Cutting a Covenant! Isaiah 49:16

“Behold, I have cut, prescribed and decreed a permanent law giver and ruler upon the palms of your hands, thy walls are a perpetually an offering before me.” Comment: The Hebrew word for palms is the eleventh character of the Hebrew alphabet. The shape of the letter is as the form of open hands as expressed in prayer and praise as opposed to a clenched fist! The word also means a permanent binding! Remember what Jesus disciple Thomas said in John 20:25? “Except I see in his hands the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side I will not believe.” Thomas was telling the other disciples that this would be the only way he would believe Jesus rose from the dead! The word “nails”, used in Greek has an interesting meaning! It actually means the outward manifestation of something much greater than the outward marks! So who was Isaiah talking about a permanent law giver, ruler who’s sign was cut or engraved into his hands? When Jesus returns for His Church what is one of the ways you could identify Jesus? The permanent engraving in his hands and side! Maybe like Thomas you would ask him to show you his hands and side? Did Thomas believe? Thomas went to India where he was martyred with a spear! Thomas also has a mark in his side! Thomas began a Christian community there which is thriving there today! What did Isaiah mean by thy walls are a perpetual offering before me? The walls of the Temple and the Church! Worship! The walls of the tomb! Sacrifice! Sacrifice and worship are eternally linked together! You cannot have one without the other! Keep that in mind on your journey to Heaven! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Does God Create Evil? Isaiah 45:7

“I form the light and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil.” Comment: God created the light and time came into existence! God created the night. God makes peace for us with health, security and welfare. And he created evil. God is not evil but when he created people they have the potential for evil. We have the potential for evil because God has given us the freedom of choice and free will. Love always demands a choice! Jesus chose the Cross for you! The truth is God is good and we are all evil. If we reject our creator evil will follow us! Lucifer the Praise Angel in Heaven rebelled against God and he and 1/3 of the Angels were cast out of Heaven! Angels are created beings! Lucifer became Satan! God made a way of escape for all of us in the sacrifice of His only Son Jesus Christ! God overcame evil with good! What we do with Christ determines our future here now and eternally! Christ living in you empowers you to overcome evil. God slew evil on Calvary! God knew if He created a family on earth Satan would try to destroy them! That is why Christ pre-dated creation! Men are evil because they hate God! God is good because he is love and sacrificed His Son to deliver you from evil. We can rest in Christ because he has defeated in us what was impossible for us to do on our own! Grace and Grace alone! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

It Was Fun! Luke 6:22-23

These were the words of Tom Brady quarterback of the New England Patriots at the end of his interview last night after their Sunday night football game win over the Pittsburg Steelers! This game was really a hard fought battle with both teams having to send players to the hospital during the game! Hopefully not with career ending injuries! Brady himself was body slammed to the ground by 300 pound plus linemen! So what was fun? Was it the pain, injuries, training or uncertainty of every game? Was it the risk of a career ending injury or death? It was the winning! The sacrifices are then forgotten! Do we have the child like excitement about Christmas? About giving? About receiving? Is it fun? In Luke chapter six Jesus is well past the manger scene! He is preparing his players for the game ahead! Jesus told His 12 players that they are going to hate you, isolate you, reproach you and call you evil because of me! Like NFL players they are going to sack you! But Jesus said to rejoice in that day! Leap for joy! You guys just won the Super Bowl! Your reward is great in Heaven! Your fathers the prophets suffered the same things! We do not like to think about suffering during the Christmas season! Yet that is why He came! To suffer for us! To make our lives fun and meaningful with purpose! To win! Losers made winners! The victory parade for you is going on in Heaven right now! While running your race sometimes the pain seems unbearable! Give your pain to Jesus! He became a curse for you! He took your pain upon Himself! We are on the same team! Jesus disciples except John all crossed the finish line with martyrdom! John was boiled in oil and then exiled to a stone quarry for slaves on the island of Patmos! They all looked beyond the finish line towards the goal and their and your victory in Christ! Those that have gone before us have prepared a way for us! Give a sacrificial gift to someone this Christmas as we were given the gift of a little baby boy born in a manger in Bethlehem! Merry Christmas! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Take Holiday Every Week! Hebrews 10:25

A Holiday is a Holy Day! The Sabbath Day is a special day set aside every week to rest in Christ! The 4th Commandment says, “Remember the Sabbath and Keep it Holy.” The Sabbath was made for man! For man’s benefit! A Jew could be put to death for violating the Sabbath! Jesus healed people on the Sabbath! Jesus said He is Lord of the Sabbath! The Jews could not gather manna on the Sabbath. God created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th day! If God needs rest who are we? Jesus said if you love me keep my Commandments! The Sabbath begins on Friday at sunset and ends on Saturday at sunset. There was to be no light or fire on the Sabbath. Jesus was buried late Friday just before the Sabbath. So he was crucified on Friday. The Jews did not want his body on the Cross during the Sabbath!  So Jesus had a Sabbath day of rest in the grave! He arose from the dead on Sunday the first day of the week. For a Christian Monday is not the first day of the week it is Sunday! We begin each new week Sunday with God in worship in our local Church giving tithes and offerings of our income! Without God’s Blessing we would have no income! He blesses the rest of the week in a way we could not do by our own efforts! The seventh day is interesting but also the seventh year! The Jews were to release all slaves to go free on the 7th year. The Jews were not to work the land for crops on the seventh year! The land was to rest! The Jews were taken into captivity by Babylon for 70 years! If you divide 70 by 7 you get 10. Why ten? The Ten Commandments! For breaking God’s Laws they got 70 years! Jesus came to fulfill the Law! Since He was God He kept the Law and the sacrifice for our sin because he never sinned! A sinner can die for another sinner but that death cannot pay the price for sin because they are both sinners! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

NFL Protests & Boycotts!

Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but having the right to do what we ought! Pope John Paul II (1920-2005) Comment: I am going to have to boycott the NFL this season! This is a small sacrifice in terms of the men and women who have died on the battle field for our freedom! For the millions wounded with missing arms and legs! For those mentally affected from the wounds of war! I will always side with those who have sacrificed the most for our nation! This includes our law enforcement who have sacrificed their lives for Americans! To me our Flag and National Anthem represents those people! People can protest America but I will side with those that have given the most for us! That is why I stand for my Christ! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Prayer! Matthew 21:13

Some people think that prayer means asking for things, and if they fail to receive exactly what they ask for, then they think the whole thing is a fraud! Gerald Vann (1906-1963), British Catholic Theologian, Author of 24 Books. Comment: Prayer is really fellowship with God! Fellowship with the Father through His Son! You remember some of Jesus words! Father forgive them for they know not what they do! Father if possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not my will but Thy will be done! We can pray for the stuff but it will perish one day! I can pray for the sick which is good but they will die one day! The fellowship with our Father through Jesus will last forever! We pray expecting but according to the will of God! All Jesus disciples were martyred except John who was boiled in oil and sentenced to a slave labor camp stone quarry on the island of Patmos where he wrote the Book of Revelation! Some in the church today might think they were out of the will of God because they did not die rich with a lot of stuff? Success is more than stuff! The Gold Standard for success with God is to love others and sacrifice yourself for their benefit! What are our prayers like? Lord I am a sinner forgive me as my Savior! Lord forgive them and forgive me! Do we continue to fellowship and worship God through prayer in Heaven? What is Jesus doing right now in Heaven? He is interceding for the Saints here on earth! Satan has no prayer life and is separated from God! The Old Testament Hebrew word for prayer means to intercede for someone else! Jesus is following this pattern in Heaven today! One of the Greek words for prayer in the New Testament means to ask for a specific benefit from God! Send your Holy Spirit and dwell in me! Whatever the benefit it is to benefit others! Pray more for souls and less for stuff! What will be our prayer in Heaven? Praying for those here on earth! Why not start today? An American Pastor Charity and Ruth Harris ministered to us in a church in Denver Colorado back in the 1970’s for two years. They have spent over 40 years on the Mission field in Africa! They build hundreds of Tabernacle churches in the remote villages of Africa! Charity is now old in a nursing home legally blind. What is he doing today there? Praying for others including my family and preparing himself through prayer for Heaven! No one on earth can bestow a greater honor on you than to lift your name up to the Son and to the Father! Jesus said my House shall be called a House of prayer and not a den of thieves! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Communion Service July 30,2017 Genesis 4:4

As we were preparing for Communion Service our Pastor Cope asked us to contemplate what this ordinance in our church meant to each of us? Pastor Cope presented many scriptures out of the Old and New Testaments! As these scriptures cut through my soul I asked myself where is recorded the first body and blood sacrifice in our Bible? From where did the first fountain of blood flow? Abel presented an excellent sacrifice according to the KJV. Some Bible translations say a better offering but to me a weak translation! A sacrifice to God means blood! An offering may not mean blood! Then Cain murdered Abel his brother and his body was broken and bled! Did Abel have more faith than Cain? No! Abel had faith in the right thing! The blood sacrifice of his lamb! Cain’s sacrifice was of the ground and did not remind God of His Son Jesus Christ sacrifice of his body and blood for our sin! We can have faith in the wrong things! Jesus said remember this my body and my blood! Every time we take Communion we are reminded of His love towards us! God had to become flesh for the flesh of men could only sin! Man’s blood continues to be shed in the earth through wars, violence and sin! All the wars in the history of men starting with Cain and Abel could never cure the sin problem! It was also violence that put Jesus on the Cross! Had I been Cain, Adam, Judas, Pilot, Herod or Caesar I would have done the same thing! Abel’s sacrificial lamb reminds me that Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for me on Calvary is the only lasting sacrifice for the sin of everyone who has lived on the earth or will ever live on the earth! Men that reject Christ’s blood always end up sacrificing the blood of mortal men in rebellion against God! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Last Supper 1 Corinthians 11:24-25 (Greek Translation)

Verse 24; “And when Jesus had prayed over the meal and broke and divided the bread He said, “Take eat; this is my human body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance, in recollection, in repetition, to know again and recall of me.” Verse 25; “After the same manner Jesus took the cup after the evening meal and said, “This cup is new which is not impaired by time or use and is a divisor will in my atoning blood and as often as you drink it come to know me again.” Comment: Why do we take Communion? The Lord has instituted it according to His Word! Human nature tends to forget! When we honor someone it is usually in memory of the past. However the Hebrews or the Jews have a very different perception of the word remembrance! The Jews look at the word remembrance as his presence is still with us! At the Seder meal the Jews have an empty chair seated for Elijah! Jesus is with us today! I will never leave you nor forsake you! Remember Jesus has set the Communion Table before you as an invited quest! Your sin required the Table be set! You did not pay anything for the Table or the meal. You were invited even though you were unworthy! Jesus is personally sharing a meal with you! He is present with you! Why would you turn down a meal you did not pay for and did not deserve and made no sacrifice for? This meal purchased your freedom from sin, death and Hell yet you will not partake? His broken body and shed blood remind us that the Cross was very costly to God and His Son for the redemption of your spirit, soul and body! Pastor Oscar Cope, Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Fairburn, Georgia.

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

Fear Not!

Just before Jesus raised the dead, healed the sick or calmed the storm he said, “Fear Not!” So what did he mean? Why did he say it? The Greek word is phobia which means to be in awe of or revere! To exalt it! To worship it! How do we worship fear? Watch violent movies! Have evil thoughts and replay them over and over again in your mind! We live in a violent world today just as Jesus did! Fear causes us to sin! I will do whatever it takes to get what i want! Love is just the opposite of fear! Love means to have affection or benevolence towards people! To have charity! It means more than just being a friend! It means to sacrifice for others! It does not mean to sacrifice others! That is what fear promotes! Hell is full of the fearful! They believe the lie that God does not love them! Heaven is full of love! For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son! A sacrifice for you and me to deliver us from our fear! Be a giver and not a taker in 2017! Start today! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com