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Genesis 1 In the beginning

2011-10-12T23:21:00.000-05:00

Genesis 1
King James Version KJV

Genesis 1
1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

6And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

8And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

11And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

13And the evening and the morning were the third day.

14And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

16And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

17And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

19And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

21And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

22And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

23And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

25And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

30And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

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The Temple of Solomon will never be Again or any earthly Temple

2011-05-16T22:08:00.001-05:00

The Temple of Solomon will never be Again or any earthly Temple. If we believe in the new coveanet.
     (Note) Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; VERSE 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body,"
     (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Read below: We are not looking for this kind temple any more. We are that Temple.
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                                      The Temple of Solomon.
     The crowning achievement of King Solomon's reign was the erection of a magnificent Temple in Jerusalem. His father, King David, had wanted to build a great Temple for God a generation earlier, as a permanent resting place for the Ark containing the Ten Commandments. A divine edict, however, had forbidden him from doing so. "You will not build a house for My name," God said to him, "for you are a man of battles and have shed blood" (I Chronicles 28:3).
     The Bible's description of Solomon's Temple suggests that the inside ceiling was was 180 feet long, 90 feet wide, and 50 feet high.
     The highest point on the Temple that King Solomon built was actually 120 cubits tall (about 20 stories or about 207 feet). According to the Tanach (II Chronicles 3:3) The length by cubits after the ancient measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.
     And the porch that was before the house, the length of it, according to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and the height a hundred and twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold.
     He spares no expense in the building's creation. He orders vast quantities of cedar from King Hiram of Tyre (I Kings 5:2025), has huge blocks of the choicest stone quarried, and commands that the building's foundation be laid with hewn stone.
     To complete the massive project, he imposes forced labor on all his subjects, drafting people for work shifts lasting a month at a time. Some 3,300 officials are appointed to oversee the Temple's erection (5:2730). Solomon assumes such heavy debts in building the Temple that he is forced to pay off King Hiram with twenty towns in the Galilee (I Kings 9:11).
     When the Temple is completed, Solomon inaugurates it with prayer and sacrifice, and even invites nonJews to come and pray there. He urges God to pay particular heed to their prayers: "Thus all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and revere You, as does Your people Israel; and they will recognize that Your name is attached to this House that I have built" (I Kings 8:43).
     Until the Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians some four hundred years later, in 586 B.C.E., sacrifice was the predominant mode of divine service there. Seventy years later, a second Temple was built on the same site, and sacrifices again resumed. During the first century B.C.E., Herod greatly enlarged and expanded this Temple. The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E., after the failure of the Great Revolt.
     As glorious and elaborate as the Temple was, its most important room contained almost no furniture at all. Known as the Holy of Holies (Kodesh Kodashim), it housed the two tablets of the Ten Commandments. Unfortunately, the tablets disappeared when the Babylonians destroyed the Temple, and during the Second Temple era, the Holy of Holies was a small, entirely bare room. Only once a year, on Yom Kippur, the High Priest would enter this room and pray to God on Israel's behalf. A remarkable monologue by a Hasidic rabbi in the Yiddish play The Dybbuk conveys a sense of what the Jewish throngs worshiping at the Temple must have experienced during this ceremony:
     God's world is great and holy. The holiest land in the world is the land of Israel. In the land of Israel the holiest city is Jerusalem. In Jerusalem the holiest place was the Temple, and in the Temple the holiest spot was the Holy of Holies.... There are seventy peoples in the world. The holiest among these is the people of Israel. The holiest of the people of Israel is the tribe of Levi. In the tribe of Levi the holiest are the priests. Among the priests, the holiest was the High Priest.
     There are 354 days in the [lunar] year. Among these, the holidays are holy. Higher than these is the holiness of the Sabbath. Among Sabbaths, the holiest is the Day of Atonement, the Sabbath of Sabbaths.... There are seventy languages in the world. The holiest is Hebrew. Holier than all else in this language is the holy Torah, and in the Torah the holiest part is the Ten Commandments. In the Ten Commandments the holiest of all words is the name of g-d.... And once during the year, at a certain hour, these four supreme sanctities of the world were joined with one another. That was on the Day of Atonement, when the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies and there utter the name of God. And because this hour was beyond measure holy and awesome, it was the time of utmost peril not only for the High Priest but for the whole of Israel. For if in this hour there had, God forbid, entered the mind of the High Priest a false or sinful thought, the entire world would have been destroyed.
     To this day, traditional Jews pray three times a day for the Temple's restoration. During the centuries the Muslims controlled Palestine, two mosques were built on the site of the Jewish Temple.
     (This was no coincidence; it is a common Islamic custom to build mosques on the sites of other people's holy places.) Since any attempt to level these mosques would lead to an international Muslim holy war (jihad) against Israel, the Temple cannot be rebuilt in the foreseeable future.
     "Note" Jesus made the way into the real Temple of God in heaven for us: who are washed in his BLOOD.
    Come study with us. Wed. 6:30   We are free to let him work with the gifts of the Spirit. dillmunsell@yahoo.com

DANIEL'S 70th WEEK

2011-04-07T22:49:00.005-05:00

DANIEL'S 70th WEEK
     In the ninth chapter of the Book of Daniel we find a prophecy, commonly referred to as "Daniel's 70th Week", which has become a corner stone and foundation of "Futurism". By taking the Scriptures out of their context to make them a pretext, the "Futurists" tell us that this prophecy foretells the coming of a one-world dictator, the Prince of the Prophecy, who will make a Treaty or Covenant with the Jews, break it after three and a half years and sit enthroned for worship in a rebuilt Jewish Temple, from which he will impose the "MARK OF THE BEAST" and unleash the horrors of the "GREAT TRIBULATION". To call this interpretation fanciful would be kind, to call it downright deception would be more accurate. Let us now examine the "Seventy Weeks Prophecy" and see for ourselves. Stop buying book's about what's to happen after Jesus comes again. Save some money.
In the Book of Daniel we read these words:
"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, Jerusalem.
"1" to finish the transgression,
"2" and to make an end of sins,
"3' and to make reconciliation for iniquity,
"4" and to bring in everlasting righteousness,
"5" and to seal up the vision and prophecy,
"6" and to anoint the most Holy."
DANIEL 9:24 The people of the prophecy were Daniel's people, the Judah section of the Israel nation. The holy city referred to was undoubtedly Jerusalem. The time-factor given is "Seventy Weeks". Now we need to determine how long this would be, using the prophetic time-scale of a year to a day.
                                 70 WEEKS 490 YEARS
We must now go on to determine the starting point when the Seventy Prophetic Weeks or 490 Years began, and so we read:
"seven weeks and three score and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself" - DANIEL 9:25-26     The starting point is the Decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. This came about in 457 B.C. under the Medo-Persian monarch Artaxerxes. The people were then to spend 7 WEEKS or 49 YEARS BUILDING
62 WEEKS or 434 YEARS - AWAITING MESSIAH
Sure enough, 483 years after the Decree of Artaxerxes, in 27 A.D. (allowing one year for the crossing over from B.C. to A.D. as there is no year 0 between 1 B.C. and 1 A.D.) the Lord Jesus Christ was baptized by John in the waters of the River Jordan, being declared to be the Son of God with power, when the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove and the voice from heaven proclaimed:
"This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." - MATTHEW 3:17
     As Paul so aptly puts it in GALATIANS 4:4
"But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son…"The Daniel prophecy goes on to tell us that this Lord Jesus the Messiah would accomplish some six things during the course of His Ministry:
1. Finish Transgression
2. Make an end of sins
3. Make reconciliation for iniquity
4. Bring in everlasting righteousness
5. Seal up the vision and prophecy (Seal up does not mean to hide it.= Finish Transgression
6. Anoint the most Holy= Jesus 70 WEEKS----------490 PROPHETICAL DAYS------------490 YEARS-All this our Lord accomplished."…shall Messiah be cut off but not for Himself." - Daniel 9:26
Reading on into verse 27, we find these words:"And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week Below is said to come to pass after Jesus comes back.
                               Notice below.
The "Futurists" try to tell us that the "he" in this verse refers to a future Anti-Christ, the Prince of verse 26, who having made a treaty or covenant with the Jews, breaks it after three and a half years, and causes the sacrifices and rituals of the rebuilt Temple? to cease or be discontinued. However, this is a blatant example of taking a text from its context and making it a pretext to substantiate error and false doctrine.
Whom therefore is this prophecy referring to? What is the Covenant that is made? And how was the Temple worship and The "He" is Messiah the Prince, the Lord Jesus Christ.
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel…..
     After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." - JEREMIAH 31:31-33"
This Temple is in their Hearts or bodys. And theres only one New Covenant.
And He (Jesus) took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my Blood of the New Testament (Covenant,) which is shed for many for the remission of sins- MATTHEW 26:27-28
     The Lord Jesus by His once for all atoning sacrifice at Golgotha, instituted the New Covenant. The old Covenant was Gone with the wind when Jesus rose from the dead.
     "Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost (died). And, behold, the veil of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;" - MATTHEW 27:50-51
      No Jewish priest was needed any longer to take the blood through the veil, once a year into the Holy of Holies. Christ, our great High Priest, had completed the work of sacrifice and atonement. Now you may well be asking, if this is so, who is the Prince that shall come and destroy the city of Jerusalem and its sanctuary, as we read in the remainder of the Daniel Prophecy:"…and the people of Rome the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined…..and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.> "The Jewish people AD 70- DANIEL 9:26-27
Could all this happen after Jesus comes back again? It happened when he was here in the flesh.

