Month: July 2018

Church Growth & Decline! II Chronicles Chapters 6-7

Mary pondered these things in her heart! Do we ponder the things of God? His House? A church that was once strong and powerful fades away into history? Solomon built the most beautiful Temple for God in history! Solomon had so much wealth given to him! The Queen of Sheba gave him 4 tons of gold for a gift! Solomon did not spend on himself but invested it into the building of the Temple! The Jews made sacrifices to construct the Temple! Solomon asked God for wisdom but God gave him both wisdom and riches! Riches outside the will and purpose of God will come to nothing! After Solomon and many years passed the Temple declined and was destroyed and the Jews went into captivity! Why do some churches fail while others prosper? What series of events cause these opposite outcomes? We must see life God’s way and not our own way! Solomon took the wealth God had given him and invested it into the Temple for worship! God gave the provisions! The church began and the people gave their best! We see from the recorded scriptures here the people prayed and God heard their requests and acted upon them! He bless their cause and work! At the end of Solomon’s prayer God was pleased and fire came down from Heaven and the sacrifice was consumed! What was going right in the Temple! People were obedient to leadership! It was more than just the ornaments of gold silver and jewels! Something was going on inside the Temple! Fire came down and the Lord’s House was filled with His Glory! His mercy endures forever! Solomon built a place where people could bring the sacrifices! God confirmed the blessings with his presence! God has chosen this place for himself! The power of faithfulness and obedience! God heard their prayers! If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves………! We will hear from Heaven! Revival! Times of refreshing! Heart’s right with God! Eyes opened! New revelation! Examine ourselves! Meet God! Who is your God? God is not the reason for a declining church! People have forgotten who they are in Christ! Lost favor of God! Lost sense of purpose! Focus on themselves! No witness of God to the community! Forsaken the God of our Father’s! Calamity follows! God moves out and the world moves in! Secularism! Return to the Lord! He will hear from heaven! He will heal with church growth! Now I must ask you a personal question? Have you given any sacrifice to God that he can consume? When God consumes your sacrifice his presence is manifested in his House! No sacrifice no consumption and no presence! No God in the House! Empty! Christ’s sacrifice caused God to consume Jesus completely with His manifested Glory! Miracles left and right! Are tithes and offerings too much sacrifice for you? Are ministries into your community too much for you? Prison ministry? Hospital and nursing home visits too much for you? Without your sacrifice he has nothing to work with! Do not waste your sacrifice on the world! Your effort will be lost forever! Have faith in God and trust him! You will never be disappointed! When the leadership and people stop sacrificing the ministry declines! When they begin to sacrifice the ministry grows! Pastor Ron Wilder, Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Fairburn, Georgia.

Transubstantiation! Luke22:19

“and he took bread and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them saying, this is my body which is given for you; this do in remembrance of me.” Comment: The Greek word translated to English for our word, “body”, can have various meanings from the Greek! It can mean a corporate body like the church! This is my body the church! It can mean a natural body or substance and the reality of the flesh! Another Greek meaning is the bodies of men taken in war and made slaves! This is my body a slave made for you! A servant made for you! Remembrance just means to remember. To remember what Christ has done for you! I can understand why the Catholics understood the Eucharist to be the literal body and blood of Christ! Symbolism is not translated here in the word body! However Jesus was crucified only once! Then he said, “It is finished!” However miracles do happen at communion services! If we are to do something in remembrance of Christ then that first experience with Christ whether Salvation or healing returns to us that is the actual event! The first miracle done by Christ in your life! If we forget what he has done for us then we can go astray! I am for having communion services often! There was a French Theologian by the name of Berengar of Tours who lived between between 999-1088 A.D. He opposed Transubstantiation and told his followers it was symbolic only! He said it was a spiritual presence but not a physical presence! Pope Leo IX came down on him real hard! King Henry I imprisoned him! He was extradited to the Island of Cosme for the rest of his life for repentance! Berengar paid a price for his convictions! My personal belief is that they can be symbolic and literal. They can be one in the same! I will never limit God but try to understand the scriptures as presented in their original languages! I will allow the Holy Spirit to interpret for me and compare his word with other scriptures! We also have to remember the times of history in France! France was dealing with Muslim invading armies! Any dissent in the church during this struggle in history would have been severely dealt with by church authorities! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

