If you are not presently reading your Bible here on earth this will be the only place you will have that opportunity! Do not think you will have all eternity to catch up on your homework! The Greek word for book is Biblion or Biblos which translates Bible! The Bible is sealed in Heaven by seven seals and will only be opened by Christ at the appointed time for the judgments upon the earth for those who reject Him! The Bible has been opened to man here on earth for those that choose to accept Christ! Don’t try to tell God in Heaven that your dog ate your homework! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Tag: study
Prayer 1 John 5:11-15
Our relationship with God involves prayer! How would you describe your prayer life? Here are some possible answers to this question. 1. Unashamed begging-desperate 2. Loud and lengthy-convicted 3. Terrified whispers-uncertain 4. Sterile and formal-religious, distant and impersonal 5. Speechless-do not know what to say, wordless 6. Confident prayers. Some say prayer is just a conversation with God. No! First you need to know who God is and then teach our children who God is! If we know who God is we can pray confidently! If you do not know who God is then you will pray amiss! If you do not trust God then you will trust in the wrong things. How would you describe God? God is love! He has given us eternal life through His Son! What is eternal life? Eternal life includes past, present and future. He cleans all your files past, present and future! Life means an existence without end. Jesus gave us a sample when He raised the dead! He has promised to raise you one day from the dead! He has prepared a place for you! When I came to Christ a new life began in me! All things were made new! A new reality struck me like lightning! Born again! A blessed assurance of confidence entered my life! Fear and anger and hate were replaced by love, peace and joy! Now I know He loves me and it changed everything! He is more precious than silver and more costly than gold! When we find out who God is we can pray with confidence! The world will wear you down with it’s troubles and religion! We are talking about relationship here! When you come before the creator and ruler of the world and ask anything according to His will and purpose for your life you got it! God is unique in that He can hear all our prayers all at once! Like a mother who can hear all her screaming kids at once. God’s faithfulness is like a money back guarantee! After 25 years of marriage I have learned about non-verbal communication. With eye to eye contact I know the answer before I ask her! When we are intimate with God we know the answer before we ask Him! I know of some schools that give the students the answers before the test but that is cheating! With God you ask in prayer and He will give you an answer! Either yes, no or wait. We can approach God with confidence and know He is listening! He respects you and hears your prayers. Through the Holy Spirit it is like eye to eye contact with God! God is leaning into you! He is paying attention to you! He also wants your attention! We should ask for things He wants to give us! Revelation; Pray His promises to you! Reading and studying the Bible will lead to proper conversation and prayers to God! We already know the answers to our prayers if we pray His promises! God will bring good people into your life and lonely people to minister too! Just as in marriage intimate relationship with God leads to success! That is why Satan works overtime to break up relationships and marriages. We are going to tackle next year with a strong foundation for our families as provided to us in the Gospel of John Chapters 14, 15,16 and 17. Jesus said, “Ask in my name and I will do it!” If we remain in Him we will ask the right things! Marriage should be a picture of our relationship with God! We His church are His bride! In regards to prayer we can ask from those we know very well! Our promises from God are guaranteed! They are sure! Good as gold! Here is a sample of His promises to us from the Bible. 1. He gives us peace. John 14:27. 2. He wants to give us rest. Matthew 11:28. 3. He wants to give us courage. John 16:33. 4. He wants to give us wisdom. Luke 21:15. 5. He wants to give us a family. Psalm 68:5-6. The Bible says you have not because you ask not! Do you take time to ask or try to go it on your own? Pray God’s promises! It is so exciting to give God the Glory when He comes through! God loves to hear from you as you remind Him who He is! A father likes to hear from his children that he is their father! Prayer changes circumstances! One of the Greek words for prayer in the New Testament means to invert in a good sense! From poor to rich! From sad to joy! From lonely to relationships! From purposeless to purpose! From weakness to power! From hate to love! From hell to heaven! Try God and see He is good! Source; Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
What Did Jesus Say About Following Him? Matthew 7:13-14
Jesus had a radical message! You can only enter in at the narrow way, narrow passage or narrow gate to follow me. A narrow gate would only be about the width of your shoulders. You cannot carry any baggage with you when you go through it. Following Jesus through the narrow gate requires focus with no distractions in the way. The broad road or gate leads to destruction. Jesus does and did not go this path. It is a dead end road. Few people choose the narrow gate. American culture is more Christ resistant than anytime in our history. To follow Christ today is more costly than in previous generations. We are considered radicals by our culture and ridiculed. We are considered on the outer fringes like space cadets. Did you ever notice the on-line surveys always give you a way out. You are never committed to a yes or no answer. Kind of like politics today. Christ gave His disciples no third choice. It was either Heaven or Hell. The same holds true for us today! Yes or no? Easy or difficult. Matthew 5:1-2. Jesus real audience was more than the crowds it was His disciples. They had already made up their minds to follow Him but their trust level was low. It takes time to figure out if you can trust someone. Jesus told them the Kingdom of God is right now! It was not yesterday or tomarrow. Living right now is Monday through Saturday working, school and difficult schedules. Jesus said let Heaven break into