       Daniel's 70th Week ended in 34 A.D. with the martyrdom of Stephen and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the household of Cornelius. For some forty years after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus - a Bible generation of testing, trial and probation - the Jews refused, resisted and opposed the proclamation of the New Covenant Gospel of Salvation. In 67 A.D. they rebelled against the might of Imperial Rome, and a three year conflict commenced. The climax of these events came in 70 A.D. when the armies of the Roman Prince Titus son of the Emperor Vespasian, laid siege to Jerusalem. The Jewish historian Josephus records the horrors of the siege in graphic detail. One million Jews perished by famine and the sword, some ninety thousand being sold into slavery when the Romans finally captured the city.
     The remaining Jewish Zealots had sought refuge in the Temple precincts and so the Romans launched a final assault during which a soldier threw a piece of burning wood into the inner sanctuary and soon the magnificent building was ablaze. Titus then marched into the sanctuary ruins, set up the Roman standards and offered the traditional sacrifice of an ox, a sheep and a pig. "Matt 24 the abomanation that makes desolate" He subsequently ordered the systematic destruction of the city and the levelling of the Temple site to the ground (i.e. to its base or platform). Thus was the remainder of Daniel's Prophecy fulfilled by Titus the Prince, and by his people, the soldiers of Imperial Rome.,
ANTI-CHRIST TO SIT IN A REBUILT JEWISH TEMPLE RECEIVING WORSHIP??????

The "Futurists" make much of the Scripture which states:
"…and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." - II THESSALONIANS 2:3-4

On the basis of this verse they go on to proclaim that their coming one-man Anti-Christ, the future superhuman, world dictator will be enthroned in a rebuilt Jewish Temple at Jerusalem to receive worship and adoration. This overlooks three very important facts:

1. Anti-Christ is not an open enemy or opponent of Christ, but rather a counterfeit or usurper who takes the place, titles and dignities of Christ. The Greek word "Antichristos" always denotes a "Vice-Christ"or a "substitute Christ". The following are some examples of the way in which Greek writers of the Biblical era would have used "ANTI" to mean a substitute rather than an open opponent.
2. A} ANTI-BASILEUS - A VICE-KING or VICEROY
3. B} ANTI-DIAKONOS - A VICE MINISTER
C} ANTI- DOULOS - A SUBSTITUTE SLAVE
D} ANTI-DEIPUOUS - A SUBSTITUTE GUEST AT A BANQUET
These are sufficient to illustrate the point.
4. Anti-Christ refers not to one man at the end of the age, but to a whole dynasty of "substitute Christs" down the centuries i.e. "THE PAPACY". The "Futurists" insist that Paul's use of the singular term "Man of Sin" substantiates their theory, but by comparing Scripture with Scripture we find that this not the case. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, we find the whole dynasty of High Priests in Israel referred to as "One Man" (HEBREWS 9:7). Again we are told that the entire company of believers in all ages is but "One Body",
     (I CORINTHIANS 12:12). Similarly the whole line of believers is referred to as "One New Man (EPHESIANS 2:15).
     When we look back to Daniel's vision of the various Beasts, he is actually describing the entire ruling dynasties of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome as being "four kings", one king in each case symbolising or standing for a dynasty."
The Greek wording in II THESSALONIANS 2:4 refutes any idea of Anti-Christ sitting in a literal, physical Temple at Jerusalem. If Paul had wanted to state that the "Man of Sin" would be seated in a rebuilt Jewish Temple, receiving worship, he would undoubtedly have used the Greek word "HIERON", which is used on some twenty five other occasions to describe the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem. Instead Paul uses the Greek word "NAOS", which according to Young's Analytical Concordance, means a "dwelling place" or "inner sanctuary". When the Lord Jesus used this same word "NAOS "in JOHN 2: 19-21, He used it to refer not to a building in Jerusalem but to His own body:"Destroy this temple (NAOS) and in three days, I will raise it up...... He spake of the temple (NAOS) of His body."
     In the other Pauline Epistles, the word "NAOS" has a definite meaning other than the building in Jerusalem.
"And what agreement hath the Temple (NAOS) of God with idols? for ye are the Temple (NAOS) of the living God;" - II CORINTHIANS 6:16 "Ye are the Temple (NAOS) of God. If any man defile the Temple (NAOS) of God, him shall God destroy; for the Temple (NAOS) of God is holy, which Temple (NAOS) ye are." - I CORINTHIANS 3: 17 "In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy Temple (NAOS) in the Lord;" - EPHESIANS 2: 21 (This is the Church) No rebuilt temple.
POPE JOHN PAUL II HAS FREQUENTLY PREACHED TO THE CROWDS BELOW HIM FROM THIS WINDOW IN THE VATICAN'S PAPAL APARTMENTS

     To further illustrate this point we quote from the Roman Catholic newspaper, "The Universe" in its edition of June 27th 1846, which gives a vivid description of the ceremony of the installation of the Pope. As you read this account, bear in mind the wording of II Thessalonians chapter 2 - out of their own mouths they stand condemned."He (the Pope) is borne in the Pontifical Chair, and is placed on the High Altar, a spot consecrated by the actual presence of the body, blood, soul and divinity of the living Christ. He sits on the High Altar using it as his footstool, and enthroned as King, he is adored as God, in the same manner as the consecrated wafer, adored by the Cardinal Princes, who kiss his feet which rest on the Altar of the Supreme. HE SITS IN THE TEMPLE OF GOD SHOWING HIMSELF AS IF HE
WERE GOD."
                          EZEKIEL'S TEMPLE
In their desire to establish some sort of Biblical support for their idea of a reconstructed Jewish Temple, the "Futurists" place great emphasis on the record given in the last nine chapters of Ezekiel's prophecy (chapters 40 -48), which give a detailed description of a future Temple. In what circumstances, however, was Ezekiel writing and to what does this detailed Temple vision refer? The Book of Ezekiel contains some thirteen visions and revelations given to the prophet over a period of over twenty-five years of exile in Babylon. Each of these thirteen documents is carefully dated, but the documents have not been arranged in chronological order, as the Book of Ezekiel is set out in our Bible. So whilst it appears that the Temple vision of the last nine chapters was God's final revelation to Ezekiel, the fact is that these "final" chapters should actually be placed much earlier in the book. The prophecy has nothing whatsoever to do with a rebuilt Temple in the modern Zionist State but rather was a vision, given by God to Ezekiel in 574 B.C., of a last offer of mercy and forgiveness to the Ten Tribed House of Israel, taken into the Assyrian captivity some one hundred and fifty years earlier, and a section of whom were still dwelling in the province of Ecbatana in Media. Ezekiel was sent to offer them a written scheme for national restoration which would embrace a new division of the land of Palestine, a reformed priesthood and a rebuilt and remodelled Temple. Furthermore, Ezekiel's offer was to embrace all Twelve Tribes of Israel, whilst the present day Zionist State contains only a remnant of the Tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi, outnumbered by Edomite and Khazar Jews, who, whilst practising the Jewish religion and adhering to the creed of political Zionism, are not true Israelites.
Therefore, Ezekiel's temple vision does not support or substantiate the "Futurist" concepts. After Jesus comes.
TEN KINGDOMS:
See> < (Map} below. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Roman_Empire_125.png

   We find in DANIEL chapter 2 that the ROMAN EMPIRE is represented by LEGS OF IRON symbolising unity, strength and power, but upon its break-up and collapse, there emerge feet and toes whose division and lack of cohesive unity is perfectly predicted in the following verse:-
"And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay." - DANIEL 2: 43-44
     Will the Roman Empire be resurrected in all its old strength and reunited under one head?
The "Futurists" say YES, the Bible says NO. The old Empire of the Caesars was broken up in 476 A.D. and remains broken until this day. It is part iron, part clay, partly strong, partly weak, partly democratic, partly dictatorial, partly socialist, partly capitalist; it will not be joined together.
     Down the centuries Roman Catholicism, working with and through the prevailing political philosophies which have risen and fallen in Europe, has attempted to perform this impossible task of reviving and reuniting the old Roman Empire and creating a Europe, Roman Catholic from the Atlantic to the Urals. We see on the stage of European history, Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire, we see the might of the Hapsburgs in the era of the Counter Reformation, Louis XIV, the Sun King of France, Napoleon, the Kaiser, Hitler and Mussolini with their Rome-Berlin Axis, and now the EC. All have failed and will fail. Yet in spite of both the evidence of history and in defiance of the plain words of prophecy, "Futurism" still awaits its revived Roman Empire and its personal Anti-Christ receiving worship in a rebuilt Jewish Temple at Jerusalem.?

Jesuit inspired "Futurism".1. ANTI-CHRIST has already come in the PAPACY.2. Europe will remain divided, the ROMAN EMPIRE will not be revived.
3. The Temple area with its Moslem Mosques will remain until the LORD JESUS CHRIST returns.
4. There will be no rebuilt JEWISH TEMPLE.
5. Rome has a wounded head and will soon die with the Roman Catholic destined for destruction When Jesus comes.     What then is the ultimate destiny of Jerusalem? For the answer we must now turn in our Bible to Zechariah chapter 14. There we find that as a result of the final BATTLE OF THE GREAT DAY OF GOD ALMIGHTY, and the massive earthquake which will accompany CHRIST'S RETURN to the Mount of Olives, ZECHARIAH 14: the present city of Jerusalem, the centre of Apostate Judaism, Islam, Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism is destined for destruction. The entire topography of the area is to be changed dramatically, and the NEWLY REBUILT JERUSALEM OF THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM AGE is destined to be a warm water port and the centre of universal worship for the LORD JESUS who shall reign as KING OF KINGS and
LORDS OF LORDS, ruling the nations with a rod of iron.
Here is the Biblical record of these future events:-

