Can you win this one? Jacob did! Here is the question we need to ask ourselves? Do you have enough Faith in God that if you wrestle with God you could win? One of my best friends back in high school loved to wrestle! I hated it but he loved it! Since we were good friends I became a wrestling dummy for him to practice on! I was much like a sparing partner for a boxer. Kent Dove went on to win the heavy weight wrestling division state title for Colorado. Wrestling was sweaty, brutal, exhausting and very bruising to your body. Jesus wrestled with God for us in the Garden of Gethsemane! He sweat drops of blood! Most of our religious church guy prayers are pious, quiet, indifferent and selfish a sort of milk toast approach to God. You are probably thinking I have enough problems without taking on God! Jacob’s victory was a Blessing from God to himself and to all that followed him! It resulted in a name change. From a trickster to a Prince! The name Israel means to rule as God! If you were able to rule over this world would you do it as God does? Love the good and hate the evil? Jacob became Israel and a different man after his struggle with God and limped as he walked yet dependent upon God! No more tricks to try to get ahead! Do you struggle with God for the lost souls of this world? If they do not fight for themselves who will fight for them? How about the widows and orphans? Jesus wrestled with His Father and the Cross! Why have you forsaken me? Jesus went through hell for you and me so that we will never be forsaken! Let us wrestle with God to pluck souls out of the burning fire and from the Kingdom of darkness! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Tag: garden
Created? Genesis 1:1
What does the word created mean? If we go back to the Hebrew root word we discover some interesting things! The word means to cut down, select, dispatch and to choose. Wait a minute I thought God was building something when he creates? Yes, however to build an ark you have to cut down a tree. To build a Cross you have to cut down another tree. David used this same word in the Psalm when he asked God to create in me a clean heart! Cut away or cut down the evil within me! Inherent within this word is the meaning to choose. God had to choose to create! Someone or something had to die to bring us gain! The tree for the fire to bring heat! A tree had to die to bring life through judgment! The Tree of Life in the midst of the Garden to us through His death! Christ was not created but pre-existed with the Father and the Holy Spirit. So the Trinity has always existed outside of creation! Yet God chose to enter creation through His Son Jesus Christ to redeem us! God had to cut down Himself so we could comprehend Him through observation of the heavens and the earth! With an observation of ourselves and our world we all recognize we need redemption! Through creation God is exalted above the Heavens! If someone gives you a lemon just cut it down and make lemon juice! Back in the 1960’s my wife Hamsa did baby sitting for a Jewish family while she was in college. Morty told Hamsa that I was fired from my previous job because I was Jewish! So I started my own meat company and now we are millionaires! The world is going to try to cut you down but do not retaliate just let God build you up in His Image! If God had to cut Himself down to build you up why do you not do the same for others? Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Jesus Prays in Gethsemane Matthew 26:36-46
The word Gethsemane is a Hebrew word that means an oil press. Gethsemane was an olive garden with olive trees with an olive press most likely located on the western slope of the Mount of Olives. Have you ever been severely pressed in your soul, mind and body? Ever feel like you are being squeezed to death? Combat soldiers in battle experience this as death knocks at the door. If you were being executed for a crime you committed you could rationalize that I deserve it. If you were being executed for a crime you did not commit would you voluntarily step forward for execution? That is what Jesus did for you! Jesus and His disciples entered the garden late at night. Cold and darkness surrounded them as Roman soldiers were in the hunt for them. Jesus takes Peter, James and John into the interior of the garden with him to pray. While Jesus prays he becomes exceedingly sorrowful even unto death! Let this cup pass from me but if not your will be done. Meanwhile the disciples fall asleep? Jesus cautions his disciples to watch and pray and not to enter into temptation for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Jesus prays again the second time the same prayer. The disciples fall into sleep again! Jesus prays again the third time the same prayer. Then the Chief Priest, elders and soldiers come and take him away. In Jewish culture if you say something three times that is the most you can say it. Peter do you love me? Peter do you love me? Peter do you love me? On the third day Jesus rose from the dead! Three strikes and your out. Jesus spoke to the mountain on the mountain three times and then He let God’s will and providence for His life and purpose be done! Let not our prayers be a fire escape but let His will for our lives be done so that others may benefit! When olives are squeezed they produce oil which is used for light and heat. Jesus was squeezed so you could have light in the dark world we live in. Jesus was, is and always will be the light of the world! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Is It All About Food?
Adam and Eve were given all the food in the garden except one tree! They had a vegetarian dish of everything except for one dish! Could they follow instructions? No! Israel ate the Passover mean with unleavened bread before leaving Egypt. No time to ferment the bread they had to get out of Dodge(town). Moses got complaints about the food in the wilderness. The Jews told him they wish they could go back to Egypt and eat the garlic and onions! God wanted to kill them all but Moses pleaded with God and they got frosted flakes in the wilderness. Just a note here I have a bowl of Luckey Charms every morning for breakfast. Then the most significant event in all of history happened! In an obscure village named Bethlehem God prepared another Table for us! The name Bethlehem means house of bread. Then we have the last supper. We have the Lord’s table or Thanksgiving meal. This meal is also called the Communion Table where we receive Christ’s Body(Broken Bread), and His Blood(Wine) as atonement for our sin. On the resurrection day we will all be at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb! The point here is God has prepared a Table for us simply by His Grace over us! We did not earn this but a gift to us! God has prepared a table for us both past, present and future! As we sit around a table this Holiday season think on these things and The Table He by His great sacrifice has provided to you! Source; Sermon notes taken from Pastor Brady Boyd at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Message given on December 8, 2013. Thankyou. James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Western Civilization
James Ussher (1581-1656) Prolific Christian Scholar. This man fixed the date of creation at the night preceding Sunday, October 23, 4004 B.C. If there were 6 literal days of creation then the next day would be Sunday. Why was creation completed in the fall of the year? Perhaps so Adam and Eve would have fruit to eat! It is interesting that the Jewish New Year is on September 29th which is about 3 weeks from Ussher’s prediction! Western Civilization is really about Christian Heritage and contributions made by so many people. Many evil forces are trying to destroy Western Civilization. Evolutionist do not like the Biblical young earth theory because it eliminates the millions of years they need to support their theory! Islam determined to kill Christians and Jews? Public education trying to remove prayer from our young people? The irony is the very one they are trying to destroy is the only one who can save them! Yes Christ Himself the God-Man who was and is and is to come! God Bless! James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com