your boring day to day world. Jerusalem has 12 gates. The wide gate is the most used gate. Examples today are convenience stores, shopping malls, fast food, ect. We like the best paved roads with the fewest traffic lights. They even have drive through churches today. Just hear a message on the internet or television. Why go to church? Studies have found that women like to shop on the internet after 9:00PM. Why? Convenient! We like to choose the easy way over the difficult. Going through the wide gate we can take along as much baggage as we want. No constraints, no sacrifices, easy choices, no boundaries, no commitment applies to all who travel the wide gate. Taking this path leads to ruin. Jesus took a narrow path from The Judgment Hall to Calvary. It was also a steep climb carrying your Cross! He took your unforgiveness, hurt, pain and all your sin. Jesus was a teacher of virtue. Creativity exits between boundaries. Whether it be inventions, music, poetry, sciences, discoveries or even the work of a humble farmer. All great work is done within constraints and boundaries. Jesus had to be sinless to fix your sin. Because of the discipline of constraints and boundaries we have very few great people. People do not like boundaries. Live together why get married? Why study? Why work? Get on welfare. Pregnant? Get an abortion. Vote for the political party that offers you no constraints or boundaries. Revelation 7:9. Heaven is not sparsely populated but has a great multitude. Salvation belongs to our God! It is a free gift like a Christmas gift under a tree and is easy to find. Jesus is easy to find but very difficult to follow. Weddings are exciting but then the couples have to learn to live together. Marriage goes from easy to difficult. The wide gate is to get a divorce or just live together unmarried. To remain in covenant is a miracle from God and requires His Grace. To stay married is hard work and a challenge. Getting pregnant is easy but raising children is hard work. The family under the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman is God’s only plan and design for relationships and for the security of future generations. Worship even requires constraints and boundaries. All people will make one of the following four choices in their life. 1. Secularism- autonomy, it’s my life, live for yourself, no boundaries, no restraints. Not Jesus way. No! 2. Moralism- Follow the rules and get the life I deserve. Entitlement. Steeped in religion that says it is all about me. I deserve to be rich and famous because I am a moral person. 3. Religion- I owe my life to God. Obligation. Things better go right with me because I am serving God! Bad exchange. Problems come! Death and disease comes to all! 4. Grace- Jesus says your life for my life! Wonderful exchange! Great Exchange! My nothingless for His everything. Give God your life and He gives His life back to you! Stop living for yourself. It is a dead end. Let Christ come in. Welcome the Holy Spirit! You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. What needs constraint in your life? Do you eat food for comfort? Do you have a drug or sex addiction? Do you feed your senses to no avail. Let Christ increase and you decrease. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and He will add to your life that will help you to victory. Source: Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Message given Sunday September 1, 2013.
Christ Saves And Secures! 1 John 3:6-9
In this passage, John examines the question of whether the person “Born Again” can commit sin? In verse six the apostle writes, “Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not”, and in verse eight, “He that commits sin is of the devil.” Furthermore in verse nine there is an emphatic declaration: “Whosoever is of God doth not commit sin…and he cannot sin.” If it were possible for a Christian to sin, there would be a contradiction in these portions of scriptures. In this instance, John says if it is not possible for those who are really born again to sin, there must be very few genuine Christians. Every believer still possesses a fallen, sin nature, as well as the indwelling Holy Spirit. Also the doctrine of eternal security is evident in scripture ( John 1:12, 10:28, Romans 8: 38-39 ). Though you may fall into sin, the believers eternal salvation is not affected. ( See note on 1 Thess. 2:3-9 ). Antinomians contend that the covenant of grace was not established based on conditions. The result of this belief is that no person can be held accountable to any moral law. It is only required that they believe, then they can live as they please. The perfectionist go so far as to say that the sin nature has been surgically removed. John was warning believers against these forms of thinking, that they not continue in sin, but abide in righteousness (v v. 8-9). Moreover, the apostle exposes these doctrines in the command, “My little children, these write i unto you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” ( 1 John 2:1 ) This is not the proper rendering of this verse. It should denote the mere action of a sin, not the idea of habitually sinning. John explains that even he is capable of committing sin, not in the habitual sense, but as one particular action. The phrase here in verse nine, “does not commit sin”, is in the present tense denoting continued action. On the other hand in chapter two, verse one John uses the aorist tense, speaking of one point in the past when a sin was committed. Furthermore there were those who taught that the mere intellectual assent to the Christian faith was enough to make one acceptable to God, even though he or she had impure lives. Therefore John reiterates in verse seven that only those who continued in righteousness, ( ho poion, Strongs 4160 ),a particple phrase meaning, “the one habitually doing”, were considered righteous. they were not only making the righteous and holy life of Christ the object of their trust, but also the pattern of their walk and practice. John’s idea of committing sin on a permanent, habitual basis is further explained in 3 John 1:11, “He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil has not seen God.” There are two participial nouns in this verse, ho agathopoin (Strongs 215), meaning “the one being a doer of good, a benevolent person”, and ho kakopoion (Strongs 2554), referring to, “the one doing evil, a malicious person.” This is the same usage found in 1 John 3:7, “he that doeth righteous is righteous.” John does not imply that merely acting good will make one righteous. A person is an artisan who has acquired a skill and works at a trade as his calling or occupation. Hense the correct translation of 1 John 3:8 should be, “the one who practices sin.” The expression, “he cannot sin”, ( 1 John 3:9 simply means the true believer cannot sin habitually, deliberately and maliciously (e.g. Cain sinned out of hatred for goodness, 1 John 3:12. John does not ignore the existence of the sinful nature in the believer which exists as a mortal living in a fallen world. Consequently, John states in 1 John 1:8, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Source: Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible. 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