    "Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the East, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the East and toward the West, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the North and half of it toward the South And it shall be in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
   And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day there shall be one Lord and His name one. All the land shall be turned as a plain….south of Jerusalem…there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited…..And it shall come to pass that everyone that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles." - ZECHARIAH 14: 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ." : and in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease…" "Forever", and in the middle of the final week of seven years, or exactly three and a half years after His baptism: sacrifice made to cease? The Covenant spoken of is the New Covenant, signed and sealed in His own blood at Calvary, by which Redemption and remission of sins was made available to the House of Israel, and whosoever will repent and obey the Gospel. For evidence let us read the following Scriptures:
New Covenant and made the rituals and the animal sacrifices of the Jewish Temple to become obsolete and ultimately to cease, as we have read.
          Holy Roman church ruled Ten Kingdoms
GOTHS > The works of Isidore of Seville hold the belief that the term 'Goth' is derived from the name 'Gog', in allusion to the Gog and Magog of Jewish antiquity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goths
OSTROGOTHS > The Ostrogoths established the Kingdom of Italy, a relatively short-lived successor state of the Western Roman Empire.
VISIGOTHS > Visigoths first emerged as a distinct people during the 4th century, initially in the Balkans, where they participated in several wars with Rome.
LOMBARDS > The Langobards (or Lombards) were a Germanic tribe that began in southern Sweden and worked their way down into Italy by the 6th century. There they established permanent German rule in Italy,
ALANS > The Alans or Alani (occasionally termed Alauni or Halani) were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian
SUEVI >The Suevi were a confederation of Germanic peoples which included the tribes of the Marcomanni and Quadi, the Hermunduri, Semnones, the Langobardes (Lombards), and the Alemanni.
BURGUNDIANS > The Burgundians, East German tribesmen, were great allies of Rome. In the Battle of Chalons (451 AD), they fought on the side of Aetius, a Roman war hero, the Visigoths, and other Germanic peoples against Attila and the Huns. So much the Roman allies, the Burgundian kings were given the title of Master of the Soldiers. Burgundians sought their place in history through military alliances. The rise of the Franks under Clovis committed the Burgundians as allies to the Franks in which they helped Clovis to defeat the Visigoths in 507 AD
FRANKS > The Franks (Latin: Franci or gens Francorum) were a West Germanic tribal confederation first attested in the third century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul.
BAVARIANS > The history of Bavaria stretches from its earliest settlement and its formation as a stem duchy in the 6th century through its inclusion
Roman Empires to its status as an independent kingdom and, finally, as a large and significant Bundesland (state) of the modern Federal Republic of Germany.
ALLEMANI > In English, Alemania refers to Alamannia, i.e. the land occupied by the Alemanni, a Germanic tribe, and/or the area where Alemannic German is spoken by their descendants.
Their story and the stories which involve them are told in the , Shadadarach, Meshach, and Abednego (sometimes referred to collectively as The Three Young Men) were three friends of /Daniel in the Bible whose Hebrew names were Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, respectively.Daniel, they were youths from the Jewish nobility. At the first deportation of the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar (the kingdom of Israel 10 tribes had come to an end nearly a century before at the hands of the Assyrians), or immediately after his victory over the Egyptians at the second battle of Carchemish, in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim (606 BC), these three and Daniel were among the Jewish young nobility carried off to Babylon (probably as hostages to ensure the loyalty of Judah's king and advisors), along with some of the vessels of the temple. They were subsequently evaluated and chosen for their intellect and beauty, to be trained as Chaldeans (members of the class of the magi: astrologers, sorcerers, enchanters and magicians), who constituted the ranks of the advisors to the Babylonian court. Book of Daniel. dillmunsell@yahoo.com Study with us Wed. 6:30 Who was the 4th man in the fire?  Thank you.        Dillard

Are you going to HELL and live forever???????

2011-04-02T16:20:00.000-05:00

The popular conception of hell is of a place of punishment for wicked 'immortal souls'? straight after death, or the place of torment for those who are rejected at the judgment. It is our conviction that the Bible teaches that hell is the grave, where all men go at death.

As a word, the original Hebrew word 'sheol', translated 'hell', means 'a covered place'. 'Hell' is the Anglicized version of 'sheol'; thus when we read of 'hell' we are not reading a word which has been fully translated. A 'helmet' is literally a 'hell-met', meaning a covering for the head. Biblically, this 'covered place', or 'hell', is the grave. There are many examples where the original word 'sheol' is translated 'grave'. Indeed, some modern Bible versions scarcely use the word 'hell', translating it more properly as 'grave'. A few examples of where this word 'sheol' is translated 'grave' should torpedo the popular conception of hell as a place of fire and torment for the wicked:

"Let the wicked...be silent in the grave" (sheol [Ps. 31:17]) - they will not be screaming in agony.

"God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave" (sheol [Ps.49:15]) - i.e. David's soul or body would be resurrected from the grave, or 'hell'.

The belief that hell is a place of punishment for the wicked from which they cannot escape just cannot be squared with this; a righteous man can go to hell (the grave) and come out again. Hos. 13:14 confirms this: "I will ransom them (God's people) from the power of the grave (sheol); I will redeem them from death". This is quoted in 1 Cor. 15:55 and applied to the resurrection at Christ's return. Likewise in the vision of the second resurrection, "death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them" (Rev. 20:13). Note the parallel between death, i.e. the grave, and hell (see also Ps. 6:5).

Hannah's words in 1 Sam. 2:6 are very clear: "The Lord killeth, and maketh alive (through resurrection): he bringeth down to the grave (sheol), and bringeth up".

Seeing that 'hell' is the grave, it is to be expected that the righteous will be saved from it through their resurrection to eternal life. Thus it is quite possible to enter 'hell', or the grave, and later to leave it through resurrection. The supreme example is that of Jesus, whose "soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption" (Acts 2:31) because he was resurrected. Note the parallel between Christ's 'soul' and his 'flesh' or body. That his body "was not left in hell" implies that it was there for a period, i.e. the three days in which his body was in the grave. That Christ went to 'hell' should be proof enough that it is not just a place where the wicked go.

Both good and bad people go to 'hell', i.e. the grave. Thus Jesus "made his grave with the wicked" (Is. 53:9). In line with this, there are other examples of righteous men going to hell, i.e. the grave. Jacob said that he would "go down into the grave (hell)...mourning" for his son Joseph (Gen. 37:35).

It is one of God's principles that the punishment for sin is death (Rom. 6:23; 8:13; James 1:15). We have previously shown death to be a state of complete unconsciousness. Sin results in total destruction, not eternal torment (Matt. 21:41; 22:7; Mark 12:9; James 4:12), as surely as people were destroyed by the Flood (Luke 17:27,29), and as the Israelites died in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:10). On both these occasions the sinners died rather than being eternally tormented. It is therefore impossible that the wicked are punished with an eternity of conscious torment and suffering.

We have also seen that God does not impute sin - or count it to our record - if we are ignorant of His word (Rom. 5:13). Those in this position will remain dead. Those who have known God's requirements will be resurrected and judged at Christ's return. If wicked, the punishment they receive will be death, because this is the judgment for sin. Therefore after coming before the judgment seat of Christ, they will be punished and then die again, to stay dead for ever. This will be "the second death", spoken of in Rev. 2:11; 20:6. These people will have died once, a death of total unconsciousness. They will be resurrected and judged at Christ's return, and then punished with a second death, which, like their first death, will be total unconsciousness. This will last for ever.

It is in this sense that the punishment for sin is 'everlasting', in that there will be no end to their death. To remain dead for ever is an everlasting punishment. An example of the Bible using this kind of expression is found in Deut. 11:4. This describes God's one-off destruction of Pharaoh's army in the Red Sea as an eternal, on-going destruction in that this actual army never again troubled Israel, "He made the water of the Red sea to overflow them...the Lord hath destroyed them unto this day".

Even in early Old Testament times the believers understood that there would be a resurrection at the last day, after which the responsible wicked would return to the grave. Job 21:30,32 is very clear: "The wicked...shall be brought forth (i.e. resurrected) to the day of wrath...yet shall he be brought (then) to the grave". One of the parables about Christ's return and the judgment speaks of the wicked being 'slain' in his presence (Luke 19:27). This hardly fits into the idea that the wicked exist for ever in a conscious state, constantly receiving torture. In any case, this would be a somewhat unreasonable punishment - eternal torture for deeds of 70 years. God has no pleasure in punishing wicked people; it is therefore to be expected that He will not inflict punishment on them for eternity (Eze. 18:23,32; 33:11 cp. 2 Peter 3:9).

Apostate Christendom often associates 'hell' with the idea of fire and torment. This is in sharp contrast to Bible teaching about hell (the grave). "Like sheep they are laid in the grave (hell); death shall feed on them" (Ps. 49:14) implies that the grave is a place of peaceful oblivion. Despite Christ's soul, or body, being in hell for three days, it did not suffer corruption (Acts 2:31). This would have been impossible if hell were a place of fire. Eze. 32:26-30 gives a picture of the mighty warriors of the nations around, lying at peace in their graves: "The mighty that are fallen (in battle)...which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads...they shall lie...with them that go down to the pit". This refers to the custom of burying warriors with their weapons, and resting the head of the corpse upon its sword. Yet this is a description of "hell" - the grave. These mighty men lying still in hell (i.e. their graves), hardly supports the idea that hell is a place of fire. Physical things (e.g. swords) go to the same "hell" as people, showing that hell is not an arena of spiritual torment. Thus Peter told a wicked man, "Thy money perish with thee"(Acts 8:20).

The record of Jonah's experiences also contradicts this. Having been swallowed alive by a huge fish, "Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, and said, I cried...unto the Lord...out of the belly of hell cried I" (Jonah 2:1,2). This parallels "the belly of hell" with that of the whale. The whale's belly was truly a 'covered place', which is the fundamental meaning of the word 'sheol', translated 'hell'. Obviously, it was not a place of fire, and Jonah came out of "the belly of hell" when the whale vomited him out. This pointed forward to the resurrection of Christ from 'hell' (the grave) - see Matt. 12:40.

