Words of Jesus! Greek Translation Verse 31; “Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin or missing the true scope and purpose of finding God and ruining one’s human reputation by evil speaking shall be forgiven unto men, but the ruining of God’s reputation shall not be forgiven unto men.” Verse 32; “And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him, but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” Comment: If you call me a liar and it is not true God can forgive you! If you call God a liar these is no pardon for you! Remember the first example of this in the Book of Genesis! When Satan was tricking eve to take of the forbidden fruit he told Eve God was a liar because God has surely not said you cannot eat this fruit! You will not surely die! Why is sin against God unpardonable? Because He is the only one who can pardon sin! But not against Himself! What would be some examples of calling God a liar today? Not believing the Word of God or the Bible as God has given to us! Mocking Christ and rejecting Him! Trusting anything more than God! Cursing God to attack His character! Attacking His people or believers! Spreading lies about His servants! Trying to destroy Jesus reputation by spreading lies about Him! Doing just the opposite of what God has established as righteous in His Word! Dismiss God’s Word as having no application in the 21st Century! Believing ideologies that oppose Holy Scriptures! The list is much bigger than these but since the Garden of Eden the assault continues on God, His Kingdom and His people! There is one line you can never step over! The Apostle Paul was a defender of Judaism but was ignorant of Christ in the 1st Century! When He saw Jesus for who He really was he repented and became the greatest human promoter of Jesus Christ in history! If you think you have stepped over the line repent turn to the Cross and never look back! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Tag: garden
Looking Forward! 1 Esdras 5:38-39
When the Jews returned from Babylon captivity by the favorable Decree of the Persian King Cyrus they met many challenges to rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem! Here is a quote from verses 38-39. “Since they were unable to prove their ancestry, they were not allowed to function as Priest’s. Nehemiah the governor told them that they could not eat food offered to God until there was a High Priest who could use Revelation and Truth.” Comment: Ancestry was everything to the Jews! Tradition was the foundation of their life and worship! If you could not prove your ancestry as many Jews could not after returning from 70 years of Babylonian captivity you could not participate in Temple worship! Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses were in the Religious Hall of Fame! Rightly so! Jesus really threw the religious Jews a curve ball when He told them they must be born again! Jesus the High Priest with Revelation and Truth was looking them in the face but they did not get it? The religious leaders seemed blind? Yet the simple Jews such as Peter saw the light! How far does Jesus ancestry go back in time? All the way back to the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve! Remember the Tree of Life in the Garden? His humanity took their sin and fast forwarded it to you and me! His Divinity delivered you and me from sin! His humanity was sacrificed for you and me! Jesus was a Jew and of the tribe of Judah! That is prophetic! Ancestry.com should be renamed Death.com! Why were the Persian Kings (Iran), favorable to the Jews? The 3 wise men were from Persia! King Cyrus and Darius were favorable to the Jews! Why? God spoke to them! Why is present day Persia (Iran), not favorable to the Jews but want to destroy them? Very simple! Islam that came along in 650 A.D. Islam has given all of its followers a religious backing to kill. The Persians also invented the crucifixion so they prepared the method for the sacrifice for Jesus! Let us look forward! Is your name written down in the Book of Life? (Revelation 3:5) Are you born again? Washed in His blood? Jesus promised us to go prepare a place for us! Then He would return the second time to earth! He promised to send His Holy Spirit to us until He returns! When Satan tries to remind you of your past remind him of his future! Remember the Cross and move forward! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Christmas, Science & Faith! Isaiah 38:5,8
