Hebrew Translation: “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. The year of delight, favor, love, grace, kindness, as the pleasure of a King blessing his subjects! The year the High Priest’s sacrifices were accepted with the blood sacrifices and death accepted for our sin. The debt is now paid and the petitions or prayer requests are now heard and acted upon. And the day of vengeance when the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies and God’s rage, revenge and jealousy was poured out upon the sacrificial offering and accepted. Now after this the people can be comforted with compassion as the sacrifice for their sin has been accepted and they can take a deep breath and sigh of relief for their trespasses have been atoned for.” Comment: Today when we accept the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross for our sin this offering of God for God on behalf of God is presented before the Father and our sin is forgiven. But what of the fate of those who reject the sacrifice of God’s only Son Jesus Christ for their sin? I would rather be a fallen angel in Hell than an unbeliever in the earth! Why? Because then they themselves become the sacrifice in judgment condemned to an eternity with their leader Satan! The one and only unpardonable sin is the rejection of Jesus Christ as their Savior! While you still have breath you can still chose Jesus Christ! But one day the opportunity in the chapter of your life will end! You are only acceptable to God through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross for your sin! Nothing else qualifies you for Heaven! No works or no efforts of your past, present or future will suffice! The Apostle Paul with all his great scholarly abilities said I only know Christ and Him crucified and nothing else! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Tag: offering
Holy Smoke!
You can sing all you want about how you love Jesus, you can have crocodile tears in your eyes, but the consecration that does not reach your purse has not revealed your heart. Pastor Adrian Rogers (1931-2005) Comment: If I tell you I trust Jesus Christ with my eternal life but not with my tithes and offerings I am blowing smoke but not sacrificial Holy Smoke! James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Giving to Ministries
I cannot tell you where to give or how much to give! That is between you and God! Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive! I am not soliciting to give to this ministry or any other ministry! I got a call from Joel Osteen Ministries today Sunday. They wanted a $35 dollar donation. I suggested to the caller that he should make a disclaimer to all donors that our tithe first belongs to the local church! He agreed yet I asked him why he did not tell me this? Then I asked him if he worked for Joel Osteen Ministries? He told me he was a private contractor collecting money for the ministry. I told him I thought Joel was a good preacher but does not enter into the cultural warfare breaking down America! I mentioned that Joel lives in a 10.5 million dollar mansion! He owns another house worth 2.9 million and another lot worth 1.9 million! The caller told me we cannot judge him! I told the caller I am not judging anyone but these are just facts about Joel’s lifestyle! His lifestyle does not fit the Jesus I know in my Bible? I told the caller I appreciate him giving up his 200 thousand annual dollar salary back in 2007 from the church. However his net worth is 40 million dollars! He sells his books but most of the money is gained by Christian’s buying his books! This is money from believer’s in the Church! Could this money have been more productive by church member’s investing in their local church? Also the 501c tax exemption allows the escape of tax money to the treasury department and that short fall has to be made up by the American tax payer! The caller told me I need to move on! Here is the point I am trying to make! Jesus said to render unto God what is His and to Caesar what is his! The tithe is automatic going to your local church! The offering is optional! To give to any ministry I need to see sacrifice from the leadership! If God speaks to you to give to Joel Osteen Ministries do it! Joel’s father is the one who really sacrificed to build the foundation for Joel! The same can be said of Franklin Graham. He gets 880 thousand dollars per year annual salary! Billy Graham’s net worth is 25 million dollars! I have to see examples of sacrifice for me to invest in any ministry! We need to put our money where our mouth is! These ministries do great things but the love of money is still the root of all evil! I would suggest that all ministries tithe their incomes to other ministries and support for the poor, widow’s and orphans! My prayer is those who read this will get a conviction in their heart’s including myself to be wise with our resources and invest into those who mirror Jesus Christ the most! Will 35 dollars break me? No! I wanted to make a point to our caller! God Bless your ministry! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
$30000 Dollar Perfume! Mark 14:5
Would you spend thirty thousand dollars on perfume for your girl friend or wife? How about that much money spent on perfume for a burial! Probably not! Most Christian’s today would have picked up a bottle of perfume at Dollar Tree for Jesus! The pence or denarius was a day’s wage in the first Century! The pence was equal to ten asses or donkey’s and would have the purchasing power to get this many for a day’s wages! The day laborer and the Roman soldier got one denarius or about 20 cents for a day of labor! The denarius was a small silver coin. So the woman that anointed Jesus with this precious perfume spent 300 days labor for this act of love! The average American worker makes about 100 dollars per day wage. So the American worker at 300 day’s labor would spend thirty thousand dollars on Jesus perfume! If you were a millionaire and made 365 million dollars per year then he would spend 300 million dollars on Jesus perfume! Is it any wonder the crowd got upset at this woman? She was making them look bad! The crowd said the money could have been given to the poor! Jesus said the poor you always have with you! Since the 1960’s the American taxpayer has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on programs for the poor but the poor population has grown in numbers since then? Jesus complimented her and told her this anointing was for my burial. What she did stands as a memorial to her forever! You will meet her in Heaven! Today it is just like pulling teeth to get Christian’s to tithe their income to the church? They will not do it unless they get an income tax deduction! Forget about the offering? I find it difficult sometimes when people want God’s Blessings but will not invest into His Kingdom? We get prayer requests for health and prosperity but not a penny investment into God’s Kingdom? The only rationale I can come up with is that they do not believe God exists but in case He does pray for me! It is like playing the lottery! Buy me a ticket in case you win! This woman had wisdom to invest in the Kingdom while she was living on earth that paid eternal dividends! Her memorial stands 2000 years later! Another interesting word us for perfume is spikenard. Two Greek words make up this English word! It literally means a genuine true beloved friend of foreign origin! Are you a true beloved friend of Jesus? Is He like a treasure of foreign origin to you? Like my grandpa used to say put your money where your mouth is! Put up or shut up! 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
New Revelation on the Clinton Foundation!
It is hard to get information about the Clinton Foundation because it is set up in Canada where under Canadian law they do not have to disclose donors! What happened to transparency? You have to sue Obama to get something that is to be provided to the citizens by Constitutional law! Anyway through law suits under the Freedom of Information Act under our Constitution information is slowly being released! What we have learned is that the Clinton Foundation is spending on itself as a proclaimed charity 90 percent of all income taken in! Ten percent of collected funds go to charities! I would like to know the names of those charities? This is an example of Santa Claus turning into a scrooge! Santa delivers 10 gifts to the children on Christmas morning and keeps 90 gifts for himself? We need to ask ourselves as Christian’s how much of our income do we spend on ourselves? How much does the ministry you support spend on themselves? To be a good steward it is intellectually honest to ask your church for the annual budget report! If they are buying jet planes and putting property in their names it is time to step back and pray about your investment! Are they using the funds to proclaim the Gospel, mission work, helping widows, orphans, single moms and homeless people on the outer fringes of our culture? Our income requires time and we have only so much of it before we stand before Jesus! If we amass a lot of money with no compassion for the lost then we are bankrupt before God! The word time in the Greek means to Honor God with your tithes and offerings as one of the ways we worship God to say to Him i am who i claim to be as a believer in His name! A believer who names the name of Christ and follows His Commandments while here on earth! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Good Friday Preparations! Genesis 22:2
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