Figurative Fire

However, the Bible does frequently use the image of eternal fire in order to represent God's anger with sin, which will result in the total destruction of the sinner in the grave. Sodom was punished with "eternal fire" (Jude v. 7), i.e. it was totally destroyed due to the wickedness of the inhabitants. Today that city is in ruins, submerged beneath the waters of the Dead Sea; in no way is it now on fire, which is necessary if we are to understand 'eternal fire' literally. Likewise Jerusalem was threatened with the eternal fire of God's anger, due to the sins of Israel: "Then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched" (Jer. 17:27). Jerusalem being the prophesied capital of the future Kingdom (Is. 2:2-4; Ps. 48:2), God did not mean us to read this literally. The great houses of Jerusalem were burnt down with fire (2 Kings 25:9), but that fire did not continue eternally.

Similarly, God punished the land of Idumea with fire that would "not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste...the owl and the raven shall dwell in it...thorns shall come up in her palaces" (Is. 34:9-15). Seeing that animals and plants were to exist in the ruined land of Idumea, the language of eternal fire must refer to God's anger and His total destruction of the place, rather than being taken literally.

The Hebrew and Greek phrases which are translated "for ever" mean strictly, "for the age". Sometimes this refers to literal infinity, for example the age of the kingdom, but not always. Ez. 32:14,15 is an example: "The forts and towers shall be dens for ever...until the spirit be poured upon us". This is one way of understanding the 'eternity' of 'eternal fire'.

Time and again God's anger with the sins of Jerusalem and Israel is likened to fire: "Mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place (Jerusalem)...it shall burn, and shall not be quenched" (Jer. 7:20; other examples include Lam. 4:11 and 2 Kings 22:17).

Fire is also associated with God's judgment of sin, especially at the return of Christ: "For, behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up" (Mal. 4:1). When stubble, or even a human body, is burnt by fire, it returns to dust. It is impossible for any substance, especially human flesh, to literally burn for ever. The language of 'eternal fire' therefore cannot refer to literal eternal torment. A fire cannot last for ever if there is nothing to burn. It should be noted that "hell" is "cast into the lake of fire" (Rev. 20:14). This indicates that hell is not the same as "the lake of fire"; this represents complete destruction. In the symbolic manner of the book of Revelation, we are being told that the grave is to be totally destroyed, because at the end of the Millennium there will be no more death.

Gehenna

In the New Testament there are two Greek words translated 'hell'. 'Hades' is the equivalent of the Hebrew 'sheol' which we have discussed earlier. 'Gehenna' is the name of the rubbish tip which was just outside Jerusalem, where the refuse from the city was burnt. Such rubbish tips are typical of many developing cities today (e.g. 'Smoky Mountain' outside Manila in the Philippines.) As a proper noun - i.e. the name of an actual place - it should have been left untranslated as 'Gehenna' rather than be translated as 'hell. 'Gehenna' is the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew 'Ge-ben-Hinnon'. This was located near Jerusalem (Josh. 15:8), and at the time of Christ it was the city rubbish dump. Dead bodies of criminals were thrown onto the fires which were always burning there, so that Gehenna became symbolic of total destruction and rejection.

Again the point has to be driven home that what was thrown onto those fires did not remain there for ever - the bodies decomposed into dust. "Our God (will be) a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:29) at the day of judgment; the fire of His anger with sin will consume sinners to destruction rather than leave them in a state of only being singed by it and still surviving. At the time of God's previous judgments of His people Israel at the hand of the Babylonians, Gehenna was filled with dead bodies of the sinners among God's people (Jer. 7:32,33).

In his masterly way, the Lord Jesus brought together all these Old Testament ideas in his use of the word 'Gehenna'. He often said that those who were rejected at the judgment seat at His return would go "into Gehenna (i.e."hell"), into the fire that never shall be quenched; where their worm dieth not" (Mark 9:43,44). Gehenna would have conjured up in the Jewish mind the ideas of rejection and destruction of the body, and we have seen that eternal fire is an idiom representing the anger of God against sin, and the eternal destruction of sinners through death.

The reference to "where their worm dieth not", is evidently part of this same idiom for total destruction - it is inconceivable that there could be literal worms which will never die. The fact that Gehenna was the location of previous punishments of the wicked amongst God's people, further shows the aptness of Christ's use of this figure of Gehenna

Study with us. Wed. 6:30 dilllmunsell@yahoo.com

Spirit, Soul, Body.

2011-03-31T22:24:00.001-05:00

Spirit, Soul, Body.

   There is an unfortunate confusion in many people's minds between the soul and the spirit. This is aggravated by the fact that in some languages and Bible translations, the English words 'soul' and 'spirit' have only one equivalent. The 'soul' fundamentally referring to all the constituents of a person can sometimes refer to the spirit as well. However, normally there is a difference in meaning between 'soul' and 'spirit' as used in the Bible; soul and spirit can be 'divided asunder' (Heb. 4:12).

   The Hebrew and Greek words for 'spirit' ('Ruach' and 'Pneuma' respectively) are also translated in the following ways:

Life Spirit / Mind Wind /Breath /

   God uses His Spirit to preserve the natural creation, including man. The Spirit of God which is within man is therefore the life force within him. "The body without the spirit is dead" (James 2:26). "God breathed into (Adam's nostrils) the breath (spirit) of life; and man became a living soul (creature [Gen. 2:7])". Job speaks of "the Spirit of God" as being "in my nostrils" (Job 27:3 cp. Isa. 2:22).
     The spirit of life within us is therefore given to us at birth, and remains as long as our body is alive. When God's Spirit is withdrawn from anything, it immediately perishes - the spirit is the life force.
     If God "gather unto Himself His spirit and His breath; all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust. If now thou hast understanding, hear this" (Job 34:14-16). The last sentence again hints that man finds this exposure of his real nature very hard to come to terms with.
   When God takes away His spirit from us at death, not only does our body die, but our entire consciousness ceases. David's appreciation of this led him to trust in God rather than in creatures as weak as man. Psalm 146:3-5 is a tough counter to the claims of humanism: "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath (Spirit) goeth forth, he returneth to his earth (the dust from which we are made); in that very day his thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help".

   At death, "the dust (shall) return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it" (Ecc. 12:7). We have shown earlier that God is present everywhere through His spirit. In this sense "God is Spirit" (John 4:24). When we die we 'breathe our last' in the sense that God's spirit within us departs from us. That spirit is absorbed into God's Spirit which is all around us; so at death "the Spirit shall return unto God".

   Because God's Spirit sustains all of creation, this same process of death occurs to animals. Men and animals have the same spirit, or life force, within them. "That which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one (i.e. the same) breath (spirit); so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast" (Ecc. 3:19). The writer goes on to say that there is no discernible difference between where the spirit of men and animals goes (Ecc. 3:21). This description of men and animals having the same spirit and dying the same death, appears to allude back to the description of how both men and animals, who both had the spirit of life from God (Gen. 2:7; 7:15), were destroyed with the same death at the flood: "All flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: all in whose nostrils was the breath (spirit) of life...died...every living substance was destroyed" (Gen. 7:21-23). Note in passing how Ps. 90:5 likens death to the flood. The record in Genesis 7 clearly shows that in fundamental terms, man is in the same category as "all flesh...every living substance". This is due to his having the same spirit of life within him as they do.
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Genesis 7:21-23 KJV

21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
     23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
Study with us. dillmunsell@yahoo.com 6:30 PM

2011-01-04T18:53:00.001-06:00

Are the Gifts coming back to the Church?
There are three types of wisdom:1 The wisdom of God 1 Corinthians 2:7
2 The wisdom of the world. I Corinthians 2:6

3 The wisdom of man. I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.
Ecclesiastes 1:16-18 KJV
17 And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.
18 For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
The gift of the word of wisdom is the application of knowledge that God gives you ( I Corinthians 2:6-7). This type of wisdom is a gift which cannot be gained through study or experience and should by no means try to replace them. The gift of the word of wisdom is seeing life from God's perspective. As a Christian exercises this gift, he begins to develop a fear of the Lord. This is the "beginning of wisdom" according to Proverbs 1:7.Proverbs 1:7 (New King James Version)
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
The gift of the word of wisdom is also the revealing of prophetic future; it is speaking hidden truths of what is not known. It is a supernatural perspective to ascertain the divine means for accomplishing God's will in a given situation, and is a divinely given power to appropriate spiritual intuition in problem solving.
Furthermore, this gift involves having a sense of divine direction, being led by the Holy Spirit to act appropriately in a given set of circumstances, and rightly applying knowlege.
The gift of wisdom is the wisdom of God. It is the supernatural impartation of facts; it is not natural. You can't earn it. It is received from God through prayer . That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
Ephesians 1:17
The gift of the word of wisdom works interactively with the other two revelation gifts: knowledge and discernment.
Examples
Paul before the councilActs 23:6
Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar. Jesus' answer to the question regarding taxes. Matthew 22:15-22 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”
18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
The temptation of Jesus. Luke 4:1-14 KJV
1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.
4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.
8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:
10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:
11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about
Dllard Munsell study with us Wed.6:30 Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.” Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught:But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:dillmunsell@yahoo.com

Real Bible Arrowheads: There is much truth in this article but it is not for the faint in heart.

2010-12-06T18:11:00.000-06:00

Real Bible Arrowheads: There is much truth in this article but it is not for the faint in heart.
http://1amimybrotherskeeper.blogspot.com/

There is much truth in this article but it is not for the faint in heart.

2010-12-06T17:57:00.000-06:00

There is much truth in this article but it is not for the faint in heart.

