The word offering in the Hebrew (Alah), means to ascend, rise up, lift oneself up, ascension to a higher place, to cause to burn (smoke ascends). It involves preferring one thing above another. This verb is used in relationship to a person’s appearance before God! Abraham was tested and asked to sacrifice his only son too God. When Isaac his son asked Abraham where was the sacrifice Abraham told Isaac God would provide one. Abraham built an altar and bound Isaac on the wood for the sacrifice! Abraham raised his knife to sacrifice Isaac! This reminds me of Peter raising his fisherman’s knife to take off the servant’s ear! Peter was protecting the sacrifice! An angel appeared and stopped Abraham and commended him for his Faith! God provided a Ram for the sacrifice. Remember by definition an offering is preferring one thing above another. What is it that you prefer above another? Is it God or something else? As we approach Good Friday it is only good because God preferred you above another! Yes, above His only Son! A sacrifice that was consumed that would only please God for you! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Tag: good
Repentance!
The confession of evil works is the beginning of good works! Saint Augustine
Aristotle’s Thoughts About God Lesson 2
Aristotle believed that God exists necessarily, which means that God does not depend on anything else for existence. He never changes or has any potential to change, never begins and never ends and so is eternal. Eternal things, Aristotle claimed must be good; there can be no defect in something that exists necessarily, because evil is connected with some kind of lack, a not-being of something which ought to be there, an absence of the “actuality” that Aristotle thought God most perfectly has!
A Story Everyone Needs To Hear Again! Luke 2
This is an old story but is vogue today and has application above all the bad news we hear today! It is more than a warm feeling on a cold night! This is a radical, revolutionary story that has changed you, me and the whole world! This is the greatest story ever told to the world! How does a pregnant teenager tell her story? You could imagine social media buzz today if she tried to explain how God got her pregnant? What would Joseph tell the media? The shepherds were gathered around a small fire trying to keep warm and guard their sheep! An angel appears before them and tells them not to be terrified! Some of the shepherds were thinking my mommy told me not to be a shepherd! First one angel and then a host of them! God wants all people to hear the Good News! Notice Jesus birth was announced to people living on the margins! The church is to serve people living on the margins! The dignity Herod also heard the news but tried to kill Jesus! The angels through the shepherds spread the news! Shepherds were looked down on in their culture! They hung around dirty, smelly sheep! They were considered scavengers and thieves! David got his rough and tough training as a shepherd boy! If you want to take down a giant call a shepherd! They were the most unlikely people to hear the news first! Remember the lambs were raised to be sold to be sacrificed at Jewish feasts! The lambs were sold to be slaughtered! The lambs were destined to die for sin! The Good News for us and the lambs is that a greater sacrifice was born in Bethlehem. God said I give my life for you! Jesus came for the willing! Are your motives and plans for your life set in concrete? Do you have premeditated plans that leave God out of your life? This is a question we need to answer as we lead into 2015? Herod although a governor had no room for Christ and died a miserable death! Have you predetermined what you are going to do with your life? You have to be more than curious you have to be committed! Would you do anything God called you to do? Would you carry a baby for a Holy God? Why are we chosen? We get excited about the Royal couple and their baby and a baby coming out of Rome or Jerusalem! We must say yes to God even when we do not know the outcome! Are you ready to sign up? Mary was a virgin and told the people she was impregnated by the Holy Spirit! This never happened before and never after in history! Then they had to spend Christmas in Egypt to escape from Herod! Joseph and Mary were imperfect parents raising a perfect God! Do not divorce her! Joseph had to change all his plans! Love her, surround her and protect her. Joseph had a good job and business as a carpenter. I have to build my business! The Roman government requires a lot of Crosses! God has a plan for you and it usually is not your plan! You have to choose! It did not work out the way I thought but God’s plan is a perfect plan! For His plan for your life carries on into eternity! God takes the willing and builds character! Yes God I will go! How willingly Joseph and Mary obeyed! Faith is hard to explain? The natural mind thinks linear and logic does not fit! Sometimes Faith does not make sense? By Faith we let God fill in the blanks! Faith is not normal! The only thing normal in life is the setting on your clothes dryer! Could you raise God as a baby? Verse 17 goes on to say they worshipped Jesus then they went out and told everyone! The story of Jesus is now ours to tell! The angels appeared and then they diminished! Why fear the angels who are messengers? You are now the messengers! Popular culture has a fear about hearing the Good News? We have a story to tell to the nations! We all have a story to tell! With all the troubling news in the world we should be encouraged to tell the Good News! We will either tell or we will retreat? God is not looking for a perfect people to tell the perfect story! Today we are the messengers! Tell God’s story this week! How do we invite people to our Christmas Eve services? We have an amazing story to share with you and we invite you to come with us! We are caretakers of this story! The story is ours! We are the beneficiaries! We are now story tellers! Luke 24:46-49 You are witnesses of these things! You and me together go and tell! What do you want to happen this Christmas Eve? Isaiah 9:2, 6. People in darkness see a great light! A child is born and a Son is given! A wonderful councilor, Prince of Peace! Help people see the great Light! Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado. December 21, 2014
The Good The Bad and The Ugly!