King Hezekiah was on his death bed! Both Isaiah and the King went to prayer! God informed the King He was going to add 15 more years to his life! God turned the shadow of the sun dial back 10 degrees! This is not like changing or turning your clock back for daylight savings time! Let us try the math here! Our earth is divided into 360 degrees like a circle. A rotation of earth equals 360 degrees one day or 24 hours. There are 60 minutes in each hour multiplied by 24 hours equals 1440 minutes. If you divide 1440 minutes by 360 degrees each degree represents 4 minutes of time. So turning back ten degrees is equal to 40 minutes of time for each day. If you multiply 40 minutes by 365 days you get 1460 minutes! So for every year Hezekiah lived from that first day he got a year back! So he lived 15 years longer and got 15 years back! When time is stopped or reversed the aging process stops! Jesus said we must be born again! Why? Our eternity is affected by what we do with the time we have here on earth! When we receive Jesus Christ as Savior our time is reversed back to the Garden of Eden before we were sinners and before Adam and Eve sinned! In eternity there is no time and no death! There is no aging in eternity! The birth date of Christ into the earth in Bethlehem has a lot more significance than you can ever imagine! Wise men still follow Him! Merry Christmas! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com SORRY! Please ignore this posting! I got the math wrong! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Let There Be Light! Genesis 1:3
The phrase “Let there be”, is not the same Hebrew word used for “Created”, in Genesis 1:1. Actually the Hebrew word for our English phrase “Let there be”, means to exist. The word “created”, means to bring into existence. So in Genesis 1:1, God created the heavens and the earth. My question is when God finished creating the heavens and the earth did light exist? Were the lights out until verse three? I know the global carbon tax supporters wish the sun would go away! Some Christian’s do not let their light shine! Some theologians have come up with the gap theory? That is there were millions of years that transpired between verse one and verse three? I believe they were trying to reconcile the difference between the age of the earth as claimed by some scientists! Science does show us that the earth and all the planets are the same age! We cannot measure time without light! I believe light existed at the end of Genesis 1:1. In verse two we see the earth was surrounded by darkness and formless! It was covered by water and surrounded in darkness! Were all the other planets in the same condition? Why earth? Remember Lucifer got cast out of heaven with one third of the Angels for rebellion! We know where Lucifer or Satan hangs out is darkness and destruction! Lucifer though he owned the earth as he does today but God intervened as He does today! With no light being able to penetrate the cloud surrounding the earth Satan thought he had his hell on earth! Then in verse two God moves upon the earth and light breaks forth into the earth! Before I got saved God’s light was always here in the earth! He just let a little of His light into my soul and I got transformed! A new day! Let me put a disclaimer here! Benjamin Franklin said that if you are to live by Faith you have to throw reason out the window! Why? Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden used reason and made a bad choice! They did not have all the facts! Only God knows all the facts because he created all the facts! Our knowledge is limited! Even if we have a million facts about anything or anyone and lack one fact we will make a wrong choice! This is “reason” enough to trust God! This is why all Judgment is left to God! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Two Destinies! Genesis 3:1
“Now the hissing creature was more cunning and crafty than any of the created beings in the field God the creator, ruler and judge had made.” Comment: Remember the Jews again murmured against God in Numbers 21:9. The serpent called God a liar! Moses constructed a brass serpent upon a pole for the people to look at after they were bitten by the fiery serpent in judgment by God! Why? God had instructed Moses to do this to save the people! Remember the brass serpent is an image and not the fiery serpent! We were created in the image of God but we are not God! There are religions today such as Islam that make themselves God and decide who should live and who should die! Remember Lucifer was at one time Heaven’s choir leader and highly ranked in Heaven! He is a created being and rebelled against God and was cast out of Heaven down to the earth! His image on a brass pole represented his position and condition before his fall. He was pure and Holy at one time! His pure condition represented by the brass serpent delivered the Jews from same fallen serpent! Any Savior has to be greater than those saved! We cannot be like God unless we are restored to the previous estate of no sin! Jesus has made this possible for us! The wars on planet earth are between the Image of God and the Image of Satan! We have to chose the right side of this war! Adam and Eve had to chose between two tree’s! Today there are still two tree’s in the midst of the garden! One tree looks good to the eyes and the fruit is pleasant but is deceptive and leads to death! The other tree has life in it and healing for the nations and mercy but does not appeal to the carnal nature! Christ was hung on a pole or Cross and took your place in His death and resurrection! He took your punishment for your sin and rebellion! Your image is restored and now you live in the Image of God as first intended at creation! You now live as if you had never sinned! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Political Correctness Strikes Again!