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     The clergy is a highly overrated institution. Indeed, reports on the value and necessity of clergy have been greatly exaggerated. Many Christians assume, for example, that the most important thing in choosing a church is its minister, that a church cannot function effectively without a priest or pastor, that the first thing one must do in starting a church is to hire a minister to lead it, that Sunday morning should be judged by its sermon, and that the preeminent way to serve God is to go to seminary to be trained for Christian service.
     But could it be that, on the contrary, clergy are neither necessary nor, in the long run, good for church? Is it possible that one of the best things that could happen to the church today is for all clergy to resign their posts and take jobs in the world? Might it be that church without clergy could be the best kind of church?
Certainly, for many we may as well ask whether we should shoot ourselves in the head. But upon closer inspection this perspective is not as lunatic as it first seems. The fact is, although our clergy-system is one of the dominant features of the church today, it has almost nothing to do with the New Testament, is fundamentally counter-productive, and is an inherent obstruction to healthy, biblical church life.
     PLEASE NOTICE, FIRST of all, that when we talk about clergy we are most definitely not talking about the actual people who are clergy. The specific men and women who are priests, ministers, and pastors are, on the whole, wonderful people. They love God, want to serve God, and want to serve the people of God. They typically are sincere, compassionate, intelligent, self-giving, and long-suffering. Let it be clear, then, that the problem with clergy is not the people who are clergy but the profession that those people are a part of.
Furthermore, let it be clear that, despite serious problems of their profession, clergy do actually accomplish much good in the church. It's not that clergy don't help people significantly. They most certainly do-which is one reason why they are such a dominant feature of church life. But the good the people of the clergy are able to accomplish is despite their profession rather than because of it.
     Without a doubt, the clergy is a profession and members of the clergy are professionals. Just as lawyers protect and interpret the law and doctors protect and administrate medicine, clergy protect, interpret, and administrate the truth of God. This profession, like any profession, dictates standards of conduct for how its members should dress, speak, and act, both on-duty and off-duty. And, like other professions, it dictates standards of education, preparation, admittance to the profession, procedures for job searches and applications, and retirement. Clearly, Catholic priests and Protestant ministers alike are expected-by their parishioners, friends, hierarchies, denominational authorities, and themselves-to have a distinct kind of training, be certain kinds of people, and perform certain kinds of duties.
     Traditionally, the profession has demanded that clergy be male and, in some denominations, preferably married and, if so, happily married. The profession demands that its members possess a seminary degree and official ordination. The profession (unrealistically) requires that clergy be extraordinarily gifted: natural leaders, skilled orators, capable administrators, compassionate counselors, wise decision-makers, dispassionate conflict-resolvers, and astute theologians. Naturally, professional standards insist that clergy be morally upright and exemplary in every way. And, as an outward sign, clergy must dress respectably and speak with authority and conviction.
     Clergy function essentially as professional church managers. Clergy are responsible for preparing teachings, homilies, and sermons, visiting the sick, conducting funerals and marriages, properly administering the sacraments, overseeing church social events, Sunday School, and catechism programs, preparing engaged couples for marriage, counseling those with problems, preparing denominational reports, attending denominational meetings, managing missionary and evangelistic programs, assembling and overseeing staff (such as assistant ministers, youth group leaders, administrative staffs, and evangelism teams), organizing fund-raising drives, attending to community relations, facilities use, and building maintenance, encouraging, disciplining, and edifying parishioners, and establishing the vision and direction of the church.
There exists, then, a definite set of tasks which everyone (even the non-Christian) knows is the rightful duty of a member of the clergy. Everyone knows it because it is an institutionalized profession, created and maintained by denominations, hierarchies, theological seminaries, the laity, and, finally, the clergy themselves.
     THE FIRST PROBLEM with the clergy is that God doesn't intend such a profession to exist. There is simply and unequivocally no biblical mandate or justification for the profession of clergy as we know it. In fact, the New Testament points to a very different way of doing church and pastoral ministry.
Nevertheless, human societies throughout history have consistently created spiritual castes of people-shamans, priests, soothsayers, witch-doctors, wise-men, prophets, gurus-and the Christian church has been no exception. It didn't take long for the church to construct, based on a handful of ambiguous scripture verses ("upon this rock I will build my church," "you shall not muzzle an ox while it is threshing"), a massive, institutional, hierarchical superstructure. This, in effect, created a two-class, authoritarian system within the church in which clergy were considered more spiritual than laity.
     Protestants broke with the Catholic church, of course. But Protestants are just as "catholic" as Roman Catholics when it comes to clergy. Though the Bible replaced the Sacraments as the center of God's revelation for Protestants, the profession they set up to protect and distribute this revelation is functionally identical to the Catholic priesthood. As the priest correctly administers the wafer, the minister correctly interprets the Word of God.
     But when we go back to the Word of God and read it afresh, we see that the clergy profession is the result of our human culture and history and not of God's will for the church. It is simply impossible to construct a defensible biblical justification for the institution of clergy as we know it.
     THE SECOND PROBLEM with the clergy profession is that it crushes "body life." We can see in the New Testament that God doesn't intend church to be a formal association to which a rank-and-file membership belongs by virtue of paying dues and attending meetings, an association which is organized, guided, and governed by a professional leader (and, in larger organizations, by an administrative bureaucracy). Yet that is exactly what most churches are.
     By contrast, God intends church to be a community of believers in which each member contributes their special gift, talent, or ability to the whole, so that, through the active participation and contribution of all, the needs of the community are met. In other words, what we ought to see in our churches is "the ministry of the people," not "the ministry of the professional." In this way, the church is to act like a body, with each unique, necessary part working for the good of the whole body. And, Paul argues clearly that each member's gift is indispensable, that the body needs each part to contribute or else it will be lame (1Cor. 12:20-25).
     The problem is that, regardless of what our theologies tell us about the purpose of clergy, the actual effect of the clergy profession is to make the body of Christ lame. This happens not because clergy intend it (they usually intend the opposite) but because the objective nature of the profession inevitably turns the laity into passive receivers.
     The role of clergy is essentially the centralization and professionalization of the gifts of the whole body into one person. In this way, the clergy represents Christianity's capitulation to modern society's tendency toward specialization; clergy are spiritual specialists, church specialists. Everyone else in the church are merely "ordinary" believers who hold "secular" jobs where they specialize in "non-spiritual" activities such as plumbing, teaching, or marketing. So, in effect, what ought to be accomplished in an ordinary, decentralized, non-professional manner by all church members together is instead accomplished by a single, full-time professional-The Pastor.
     Since the pastor is paid to be the specialist in church operations and management, it is only logical and natural that the laity begin to assume a passive role in church. Rather than contributing their part to edify the church, they go to church as passive receivers to be edified. Rather than actively spending the time and energy to exercise their gift for the good of the body, they sit back and let the pastor run the show.
     Think about Sunday morning. Parishioners arrive on schedule, sit quietly in pews, and watch and listen to the minister who is up-front, center-stage, whose (usually elevated) presence dominates the service. They stand, sit, speak, and sing only when they are directed to by the minister or the program. Yet, in reality, what happens during these two hours on Sunday morning is only a micro-cosmic picture of the whole church reality.
     If the people of a congregation began to get a vision that the church is not a formal association but a community, that gifts are distributed-apart from ordination-to each person, that everyone must actively participate and contribute for church to work, that no one's gift is more important than another's, and that everyone's participation will ensure a full, healthy church life-in short, a vision of a biblical view of church life-     I suspect many would begin to ask themselves: "Then what are we paying our minister for?" And, that would be a reasonable question to ask.
Full-time, professional clergy are only needed when church members are not doing their part. On the other hand, when each church member is actively participating and contributing their part for the good of the body, a professional minister is unnecessary. That is a fact that is proven every day in tens of thousands of communities and home churches all around the world.
     THE THIRD PROBLEM with the clergy profession is that it is fundamentally self-defeating. Its stated purpose is to nurture spiritual maturity in the church-a valuable goal. In actuality, however, it accomplishes the opposite by nurturing a permanent dependence of the laity on the clergy. Clergy become to their congregations like parents whose children never grow up, like therapists whose clients never become healed, like teachers whose students never graduate. The existence of a full-time, professional minister makes it too easy for church members not to take responsibility for the on-going life of the church. And why should they?      That's the job of the pastor (so the thinking goes). But the result is that the laity remain in a state of passive dependence.
     Imagine, however, a church whose pastor resigned and that could not find a replacement. Ideally, eventually, the members of that church would have to get off of their pews, come together, and figure out who would teach, who would counsel, who would settle disputes, who would visit the sick, who would lead worship, and so on. With a bit of insight, they would realize that the Bible calls the body as a whole to do these things together, prompting each to consider what gift they have to contribute, what role they could play to build up the body. And with a bit of courage, that church might actually take the painful steps in the direction of long-term change. Some might leave for other churches that have full-time ministers. would have with a pastor to do it all for them.But those who remained to participate in the work of building body life would mature faster and further than they ever thought.
     THE FOURTH PROBLEM with the clergy profession is what it does to the people in that profession. Being a member of the clergy as we know it is difficult. Doing it very well is almost impossible. Yet good-hearted men and women, convinced that they are serving God in this way, admirably pour their lives into this task. What they encounter as professional clergy, however, is stress, frustration, and burn-out.
It's no wonder, of course, since clergy are trying to do the work of a whole congregation all by themselves!
     How can a single person be a natural leader, a skilled orator, a visionary, a capable administrator, a compassionate counselor, a wise decision-maker, a dispassionate conflict-resolver, and an astute theologian all at once? Why do we make one person be all things to all parishioners?
     Being a minister is, quite simply, unrealistic. It is as unrealistic as a corporation expecting a single employee to successfully fill or oversee all of the corporate roles, from mail-boy to secretary to middle-manager to president, while most of the other employees arrive at work one day a week to simply watch this super-human achievement (and sometimes do a chore they are asked by the super-employee to do). In this way, the clergy profession demands super-Christian, super-human accomplishment. Christians-with our realistic understanding of human limitations and weaknesses-should know better than that. God certainly did, which is why he gave the task of maintaining and building up the church as the shared responsibility of all believers, not the centralized, specialized, professionalized task of one person.
      CLERGY ARE THE keepers-of-the-church; but the church really doesn't need to be kept in this way because God keeps it and asks all believers to participate in keeping it. The clergy, as a profession, are assigned to preserve, protect, and dispense Christian truth, correct teachings, the Bible, the sacraments, and authority. Yet the Christian truth does not need a professional class to protect it. Truth is not that fragile.
Christian truth is not some kind of classified or dangerous material which only card-carrying experts can handle. Nor is it like riches which need the protection of safe vaults and armed security guards. It is the Holy Spirit's and not the hierarchy or the denomination's job to preserve Christian truth in history; and the Holy Spirit has seen fit to do so by distributing it to all God's people so they can share it together.
     The problem with clergy, we've seen, is not the actual people who are of the clergy-who are typically sincere and committed-but the social role of the profession to which they belong. Ministers often hope to re-shape that role in ways that are more realistic and biblical. But they eventually discover that, for the most part, they can't reshape the role at will because their congregations and denominations expect the standard things from them. Of course, that's the nature of social roles: they shape people more than people shape them.
     A problem even more basic and serious than the clergy role, however, is that most Christians have completely redefined what a healthy church looks like in the first place. For most church-goers, a solid, healthy church is one which is growing numerically, has a fabulous pastor, and offers many activities and programs. That may be what a vibrant voluntary association-such as the YMCA-looks like. But if the Bible is our authority, those factors are irrelevant when it comes to church.
     What's important in church, according to the Bible, is that each member actively contributes to the good of the whole body through responsible participation and the exercise of their gifts. What's important in church, according to the Bible, is that believers become strong and mature in their faith through the edification of one another. A biblical church is a "people's church" with a decentralized ministry.
     Of course, when we speak of "church without clergy," we do not mean the elimination of full-time ministers. Indeed, the church needs more full-time ministers. The relevant question, however, is: what kinds of ministries ought these full-time people to be doing? According to the New Testament, full-time ministers ought to be ministering in and to the world, in such tasks as working with the poor, doing evangelism, and making peace where there is conflict and violence. Biblically speaking, it is the world, and not the church, which needs full-time Christian ministers.
WHAT WE NEED today is church without clergy. Pastors themselves need to be liberated from the demand to be ultra-versatile, multi-talented, super-human performers. And lay people need to be jarred from the pacifying illusion that it is enough to simply attend church on Sunday mornings and tithe ten percent of their income.
     Church without clergy is not easy; it demands the full, active participation of everyone. But the rewards of church without clergy-the riches of participation, of solidarity, and of community-make the effort exceedingly worthwhile. And, those who make that effort will be well on their way to transforming church from something they simply go to, to something they, together, are.
Study with us. 6:30 Wed. dillmunsell@yahoo.com