We were in a Methodist Church yesterday on Nevada Avenue here in Colorado Springs. We were looking into a ministry offered there. I like old churches since they have a lot of history behind them! They had a missions room where I really love to hang out! This church supports a church in Russia. They had photos of the church in Russia along with members from here who have gone there to help with the work. In one photo it shows the picture of the pastor from here with the Russian pastor shaking hands in the Russian church office. Really nice except for one thing? In between them hanging on the wall was a portrait of Lenin? Then I remembered the church in Russia is state run! In fact the Bishop of the Russian Orthodox church lives in the Kremlin with Putin! Where is Putin’s portrait in the church? I personally would make a dartboard out of their portrait’s and move their images to the church recreation room where the children could throw darts! We cannot change1500 years of church history in Russia but we can give them the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Tribute To Our Veteran’s!
Honor to the soldier, and the sailor everywhere, who bravely bears his country’s cause. Honor also the citizen who cares for his brother in the field, and serves best he can, the same cause—honor to him, only less than him, who braves, for the common good, the storms of Heaven and the storm of the battle! Source; Abraham Lincoln, December 2, 1863.
Love Always!
People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway. What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway. Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway. In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway. Source; Mother Teresa, Calcutta, India.
Pastor’s Job Description
Frederick Buechner once wrote, “There are all kinds of pressures on the preacher to be all kinds of other things and speak all kinds of other words.” God has called me (and I would argue all preachers) to be ‘Good News Specialist’—a phrase my grandfather (Billy Graham) taught me while in seminary. The job description of a preacher, in other words, is not to say many different things but to say the same thing over and over again in many different ways. We have one main message to declare: ‘Christ and Him crucified’ (1 Corinthians 2:2). Source; Pastor Tullian Tchividjian, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Failure + Success = Humility
A famous quote by Mark Twain says, “Failure is never permanent and success is never final!” The most challenging part of our life cycle is not dealing with failure but being able to successfully handle success! If success is only a tool to get above others and control others then we misuse God’s Blessings! A Godly Blessing should help us help others to be successful! Who you give the credit to is an indicator of a right or wrong attitude about success. Excuses cannot be our foundation for failure. When we take responsibility for our actions and repent then a door is opened from God for recovery towards success. When we take the Blessings God has given us and give credit to ourselves and not honor Him and the people He has placed in our lives we set ourselves up for failure. God has a plan for you to prosper you and bring good success! However to try this on your own without Him is like walking across a mine field in a combat zone! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Good Friday! Mark 8: 27-38
As we reflect on our life we can conclude that many responsible people have paved the way for our success and Blessings! Think of the millions of American’s who have laid down their lives in war to defend our freedom and way of life we benefit from here in America today! The foundations we enjoy have come at a very great price! Think of the church congregation members that took up arms against the British Army at Concord in the Revolutionary War! Think of the 600000 men who died in our civil war to free the slaves! Think of the thousands of men and women in our VA hospitals across America from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Also our Vietnam, Korean and World War II veterans! How about our great science inventors and business people who have made our lives more comfortable here in America. How about our great spiritual leaders that have set an important foundation for our understanding of God over the generations! As important as all these American’s are we have to go back to a greater foundation that has established the true meaning and purpose of life! A price paid by God Himself that would give us a hope in this life and beyond! No one represents humanity better than a disciple of Jesus named Peter. Jesus asked Peter who do men say that I am? Peter replied some say Elias and some say a prophet. Then Jesus asked them who do you say that I am? Peter got it right and seemed to be the smart one when he said you are the Christ! Then Jesus went on and said that he would be rejected, persecuted and would be killed but would rise on the 3rd day! Peter immediately took Jesus off to the side and rebuked him? At this time Peter was in remedial training and Jesus rebuked Peter and called him Satan! Peter at this time could not see from an eternal perspective but from a flesh viewpoint. Jesus went on to explain to them that they must deny themselves take up His Cross and follow Him! Peter eventually got it and became the leader of the Jerusalem Church and later martyred in Rome hung upside down on a cross. Good Friday is not good without the Resurrection on Sunday! We have no future unless we understand God has made a way for us and then accept the eternal foundation that all history has shown us is hopeless without the Cross! Happy Easter! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com