No Intercessor? Isaiah 59:16

Hebrew Translation: “And the Lord saw that there was no individual man among men and was astonished, appalled and desolated that there was no intercessor; therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness with mercy, honesty, fairness, justice, integrity and truth established a relationship between men and God.” Comment: Isaiah lived about 700 years before the birth of Christ! So here among many other scriptures we have a prophecy of a special event in history planned and executed by God for the redemption of men! This is why it is so serious a sin to reject the Christ that God sent to earth to make a way for redemption of men! In fact it is the unpardonable sin! The only one yet many commit out of rebellion! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Judgment Free Zones? Isaiah 59:15

“Yes, truth faileth, and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased the Lord by this evil that there was no judgment.” Comment: When any culture abandons Christ crazy things happen! This is just one of many! I saw on the News that a man committed a crime and his defense was he thought he did it in a judgment free zone? Whether it be sanctuary cities or judgment free zones the message is the same! If you live in the right zone you can commit crime and get away with it! Like God is not the ruler of the entire earth? Heaven and Hell is not a judgment free zone! Rather than repent to Christ and change your ways after Christ has taken your judgment you reject Christ and make my own world! They make themselves God! Any culture that legalizes sin in history has not lasted very long! Sin is sin and to legalize it whether gay marriage or drugs will have destructive consequences to any culture! Judgment is necessary to punish the wicked and reward the righteous! If we live in a culture where we punish the righteous and reward the wicked our doom is sure! The Deep State attack on our President Trump is the finest example going on in America right now! In the Old Testament there were sanctuary cities but the intent was not to protect criminals! They were designed to protect citizens who found themselves in difficult situations! An example would be a farmer who’s ox gored a stranger as the stranger crossed his land! To protect the farmer from revenge by the stranger’s family he was moved to a sanctuary city for a season! It was to protect the innocent! It says in Isaiah 5:20 that woe unto those who call evil good and good evil! This day has arrived for America today but God will still protect his own! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Keeping or Polluting the Sabbath? Isaiah 56:2

Comment: What is my attitude about keeping the Sabbath the 4th Commandment of God? If I were to keep the Sabbath I would guard it like a gardener building a hedge around his garden! I would guard it as a shepherd would protect his flock from the wolves! Why is the Sabbath important to God? It is the seventh day of the week! Remember after God finished creating the world for six days he rested from his labor on the seventh day! It was the climax of his creation! On the Sabbath you cease from your work and reflect on the wonderful things God has worked out for you! You rest in his supply! You relax trusting God rather than your own works! So how would I pollute the Sabbath? You would just make it another common work day! It would be violence against God’s established law! I would defile, pollute and desecrate a Holy God! I would ignore him and his Blessings and trust in my own works! Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath! Remember the Jewish religious leaders got on Jesus for healing on the Sabbath! Jesus was raised from the dead on the Sabbath! That is why we worship on Sunday! He rested from his work on the Cross! If God needs rest who are we? Are we greater than God? Remember Lucifer thought he was greater than God! What happened to humanity? Death, destruction, war, disease, sickness and famines! Do you want to worship death or life? Self-worship is worshiping death! Worship life by honoring God and his Sabbath and creator of life who has also promised to raise you from the dead both now and forever! Keep the Sabbath because God is Holy! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Trinity of Communion! 1 John 5:7-8

Verse 7: “These are the 3 that witness a good report in heaven, the Father, the written Word and the Holy Spirit or the Breath of God.: Verse 8: “and these are the 3 that witness a good report in the earth, the Spirit, and the water and the blood; and these 3 agree as one.” Comment: So we see in Heaven a Trinity of the Father, Word and Holy Spirit! So where is Jesus in Heaven? Remember the Word became flesh and dwelt among us! Now let us move down here to the earth. We have a good witness of the Spirit,  the Water and the Blood! We have the Holy Spirit, the Blood (Jesus Christ) and the Water! The Water? There is only one thing the Lord could be talking about here! Baptism! Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River! Jesus washed the disciples feet with water before the Cross! I believe there are 3 elements of Communion! The body, the blood and water! Baptism is a separate ordinance in the church as so is Communion however you cannot separate them spiritually! After Jesus was baptized the Holy Spirit descended on Him! It pleased the Father! Should we want to please God? Baptism is a witness in the earth to the world that we belong to Christ! In Communion we identify with Christ in Heaven here in the earth and in Baptism we identify with Christ here in the earth as a witness to the world! We do these things in remembrance of Him because He first remembered us at Calvary! God first loved us! Do you want to identify with Christ? Can you be saved without baptism and communion? Yes like the thief on the Cross but would you not want to experience the joy and fellowship of communion with God? In order to be in authority we must be under authority! The ordinances of the Church and the tithes and offerings established by God are there to test you and see if you are under God’s authority? You cannot be in God and not under His authority! Do you forsake assembling together in Church on Sunday’s? If you do you are not under His authority! If we really believe the Word of God then we need to practice the Word of God as a witness for Him in the earth and in Heaven! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Messianic Prophecy? Isaiah 54:17

Hebrew Translation: “No weapon that was created against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment with judicial verdict that is rendered by the godless and lawless guilty shall fail. This is the possession and inheritance of my laboring servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the voice of God.” Comment: What stands out to you in this verse? Righteousness is not earned! It is a gift from God! Righteousness was earned by God on the Cross for us! By grace you are saved not of yourselves! Who creates weapons against us? Satan! Our own sin is used by Satan as a weapon against us! That is why Salvation removes Satan’s case against us! This weapon is an inside job! That is why we need a Savior outside of ourselves to save us! A judicial judgment whether by Satan or a human working for him is not the final verdict! The godless and lawless render a verdict against the righteous! That is what happened at the Cross when we all railed against Christ! Crucify Him! Our inheritance and possession is this! As guilty we are rendered righteous by the fulfilling of the law as Jesus took our punishment in death for our sin! What is more priceless than this? The Old Testament confirms the New Testament and the New Testament confirms the Old Testament! We need both because God wrote them both! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Does Satan Work for God? Isaiah 54:16

“Behold I have created the smith that bloweth the coals on the fire, that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.” Comment: Certainly Satan opposes God but by his rebellion against God does he end up working for God? We know Satan runs his own prison! No tax money needed to support! Satan knows who the sinners are! Everyone! He knows his own! He is called the accuser of the brethren! Satan wants you to live in his image! In the image of doubt, fear and death! God asked Satan have you seen my servant Job? Both God and Satan know which camp you are in! What about those that switch sides? Some Democrats become Republicans! Some Republicans become Democrats! Satan would have everyone in Hell except for one problem! It is called the Blood of the Lamb! When your sin has been forgiven the guilt, fear and condemnation is gone and you are then free to serve God and His Christ! The disciples betrayed Jesus at the Cross just like you and I would have done but Jesus forgave them and they became the foundational leaders of the Church! Without God no Heaven! Without Satan no Hell! This is the problem with atheism! Deny God and deny Hell? Come up with a religion or ideology that supports their belief there is no God! Like Marxism and Darwinism! Both were Jews and atheists! To deny their existence does not make them non-existent! If you deny God you support Satan for you deny the Atonement! If you deny Satan you deny God for God created Lucifer the fallen angel! We will cover verse 17 in our next blog posting which is a very encouraging verse for us from God! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com