Lies The Church Tells Women

2010-11-03T14:05:00.001-05:00

J. Lee Grady
FOR CENTURIES, A PATRIARCHAL SYSTEM OF CONTROL HAS KEPT WOMEN IN SPIRITUAL CAPTIVITY THROUGH DISTORTION OF THE SCRIPTURES. IT'S TIME TO DEBUNK THE MYTHS.
By J. Lee Grady
     We live in the 21st century, but if we're honest we have to admit that in some ways the church is still in the Dark Ages--especially when we look at the way we treat women.

     Even though the Scriptures never portray women as secondary to men, our male-dominated religious system still promotes a warped view of female inferiority. Women are tired of this, and as a man, so am I--because such demeaning attitudes don't reflect God's heart.

Jesus challenged gender prejudice at its core when He directed so much of His ministry toward women. In a Middle Eastern culture that considered women mere property, He healed women, discipled them and commissioned them to minister. Yet today we spend much of our energy denying them opportunities--and using the Bible to defend our prohibitions.

I've identified 10 erroneous views about women that for too long have been circulated in the church, preached from pulpits and written in the study notes of popular Bible translations. I believe we must debunk these lies if we want to see the church fully released to fulfill the Great Commission.

LIE #1. GOD'S ULTIMATE PLAN FOR WOMEN IS THAT THEY SERVE THEIR HUSBANDS.How sad that so many Christian men view women from a selfish perspective. This view is often promoted by misreading the account of Eve's creation in Genesis 2:18-25, in which Adam is provided a "helpmate." The Hebrew word used here often is translated "companion," denoting intimacy and partnership. But through the centuries it has been used to imply that Eve was some type of domestic appendage.

We men have assumed that God gave Eve to fulfill Adam's sexual needs as well as to serve as his cook, laundress and maid. But the Genesis account does not say this.

After Eve's creation, God did not tell her: "You are Adam's helper; I command you to serve him well." She was not created for servitude; she was fashioned to be a co-laborer with Adam so that they might rule together over creation as God commissioned them to do (see Gen. 1:28).

LIE #2. WOMEN CAN'T BE FULFILLED OR SPIRITUALLY EFFECTIVE WITHOUT A HUSBAND.From the time she was released from a German death camp in 1944 until her death in 1983, Corrie Ten Boom taught the world about a Savior who could forgive the cruelest Nazi. Yet she never married. Did the fact that she did not have a husband make her less "complete"? Some Christians would say yes.

We have spent so much energy defending the concept of the biblical family that we are guilty of idolizing it. We've preached that a woman's primary responsibility is to find a godly husband, have lots of babies and stay home to raise them for Christ.

But marital status is not a qualifier for ministry. The Bible does not even state whether certain key followers of Jesus, such as the 12 disciples, were married or not.

The highest calling of all believers--married or unmarried--is to develop a relationship with Jesus. Any other earthly relationship is secondary, and Christ Himself warned us never to allow people we love to become idols that distract us from Him.

LIE #3. WOMEN SHOULDN'T WORK OUTSIDE THE HOME.Many evangelical churches have preached that women who work outside the home are breaking a scriptural commandment, but this conclusion can be reached only by distorting the biblical record. The woman described in Proverbs 31 is often used to bolster a traditional view of the June Cleaver-style matron who spends her day baking casseroles while her husband is at the office. But a careful reading reveals that the Proverbs 31 woman, in her ancient Middle Eastern context, functioned as a real estate agent and ran a textile business. Titus 2:5 instructs women to "take care of their homes" (New Living Translation). But most scholars would agree that this passage simply exhorts married women not to forsake their children. It is true that, because of ambition or materialism, some Christian women neglect their children even though the Holy Spirit has urged them to put their career objectives on hold. But rather than placing a legalistic burden on women by telling them that having a career is ungodly, we should tell both men and women to submit their career plans to the Holy Spirit's direction.

LIE #4. WOMEN MUST OBEDIENTLY SUBMIT TO THEIR HUSBANDS IN ALL SITUATIONS.A distraught Christian woman who was regularly beaten by her husband finally gained the courage to seek counsel from her pastor. After she told him about her husband's fits of rage, the pastor responded, "If your husband kills you, it will be to the glory of God."

The pastor reached this irresponsible conclusion because of a distorted view of "male headship." We often portray marriage as a hierarchy, with husbands on the throne and wives at the footstool, and we use Scripture to justify this view: "Wives...submit to your husbands as you do to the Lord" (Eph. 5:22).

We assume this verse means women have no say in family matters or that their opinion is second-rate. In extreme cases, women have been told to submit to abuse in order to honor male headship. But this is not a Christian view.

Paul also told the Ephesians, "submit to one another" (5:21, emphasis added). I have heard teachings by male clergy on the subject of male headship, but I've never heard a pastor encourage men to submit to their wives! Yet in a loving marriage, a man and woman will defer to one another as they make decisions.

In my 16 years of marriage, my wife and I have had plenty of disagreements. But when we reach an impasse, I don't announce, "I am the head of this house, so what I say goes." Rather, Deborah and I either agree to pray about the matter, or we choose to defer to one another.

The point is never who is in charge. I view my wife as an equal. I am not "over her." We function as one.

LIE #5. A MAN NEEDS TO "COVER" A WOMAN IN HER MINISTRY ACTIVITIES.This idea came from a distorted interpretation of the apostle Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 11:3, "the head of woman is man" (NKJV). People have used these words to bolster the idea that women are subservient to men or that they cannot approach God without a male authority figure in their lives.

Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 11 about head coverings is a difficult passage, and Bible scholars don't agree on its meaning. However, most teach that Paul is addressing specific cultural concerns in first-century Corinth and that he is calling for propriety and order in a society where immorality and paganism had blurred gender distinctions.

Paul was not placing men in a position of generic rulership over women. Because there is "no male or female in Christ" (see Gal. 3:28), women can pray, worship, study the Bible or minister without a man present. How silly to think that a man, because of his gender, could add credibility to prayer or Spirit-empowered ministry! To believe this would be to trust in the flesh.

LIE #6. A WOMAN SHOULD VIEW HER HUSBAND AS THE "PRIEST OF THE HOME."Search your concordance. Scripture never describes men as "priests of the home." This man-made concept was popularized in evangelical churches in the last century. We have one priest, Jesus Christ, whose blood atoned for our sins. It is a mockery of the gospel to suggest that any human being needs an additional priest apart from the Son of God.

The Bible says all believers are priests (see 1 Pet. 2:9, Rev. 1:6); there is no gender restriction. Husbands function as priests when they pray for their families or when they minister the Word of God to them, and wives also function in this role.

My experience in marriage has been that God speaks both to me and to my wife. He doesn't say to me, "Since you are the head of this house, I'll tell you my plans for your family, and you can tell the others what I said." Often God has revealed His plans to my wife before I heard anything!

Christian men need to stop being defensive and recognize that God has called us to function in unity with our wives. We need to listen to their counsel, consider their opinions, and pray together for the mind of the Lord rather than putting our foot down and shouting, "I am the leader of this family, and what I say goes!"

LIE #7. WOMEN ARE NOT EQUIPPED TO ASSUME LEADERSHIP ROLES.The most common mistake we make in biblical interpretation occurs when we take one isolated verse and build a doctrine around it--even if the verse seems to contradict other passages. This is often what we do with 1 Tim. 2:12, "I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man" (NASB).

Most theologians believe that this passage was addressing an isolated situation in Ephesus. They came to this conclusion after studying the myriad of references in the Bible to women in spiritual authority. The Old Testament records that Deborah was a judge over Israel--and God blessed her leadership in battle (see Judg. 4-5). Other women who held authority over men include Miriam, Huldah and Noadiah.

Jesus issued His first gospel commission to women (see Matt. 28:1-10), and both men and women were empowered to preach on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). Priscilla, Chloe and Phoebe were leaders in the early church, and one woman, Junia, is called an apostle by Paul (Rom. 16:7).

The promise of the prophet Joel was that "sons and daughters" would prophesy after the Holy Spirit was given to the church (Joel 2:28, emphasis added). Yet we have taken one misunderstood verse from Paul's writings and used it to negate hundreds of other passages that support the full release of women into ministry.

LIE #8: WOMEN MUST NOT TEACH OR PREACH TO MEN IN A CHURCH SETTING.Since 1 Timothy 2:12 obviously contradicts the overall biblical endorsement of women in authority, how are we to understand it? What is Paul actually saying in this passage?

In their book I Suffer Not a Woman, Richard and Catherine Clark Kroeger explain that certain cultic worship practices involving female priestesses of Diana had invaded the first-century church. These priestesses promoted blasphemous ideas about sex and spirituality, and they sometimes performed rituals in which they pronounced curses on men and declared female superiority.

What Paul was most likely saying to the Ephesians was this: "I do not allow a woman to teach these cultic heresies, nor do I allow them to usurp authority from men by performing pagan rituals." He was not saying, as some Christians have assumed, "I do not allow godly Christian women to teach the Bible." In his day, Paul would have been thrilled to have had more skilled women who could teach the truth!

LIE #9. WOMEN ARE MORE EASILY DECEIVED THAN MEN.This idea has been taught by twisting the meaning of 1 Timothy 2:14, which says, "It was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being quite deceived, fell into transgression" (NLT). Some have suggested that because Eve was tricked by the devil, women have a stronger propensity toward deception. Others have gone so far as to insist that women are to blame for all the evil in the world and are therefore under a greater curse than men.

No respectable Bible scholar in the church today would promote such a view. The Bible clearly states that Adam and Eve were both held guilty by God for their disobedience, and they were both punished. In 1 Timothy, Paul cited the creation account not to place extra blame on Eve but to refute a bizarre teaching that was circulating in Asia Minor.

In the first century, Gnostic heretics were mixing Christianity with paganism. One of their teachings stated that Eve actually liberated the world when she disobeyed God and gained secret knowledge from the devil.

Paul was not teaching that women are more prone to deception. He was explaining that what Eve did was not right, and that the Christian view of the creation was that Adam and Eve sinned when they listened to the serpent.

Women are certainly capable of spreading deception because they have a fallen nature as men do, but there is no evidence that they have greater gullibility. That view is rooted in demeaning stereotypes and prejudice.

LIE #10: WOMEN WHO EXHIBIT STRONG LEADERSHIP QUALITIES HAVE A "SPIRIT OF JEZEBEL."

Once I was listening to Bible teacher Cindy Jacobs speak at a prayer conference in Colorado. When she approached the pulpit, two men who were sitting in front of me turned to each other and began to pray softly.

"Lord, we bind the power of the devil from bewitching this audience," one man said, adding, "We bind the power of Jezebel in the name of Jesus." These men believed that the crowd would automatically come under a spirit of deception when Jacobs taught them--simply because she was a woman.

How absurd! Was Barak "deceived" when he took orders from Deborah? (See Judg. 4:14.) Did baby Jesus come under a harmful influence when Anna prophesied over Him? (See Luke 2:36-38.) Was Apollos spiritually emasculated when he submitted to the teaching of Priscilla? (See Acts 18:26.) Of course not!

To associate godly women with Jezebel, a wicked Old Testament despot, is unfair and offensive, yet men in the church today often pin Jezebel's label on strong, anointed women because they feel threatened by them.

Let's stop the insults. If a woman is using manipulation to usurp authority or if she is spreading heresies, then she certainly deserves the Jezebel label--as do men who do such things. But women who walk in spiritual integrity and preach the Word of God with power deserve our respect.
J. Lee Grady, editor of Charisma magazine, has enlarged on this topic in his book, Ten Lies the Church Tells Women. It is excellent.

Study with us 6:30 dillmunsell@yahoo.com

Ten Lies The Church Tells Women

2008-05-03T11:44:00.000-05:00

Linda number 4 on right bottom age 2008 62
Her experience with God. 4/8/2008
I always believed in Jesus and I have prayed all my life, My parents believed. They taught us about Jesus. In my younger years, I remember me having bad dreams that something bad was after me trying to catch me and it would scare me and would wake up crying, and couldn't go back to sleep. My sister Jane would tell me to say the Lords prayer out loud so the devil could hear, she said that God could hear my prayer, but you had to pray out loud for the Devil to hear, of course she was 3 years older than me. I listen to her, Our father who our in heaven Hallow be thy name, And I would pray the prayer out loud, and I found that the devil didn't like Gods name "JESUS" he would run from Gods name. And my Jesus could hear to. I would fall right of to sleep, so I would say the Lords prayer every night after that, and really still do and a little more now.

We all have Sin, we were born in sin, and have sin in some way or other. We are human, but we are in his likeness. I didn't know that you had to pray for repentance. Maybe I had heard it before, but didn't really know what it meant untill I was older. I read the Bible, but I didn't really understand it. I tried to, but it was hard to understand, until I started to pray for the understanding of Gods word. Then a little at a time I started understanding what God was saying in his word. I started to understand that if you don't repent of your sins and ask God for forgiveness, "that God can't". You have to ask, if you don't ask and have the faith in your heart. How can he forgive? If you had enough faith that he would forgive you, you would ask, "Yes", God knows all but he wants you to love him enough to ask. Off course not for stuff that you don't really need, but forgiveness and His Love And Health.
All he wants is your Love. Will not do any good if you don't Love him and ask for his forgiveness, and he knows in your heart when you really don't mean it. You have to keep praying until there is no doubt in your mind and heart that you love him. I really believe that. Some people might say, but I have prayed all my life and he hadn't done any thing for me. Was your heart true when you prayed, did you really believe that he loves you, did your give him your heart & soul, did you tell him God do with me as your will would want of me? Did you tell him that you would never forsake him, that you are his soldier for his word, would you die for him? That is true love! I think God understands that you make mistakes in life/
Like I said we are only human, but you fix those mistakes and ask Gods forgiveness, and don't do them again. God forgives and he loves you, but it takes a part from you to do the right thing. He knows everything in your mind when you think bad things and you say things that are not true, "GOD KNOWS ALL." Don't ever kid yourself in believing that he dosen't. Its not only the big things you do, but all things, all the little things in your heart that you think no one knows about, but God knows all things. My heart hurts about things that I thought didn't mean anything to most people, but to God they were big things. I notice when I ask God for forgiveness of my sins that things later would pop into my head. Did you ask forgiveness for this, "that I hadn't thought of in years". When you start he won't let you forget them. Then you should ask forgiveness for that. Some of these things wouldn't mean any thing to most people. But I ask for forgiveness. It must have been things that would keep me from going forward in what he wanted of me.Well, enough about that, I have been sick since about 40 years old with arthritis, in time it progressed down my spine and in my knees and shoulders. It was just moving all over, as anyone knows who has arthritis. I was having to get shots in my spine for pain. It would move from place to place. So each time I would have to put it in a different spot beside my spine. Sometimes in my lower back, others in my upper back. I was having a lot of pain. It was very hard to keep from showing it. I would try to hide it from John, my husband, but he could tell.Seems like I couldn't get away from the pain. The Dr. gave me pain med.'s, but it didn't help much. The shots; help for a little while, but not for long. Then I found out I had Sleep apnea. They said I stopped breathing 27 times in an hour for 45 seconds at a time. When I went to the Dr. after the sleep test, he said that it could have been sudden death. I was very weak and couldn't think, my memory was very bad. It really scared me, I thought I was losing my mind. I knew things but couldn't express myself. I would sleep all the time. My husband would try to wake me, I could hear him and I would scream at him in my mind, wake me up I can't breath! But I couldn't move. Finally he would wake me. I told him that I heard him but I couldn't move or talk.Any time I did that again, I told him to shake me or anything to wake me up. I told my Dr. that I felt I was dying a little at a time. Then I found out I had Diabetes type 2, then my sugar level got to "450" and I was so weak, I looked like a whale! I thought I was really fat. The Dr. put me on a breather for my sleep apnea and my memory started coming back and lost 15 pounds, but look like I lost 50 pounds. Most of it was swelling. I really thought I wasn't going to be here much longer. I felt bad all the time.I was praying all this time, praying for my children, praying for my sister, and brothers, my dad, husband Uncles & aunts everyone I thought needed help from God, but didn't never think to pray for myself. I didn't think I deserved prayer or something, I don't really know why?I always watched preaching on TV every morning, Joyce Myers, Cerfo Dollar, and John Hagee. They are very good. But that day, it wasn't on so I change the station, and this lady preacher and it was my time that God had for me. Cause she was praying to straighten what was crooked in the spine, I was sitting on my love seat at the edge, I had been hurting that morning a lot and couldn't get any peace from it.
I felt God told me to pray with her. I did and God came upon me and I felt fingers pressing on the lower part of my spine moving up on each side of my spine. I was surprised and sat there with my mouth open "Oh My God"!! what's happening, but the fingers went all the way up my back. Here I am sitting all alone and fingers going up my back. After that I didn't say any thing, because I thought everyone would think I was crazy for sure. But later I notice my back wasn't hurting. Two weeks later I went to the Dr. He was going to put the shot cortisone into my shoulders, because they had frozen up and was hurting me pretty bad. He ask me how my back was doing, and told him it hasn't been hurting and he said, "thank God for that, and it went all though me," what he didn't know it was God that did it. and I thank GOD every day for God healing my pain.
Then I was sitting in my recliner one day about a month after all this. I fell asleep watching TV, it seem so real, that I was on the ground all of a sudden. I was being lifted up floating, my feet was coming "off" the ground. I remember trying to keep my toes to stay down to touch the ground, but I couldn't. I kept going up "floating up," then I could see blue skies I floated up in the sky and there I floated in front of a being, that looked like an angel, but not like in books are pictures that I have seen. I remember it was like it was speaking though my mind, that it wasn't male or female. I must have been thinking what is this? It was a bright light, but it didn't blind me. I couldn't see a face it was all light. It would have blinded me if it been on earth. It was so peaceful and like a love there that I didn't want to leave. It was blue all around the angel, It didn't say anything and neither did I. I floated right in front of it, seem to be about a foot away from it. I felt it gave me something, but don't no what maybe a blessing and all of a sudden I started floating back down. I didn't want to! I came down and my toes touched the ground and I woke up. Like a dream, but it was real to me.And a little at a time my shoulder pain eased up and now don't hurt at all, I have so much more peace sense then. I don't hurt like before I didn't touch a cigarette for 30 days am a different person today, I think God has touched my life & soul. And he has a place for me in heaven. We all have the destiny to make and only we can do it. All we have to do is ask, until we ask and mean it in our hearts he will give, but until you ask. What does it say in his words? Ask and you shall receive. GOD BLESS YOU ALL
Linda Selman Smile, Jesus Loves YouLinda Selman dillmunsell@yahoo.com