This time in London! British Prime Minister Theresa May told the people of England that this was an evil ideology that attacked us! She did not have the moral courage to explain what the ideology is? She is no Winston Churchill or Margaret Thatcher! Where did these terrorists get their idea? Did they snatch it out of the thin air? It would be like after the city of London suffered from a night time bombing raid and Winston Churchill getting up the next day and announcing to the British people that they were attacked by a evil ideology! Sorry folks but we cannot mention the word Nazi or Hitler! We cannot mention Mohammad or Islam or Muslims? The Quran certainly had nothing to do with this? We cannot have a Muslim travel ban because people must be dying in our streets for another reason? Is it the weather? If our political leaders cannot identify the problem and the Church is deadly silent then this will continue! This war is no longer in a distant land but has come to our streets! I am thankful President Donald Trump has the moral courage to name our enemies as Islamic Terrorists! Sin is about hiding the truth and it all started in the Garden of Eden! We have to shine the “Light”, on the darkness but we have to identify the darkness! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Offering and Worship! Genesis Chapter 22
Are they the same? God told Abraham to offer his son Isaac up for a burnt offering on Mount Moriah! Moriah means God will provide! The word offering here means to rise up or lift up! The word is usually associated with morning! Those who love me seek me early! It is used in a sense of going up. However the word is not used in the sense of intimacy! So what is a burnt offering? It is not your wife’s cooking! It means to ascend up like smoke! Remember an offering is something we do! Your tithes and offerings is something you do and God requires it of us! So what is worship? I am glad you asked! The word worship used in the Old Testament was first used in Genesis 22:2. The word means to bow down! Just the opposite of offering! It means to prostrate oneself! It means to fall upon your knees and touch your head to the ground! However after the Cross the New Testament concept of worship is different! We still bow down in prayer in submission! The Greek word used has a new dimension! Worship used here means to dwell together in union and completion! Now God takes possession of you! You are no longer your own! People are either God possessed or demon possessed! No middle ground here! Half and half is a milk product! Worship means to lean towards Him and be partial towards Him! No one will ever be able to talk you out of or persecute you out of partiality towards Him! This is the New Testament concept of worship! In the Old Testament it was always worship from afar! After the Cross now God has His dwelling place in us! The Holy smoke is inside of us! Since His son Jesus made the sacrifice for our sin the walls of partition are broken down! Worship is now an inside job! Greater is He who is in me than He who is in the world! He works His righteousness in you by dwelling in you! This is what born again is all about! Let us think about this as Easter approaches! Jesus early in the morning bowed down in the garden of Gethsemane and worshiped! Then He was lifted up on high on a Cross on Mount Calvary! Jesus died once so that you would only die once and escape the second death! Your Salvation includes many things! Freedom from guilt, death, hell and the resurrection to judgment! The resurrection to everlasting life and His power residing in you cannot be compared with anything this world has to offer! The promises the world makes to you will perish with the world! My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness! If you submit and let Jesus take control of your life nothing that preceded this new reality will ever compare! Happy Easter! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Treeless Worship Deuteronomy 16:21-22
“Thou shalt not plant a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee. Neither shall thy set up any image, which the Lord thy God hateth.” We first need to look at the Hebrew root word for the English word “groves.” The Hebrew root word translates to the word “Asherah.” Astarte is a Phoenician goddess of fertility. She was the Canaan fertility goddess believed to be the consort of Baal. The noun is most often used for the carved wooden images of the goddess. The image was associated with high places and fresh green trees. The Israelites were commanded to cut them down and burn them! False worship was a problem even to the extent that Asherah’s image was erected in God’s Temple itself! There were no trees around the temple in Jerusalem! I witnessed idol worship during the three years we spent in India. These idol’s were everywhere! Often these huge wooden images were parked along tree lines. In the Hindu Temples prostitution was a regular business! I was offered a teenage girl in one of these temples! If you are going to worship the goddess of sex then prostitutes come with the package! To look deeper into the root of idol worship we need to go back to the Book of Genesis. If God took a rib from the man and created a woman then when they are united in marriage there is a completeness. However if you are going to make an image of a woman and worship her through sex then this is self-worship because the woman was taken from the man! Let us