fortune, sports, offspring, houses, land, religion, gambling, work, school, health, success, cars, boats, airplanes or do we worship ourselves? These things have power to enslave you but not save you! All of these will one day leave you and forsake you! Pride will cause people to surround themselves with these idol’s! There is only one who ransomed His life to save you from yourself! Is it time for new management? Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you and has proven that to you by sacrificing His life for you on a Cross! Good Friday Message, Grace Community Church, Fulton, Maryland.