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
Mansions or Mansion? John 14:2
The English rendition of the Greek word (mone), is translated mansions. The problem is the Greek word mone is singular not plural. Is this a big deal? it could be if it renders in your mind a different concept than the original Greek language intended! We have an earthly concept of mansions as individual houses like in our neighborhood block. If we think of one mansion where everyone lives then the concept is changed. Let us think about going to church on Sunday morning and parking your car in the parking lot with all the other cars. Now during the service i call a tow truck and pay to have all the cars towed away! At the end of the service the Pastor says do not go the parking lot because your vehicle is not there? We are now all going to live together in the church in one mansion here forever! Troubling? You are now thinking i cannot even get along with my spouse how can i get along with all these folks? I cannot divorce these people and move into my own mansion! Do we have the capacity to live together forever in the same house? Only God can give us this capacity! It is humanly impossible otherwise! If you go to John 14:23 you can see this from a different perspective. If by pre-conditions laid out by Jesus here then God makes his abode in individual believers. Then Christ dwells in many mansions(believers). He dwells in many mansions while we are on earth but one day we end up in the “Big House” together as we say down here in Georgia! Please do more than just read your Bible! Study it! James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Does Justification Make One Inwardly Holy? Romans Chapter 3 Verses 19-20
These verses form a key conclusion in Paul’s argument regarding sin and righteousness. In the previous verses, Paul has quoted the Old Testament to demonstrate man’s sinfulness (vv. 10-18). The “law” (v.19), referring to the Old Testament, was designed to silence all mankind under the conviction that they have nothing to say against the charge of sin. Likewise, the law was intended to convince all men of their guilt, or liability to punishment before God. Paul concludes that since all men are guilty, they cannot be “justified” by their own personal character or conduct (v. 20). Justification is a legal term meaning to remove guilt (liability to punishment) of the sinner. IT DOES NOT INVOLVE MAKING ONE INWARDLY HOLY but merely declares the demands of justice have been satisfied. Hence, there are no grounds for condemnation (Romans 8:1). Not even obediance to the law can justify one before God. Paul reasons, because the very nature of the law is to prove to each person that he or she is sinful and deserves God’s punishment. Thus the purpose of the law is to lead people to renounce THEIR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS and TRUST in the IMPUTATION OF CHRIST’S RIGHTEOUSNESS as the only grounds for acceptance with God. In Conclusion; The above subject of justification applies to all whether saved or not! Many of us after getting saved through ministries and good works can fall into the trap that it is all the good stuff we do that makes us Holy! If we can remember it is Christ’s Righteousness that has, is and will continue to save us! Thankyou. James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com Source: Key Word Study Bible Hebrew-Greek, Page 1406, AMG International 2008 Edition.
Garage Sale!
The scripture reference for this word study is First Corinthians Chapter 15, Verse 4. The word or phrase we are going to study is “Rose Again”. The Strongs Number is 1453. The Greek Word is Egeiro. This word means to waken, idea of collecting one’s faculties or rouse from sleep. The base word for this word is Strong’s Number 58. This Greek word is Agora.This word means to gather together as in a town square. It means to meet together in a market place where things are exposed for sale! Also where assemblies of people met to conduct public trials. Commentary; Never forget our sin was up for sale! Satan offered Jesus all the Kingdoms of this world if He would bow down and worship him! In America we have garage sales. We take the worthless things off the floor of our homes and raise them up on a table to sell. People actually will come and pay money for these worthless junk! We were worthless in our sin yet Christ purchased our sin with His own Blood! His life for ours! He paid the ransom to redeem us from our sin! In the phrase, “Rose again”, we find the word Rose. A perennial flower that blooms over and over again! Christ’s sweet fragrance in me manifests over and over again! Christ is the Rose of Sharon! Thankyou. James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Word Study
I like word studies of the Bible! We can trust our English or other Language Bible translations but a key word study by going back to the Greek(NT) or Hebrew(OT), will give a unique perspective on the word of God! These words are layered much like the earth’s crust is layered wth different kinds of rocks. We have to dig deep to find the Gold and Diamonds! God has spoken to us through His Word! We speak to God through prayer but God primarily speaks to us through His Word! God’s creative power and redemptive power is through His Word! The Holy Bible is the Word of God. God’s Image is expressed and manifested through His Word! There are approximately 700 scriptures alone just on the word-“word”! In our next Blog we will take one word out of one scripture and study it. Thankyou. James Sasse GodWhoisGod.com