look at Genesis 2:9. “And out of the ground made the Lord to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” God warned them that if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would die! Why? God understood that they could not handle it! God knew that created beings with the knowledge of evil would sin! Let us look at Genesis 3:22. “And the Lord said, Behold the man is become one of us, to know good and evil, now lest he put his hand and take also the Tree of Life, and eat and live forever.” God had to block them from the Garden of Eden because to enter Heaven with the knowledge of evil for eternity would doom them forever! This was an act of Mercy by God! So what about the Tree of Life? This Tree represents Christ, redemption for man and eternity with God! So what did man do with Christ? They cut down a tree and crucified Him on it! This is what happens to all that eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil! You commit evil and then try to do good? However God’s plan was engaged by the evil of men and brought redemption to the world! Without Christ whatever God has given to man as a gift turns to evil! All the religions of the world whether Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, ect, try to find God through their own efforts! Eating from the wrong tree! We all have access to the Tree of Life through Christ and our knowledge of evil is atoned for by His blood sacrifice on Calvary and we can live forever not separated from God but joined with Him in peace and love forever! We cannot save ourselves even though the world religions since creation have and still try! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
What is Political Correctness? John 14:6
Political correct speech is speech that is intended to hide the truth! What is truth? Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me.” The word truth here translated from the Greek means what is not concealed but open and known! God’s truth embodied in His Son Jesus Christ reveals our sin rather than conceal it through political correctness! Christ exposes our sin so that we can confess it to Him and be reconciled to God and come into relationship with Him! Political correctness is the modern day version Adam and Eve hiding in the Garden of Eden! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Good Grief! Ecclesiastes 7: 2-4
We need healing conversations this morning! Solomon says grief brings joy! American culture tries to pass by death! We want to avoid conversations about it! Solomon says in verse four that the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning. John 11: 32-35. Jesus knows how to grieve! In fact we see in this scripture that Jesus gets blamed for Lazarus death! Where have you buried him? Jesus wept! Why did Jesus stop and weep when He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead? We cannot skip over the sad places in our life! Jesus was fully man and fully God and is illustrated so plainly in these events! We cannot celebrate the miracles without paying attention to the process! Psalm 137. Two third’s of the Psalm’s are complaints and lamentations. The Jews were taken captive and taken to Babylon! The Babylonians took the best of the population back to Babylon and left the sick and elderly in Israel. Many of the grandchildren never saw their grandparents again! As the Jews sat by the rivers of Babylon they remembered Zion and wept! How do we grieve properly? First we must admit a new reality! Something is new about my life! Everything has changed about my life! It may be from a loss of a spouse, mother, father, sister, brother, job loss, sickness, financial loss, home or something else. I lost my dad in 2005. I miss dad but now a new reality. Second take time to weep. They wept in Babylon! Jesus wept! Slow down and grieve! Grieve properly! It is decompressing! Third remember the past! I have many good memories of my father! My father developed a barbeque sauce! He always wanted to get a patent on it. What my mother did not tell us for years is that she added some ingredients to the sauce so we could eat it! Tell the stories that make you smile at a funeral! See God’s imprint on our lives! Tell the stories that heal us and carry us on! What happens when we grieve properly? Our pain is confronted! We cannot ignore pain! In fact there is more pain for avoiding pain! Drug addiction is caused by trying to avoid pain! Invite the Holy Spirit into our pain! Jesus invited His Father into the pain in the Garden of Gethsemane! When we grieve properly we become available again! Your story matters! Millions of American’s have lost loved ones in battles of war in American history! Their stories matter! God is not finished with you yet! Your story is not over! Your final chapter is not the last one! God needs you available again! God will heal your heart! Even Jesus own disciples thought it was all over for them as Jesus went to the Cross! They scattered and went back to their old jobs! They could not look forward? God needs you available again! God knows what it is to grieve! Life was never the same when I lost my father! Storms are not forever! As we prepare for Communion let us remember the grieving of our Lord He has gone through for us on the Cross! Because He lives this morning we can live! He suffered so that we could have victory! He conquered death for us! Joy comes in the morning! He has Risen! Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado.