This is the 3rd Sunday of Advent. The season of Advent helps us to shape and impact our culture. The Christmas story is ripe with revelation! Luke1:30 The angel appears to Mary! Of all the Prophets Isaiah had the most revelation about the coming Messiah! Isaiah Chapter 9. Isaiah focused on this Prophetic message. We have a gap of time between the old and new testament of 400 years. It is sometimes called the years of silence. About as much time as the Jews were in slavery in Egypt. No Prophets spoke and no further revelation was given during these silent years. The stage was set at the end of the old testament and the curtain was drawn. Is God silent in your life? Have you been listening for Him or just too busy? Then after 400 years of darkness the curtain is split in two! Light appears from darkness! At a time least expected! God will surprise you! Do you have an expectation from Him? God came into my life when I least expected it! Has He come for you? Advent is about Him coming to you! Do you need to welcome Him? When Jesus was born in Bethlehem wise men from the East following His star showed up in Jerusalem. King Herod heard about this and was very disturbed! He was rattled! Herod was jealous! King Jesus was a direct threat to him. Herod the Great was from Idumea and was a descendant of the Edomites who were the family of Esau. These descendants of Esau were always attacking Jacob’s family. Remember Jacob’s name was changed to Israel. After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. the Edomites vanished from history. Herod ordered an abortion of all the children two years old and younger and knives thrust into the bellies women that were pregnant. Yes, the Devil believes in Christmas! The world worships power, position and influence. Not much room for a baby. It is interesting how God uses vulnerable people to accomplish His work! God uses two pregnant women to prepare the way for the Savior of the world! Do you qualify as vulnerable? Homeless, pregnant, broken, betrayed, on dope, rejected, divorced or disabled? Are you without hope? Then you qualify for God to use you in a big way! He is looking for people who will be testimonies for Him! Pass the test and trust God at His Word! The baby Elizabeth was carrying(John the Baptist), leaped for Joy in her womb when Elizabeth heard the news from Mary about her visitation and God’s plan for the King and Son of God to be born by her! Then Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit! Luke 1:39-41. Do not try to live without the Holy Spirit for He gives you the power to live a victorious life! Without the Holy Spirit you will be like the Pharisee’s who knew about God but did not know Him! Luke 2:25-26. Next an old vulnerable man named Simeon who was just and devout got surprised by the Holy Spirit with Joy and was told he would not die until he has seen the Christ. Luke 2: 36-38. Here we see Anna a Prophetess and widow most of her life who served in the Temple get surprised with Joy! Do you lack surprise? Is life dull and routine? Hopeless? Broken dreams? Remember Joy is a gift! God does not just give joy but He is Joy! In His presence is fullness of Joy! Joy is not happiness. Our Constitution says we have the right to pursue happiness! Happiness you have to pursue or try to chase down by your own efforts! It depends on the economy, politicians, health, ect. Joy is a gift and never earned! The price has been paid for you! Galatians 5:22. Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. What are the enemies of Joy? Pride, self, criticism, sarcasm, ect. Do you find fault with everything? Do you leave any room for beauty? No room for Jesus in your Inn? Have you been wounded or hurt by someone? See the beauty of God! No one on earth loves you like Him! He will never leave you or forsake you! He is different from us! I am not offering you a Christian but Christ Himself! Never lose your fascination, awe and wonder for Him! Go for beauty and be surprised by Joy! Joy is a person and not a benefit! The Holy Spirit is a person! The benefits come with the person and not apart from Him! Psalm 16:8-11. Do not get fixed on our cultural problems. Important but not your focus! Rather than be a student of culture be a Worshipper of God! Set the Lord before you. Have fullness of Joy and pleasures forevermore! You can hear bad news but still have Joy. Turn off the news networks this season and enter into His rest! Focus on Christ! Spend time with Him! The word time means, :”To Honor.” Psalm 16:9 Rest in Hope! My heart is glad and rejoices. Joy is an inside job! Your body rests secure. An external God who gives internal pleasure. From without to within! Joy comes at unusual times and unusual places through unusual persons! Is your heart prepared to be surprised by Joy? Source; Sermon notes taken from message given by Pastor Brady Boyd at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Message given Sunday December 15, 2013.
Tag: gift
Want To Build A Altar To God? Requires Blood! Genesis 35:1
The word for Altar in the Hebrew is the word, “Mizbeach.” It means the place of sacrifice by slaughtering an animal. The sacrificial system was at the focal point of the Israelite system of worship since the sacrifice and subsequent meal were used to solemnize a covenant or treaty to symbolize a position relationship between two parties. Noah built an altar and offered sacrifices on exiting the ark. The patriarchs built altars and sacrificed at various points along their journeys such as Abram, Isaac, Jacob and Moses. At Mount Sinai, God commanded that the Israelites build a tabernacle that included two altars; a bronze altar in the courtyard for sacrificing animals and a golden altar inside the tabernacle for burning incense. Solomon and Ezekiel followed a similar pattern. God also required that the altar for burnt offerings be made of earth or uncut stones so that human hands would not defile it. God also required that the altar would have no steps so that human nakedness would not be exposed on it. Notice that the blood required was not human blood but animal blood. In some religions including Islam human sacrifice is required. God never required us to commit another sin to try to cover our first sin. The blood of animals never did pay the penalty of death for our sin but pointed us to the God-Man Jesus Christ as the one and only sacrifice for our sin. Only the blood of God Himself which was sinless blood would suffice for our guilt. Choose Christ and the gift of salvation that He alone has provided for us! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Can You Lose Your Salvation? Hebrews Chapter 6, Verses 1-6.
Chapter 6, verses 1-6 are probably the most controversial verses in the Bible! You need to micro-view these verses and then macro-view them in light of all scriptures! Remember the Bible always interprets itself. For those who say you can loose your salvation my question to them would be when are you going to lose yours? If your salvation is based on works then sooner or later all will be lost. The difficulty of these verses is removed by recognizing when the actual decision to follow Christ becomes true salvation. A person is saved at the point of genuine acceptance of God’s Gift of “Light”, and then he or she is received by God. God ultimately judges every heart and knows who is truly repentant. The decision for salvation is made ineffective when it is based on emotions and one’s own abilities. Christ died once for man’s sin. If this was insufficient there would be no security for believers. In verses 4-6, Paul is using hypollated illustration to make a point. In philosophical language, this form of reasoning called reductive ad absurdum ( a reduction to an absurdity ). From a false assumption comes absurd conclusions. It would be false to assume a believer could fall, because his repentance, based on Christ’s death would be invalidated. There would be no security and Christ would need to be crucified again! Sin is all about depending on your own works! Faith is about depending on Christ’s work! Source: Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible. Thank you. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
God’s Best Gift? Satan’s Best Gift?
A conclusive list of God’s Gift’s are listed in First Corinthians Chapter One and Chapter 12. Also Romans Chapter 12 and Ephesians Chapter 4. Pastor Brady Boyd at New Life Church in Colorado Springs gave us two important purposes of our spiritual gifts in his Sunday message. They are; 1. Our gifts bring others to God! 2. Our gifts help us to grow up! There was much more in his message Sunday and you can go to their web site if you want more. NewLifeChurch.Org Commentary; When I was reading First Corinthians Chapter 12, verse 31, I noticed that Paul said to covet earnestly the best gifts, and i will show unto you a more excellent way. Then i asked myself what is God’s best gift? In the next verse i got the answer! Remember in the original manuscripts there were no chapters but a continuation of thoughts. God’s Best Gift is “Love”! What is Satan’s best gift? Remember the temptations he offered Jesus? Stones into bread-food. Show-off and jump off the mountain-pride. All the kingdoms of this world-Power,Authority,Rule Jesus said that my Kingdom is not of this world! There is competition for your soul between two Kingdom’s! The Kingdom of this world and the Kingdom of God! The lust of the eyes and the pride of life is cheese on the rat trap for you and me! Satan’s gifts are death, disease, sickness, pestilence, abortion, sin, war, judgement and hell forever! God’s gifts are love, joy, peace, prosperity, long-suffering, patience, eternal life, forgiveness of sin. Choose life! Choose death? The choice is yours! Thankyou. James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Faith in Who? Faith in What? Ephesians Chapter 3 Verses 11-12
I have translated the two verses above by going back to the original Greek and then reinserting the English translation from Greek back into the text. Verse 11 and 12 reads as follows; According to the past, present and future intension by visibly showing forth something which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. In whom we have boldness and admission with reliance by the belief in the truth of salvation by Christ. God has given every man a measure of faith! Faith is a Gift from God! So our Faith is not really my faith or your faith but God’s Faith! This is the Faith Paul is speaking about. Not faith in yourself, wife, husband, bank account, job, father, mother, son, daughter, government, retirment, church, pastor but Faith in God! Faith in Jesus Christ alone secures our Salvation both now and forever and nothing else will! Although our family, jobs, ect, are important to us they must never be idols in worship before God! Thankyou. James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Law Verses Grace!
Text; Galatians Chapter 5, Verse 4. This text is often missused to teach that the phrase “fall from grace” means that a person can loose his or her salvation. In the context of the verses one through three Paul is teaching how depending on the law of Moses for salvation makes Christ’s work on the Cross meaningless! Then in verse four, he speaks about those who think they can justify themselves through the law. Because these people chose to obey the law for salvation , they have no room for Jesus Christ and His Grace.The key to understanding the phrase “you are fallen from grace” is seen in the verb(expesate, Srongs 1601), which is better translated from the Greek as, “have fallen.” It does not mean that the Grace of God was evident at one time and then lost. Rather, a person deviates from the truth of grace and chooses justification by law. Grace does have law in it, (Christ on the Cross for our sin), but the law has no grace outside of itself! The law has only penalty which is death. God has given us Grace which is a Gift and He will not take it away! If someone rejects His Gift it will not void His Gift to those who accept it! Christ kept the law completely and fulfilled the law even to death on the Cross! Source; Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, Copyright 2008. Thankyou. James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
It is Finished!
Man’s work is never done! There is always one more dinner to make, one more bed to make, one more doctor’s visit, one more car to fix, one more class to attend, one more child to raise, one more house to build and then repair, one more hospital stay, one more vote to cast, one more day behind bars, one more probation, one more drug high, one more bill, one more day of unemployment, one more shot to be fired, ect. God’s work has been completed never to be done again! One time, that’s all! Christ on a Cross to give death a Victory! One day soon all our work here on earth will be completed! God has given us work to bring out our giftings He has placed in us! Christ’s work is Eternal and will last forever! The redemption of our soul’s is eternal! The question today is are you going to trust in your own work or on Christ’s work? My work and your work is temporary. His work is permanent! His work is lasting! After I am gone someone else will have to carry on my work! Someone else will have to fix the car, take out the trash, ect. But those who follow after me will have the same opportunity to make a decision for Christ as I have made and Trust His Work! Love demands a choice! You have made a choice about Christ! What is your choice? Either for Him or against Him? Christ chose the Cross for you! A work that will last forever! Christ’s completed work has brought fulfillment and meaning to my life!We cannot be dependent on our own works but on His work. When you leave this world someone else will have to continue your work! His work continues on in me forever! Happy Easter! Please read Book of John Chapter 17, Verse 4. James Sasse GodWhoisGod.com