2007-11-30T23:11:00.001-06:00

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2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:
11 Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.
2 Timothy 2:10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes,> (Israel) that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
23 But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.
2 Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
9 But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their's also was.
10 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,
11 Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
Note on Repentance: The fact that people are called "to turn" either "to" or "away from" implies that sin is not an ineradicable stain, but by turning (repentance), a God given power, a sinner can redirect his destiny. There is with conversion, the free sovereign act of God's mercy and man's going beyond contrition and sorrow to a conscience decision of turning to God. God has done His part, says faith, so we do our human part showing forth His work of grace on our heart through our walk. Turning to God includes acceptance of all God's total will for one's life.
Strong's 3341 metanoia = Change of mind, remorse, regret, repentance from evil to good or from good to better repentance is expected to manifest itself in conduct.
Acts 26.20 The kindness of God leads to repentance.
Acts 26:20 20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.Belive for the very works sake jesus said.What work = the Kingdom coming to earth.
Romans 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Eze 36:29
Repentance toward God based on the death of Christ is permanent. The new birth brings this about. It cannot fail so cannot be repeated. The Death of Christ is central in our salvation and not any action (work) of ours. Salvation is of the Lord. He has purchased for us eternal salvation from death.
The word proverb, parable, Allegory? ( taunt ?) (I am going to put an end to this proverb, and they will no longer quote it in Israel.') NIV
Encarta® World English Dictionary, North American Edition
Definition: (proverb) short well-known saying: a short well-known saying that expresses an obvious truth and often offers advice.
The proverb is a literary form whose origins are lost in the mists of time, and which, according to most scholars, preceded the invention of writing. It is also prevalent among peoples who are illiterate. Existing from the dawn of humanity and not confined to any specific country, proverbs transcend all frontiers. Known to the ancient Egyptians, the Chinese, the Indians and the Persians, they are also found in the Grco-Roman civilization and they left a particular imprint on the Arab and Hebrew cultures. They might be described as oral literature, the progenitor of written cultural traditions. Before man was able to express himself in writing, he was able to encapsulate the essence of his wisdom in elliptical form. The proverb, handed down from father to son, spread regardless of borders and ethnic groups. Scholars are agreed that many proverbs found among one people can be traced in others.
This is why we need the Spirit of truth after God built his church on the rock Jesus.
Matthew 13:34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: KJV (Hearing but they shall not understand!! (With out the Gift of the Holy Spirit!!) Don't fight it!!
Mark 4:11 And he said unto them, Unto you His (disciples) it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: (Notice you must be within the kingdom.) To get in the Kingdom you must be born again. (Some were chosen some were not.) I have you and not you me.
Mark 4:34 But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples. You must be a disciple.
Parable, the term translates the Hebrew word "mashal"—a term denoting a metaphor, or an enigmatic saying or an analogy. In the Greco-Roman rhetorical tradition, however, "parables" were illustrative narrative examples. Jewish teachers of the 1st cent. A.D. made use of comparisons in narrative form to clarify scripture. As used in the Gospels, the "parable" not only denotes metaphors, analogies, and enigmatic statements, but also short illustrative narratives. In Jesus' parables, the speaker compares an observable, natural, or human phenomenon to the Kingdom (i.e. the rule) of God.
So does John in Revelation:speak not only denotes metaphors, analogies, and enigmatic statements.
Some of these challenge and mystify or even attack the hearer. Other parables are allegories. The major themes of the parables of Jesus include the contrast between the old and new age now dawning in the ministry of Jesus; the necessity of radical decisions; the gradual but sure growth of the Kingdom of God on earth; Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.) God's way of relating to people; and God's invitation for people to enter his Kingdom. = A new birth in their Spirit.
Isaiah 14:1 Below are Plain Words and not an allegorie.
Isaiah 14:1 The LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again he will choose Israel and will settle them in their own land. (Aliens = Gentiles) The Kingdon shall not be left to other people. Dan, 244
( Read Eph. chapter 2) (We are now in the commonwealth of Isreal) will join them and unite with the house of Jacob. 2 Nations will take them and bring them to their own place. And the house of Israel will possess the nations as menservants and maidservants in the LORD's land. They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors. 3 On the day the LORD gives you relief from suffering and turmoil and cruel bondage, 4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: NIV
God wants men to see this here in Isaiah 14:1 as a reality in Cyrus day and soon our day.
Isaiah 14:1 The LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again he will choose Israel and will settle them in their own land. (Aliens = Gentiles) ( Read Eph. chapter 3) (We are now in the commonwealth of Israel) will join them and unite with the house of Jacob. 2 Nations will take them and bring them to their own place. And the house of Israel will possess the nations as menservants and maidservants in the LORD's land. They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors. 3 On the day the LORD gives you relief from suffering and turmoil and cruel bondage, 4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: NIV (God wants men to see this here in Isaiah 14:1 as a reality in this Verse.
NOW COMES THE ALLEGORIES
KJV Isaiah 14:4 That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! (NIV says taunt )
Ouestion> is a taunt and a proverb the same thing?
This Proverb or parable happened to The last King over Babylon. Cyrus the Medo-Persia let Israel go home and let the Babylon people stay in their own land. He took no slaves with him. History bears this out. 606 B.C. Daniel 2,7 Babylon Kings: were Nebuchadnezzar, Beltshazzar
Isaiah 14:1 For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.
2 And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
3 And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,
4 That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!
5 The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.
6 He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.
7 The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.
8Yea, the fir trees (Menin other parts of the world)) rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller (Man not angels) is come up against us. Kings
9 Hell " (The Grave) from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead (Not the living somewhere) for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. Isa. v.12-14 Lucifer's five "I will's"-the beginning of sin and rebellion in the earth against Israel as he opposed to God's will.
10 All they shall speak (The Kings in Babylons day) and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? (Yes they did.) 11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. (Death)12 How art thou fallen from heaven, (The Hebrew land) O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! (King of Babylon on earth)>> O Lucifer, son of the morning! Every nation that turns against Isreal
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: ( Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:) 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. 16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; (Just like Hilter).17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? 18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. 19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.
20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned. Thie often man called Lucifer was not a fallen angel was no more than the King of Babylon.

Study with us Wed 6:30 Wed. dillmunsell@yahoo.com

2007-11-30T20:40:00.000-06:00

JESUS CAME TO SAVE PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS And death from the Grave!!
To the Saints in Jesus and all the family of the Kingdom

JESUS CAME TO SAVE PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS. And death from the Grave!!
ROMANS 6:12-14 (KJV)
12. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should
obey it in the lusts thereof. 13. Neither yield ye your members as
instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto
God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as
instruments of righteousness unto God. 14. For sin shall not have
dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Question: "If I am saved and all of my sins are forgiven, why not continue to sin?"
Answer: The Apostle Paul answered a very similar question in Romans 6:1-2, "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? (Abound) By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" The idea that a person could trust in Jesus Christ for salvation and then go on living just as he/she lived before - is absolutely foreign to the Bible. Believers in Christ are new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). The Holy Spirit changes us from producing the acts of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21), to producing the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). The Christian life is a changed life.
Galatians 5:19-21 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
What differentiates Christianity from every other world religion is this > Christianity is based on what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. Every other world religion is based on what we must do to earn God's favor and forgiveness.
Other world religion's teaches that we must do certain things, and stop doing certain things - in order to earn God's love and mercy. Christianity, faith in Christ, teaches that we do certain things and stop doing certain things BECAUSE of what Christ has done for us.
How could anyone, having been delivered from sin's penalty, death, go back to living the same life that had them on the path to death?
How could anyone, having been cleansed from the defilement of sin, desire to go back to the same cesspool of depravity?
How could anyone, knowing what Jesus Christ did on our behalf, go on living as if Jesus Christ is not important?
How could anyone, realizing how much Christ suffered for our sins, continue sinning as if Jesus' sufferings were meaningless?
Romans 6:11-18 declares, "In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey — whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness."
ROMANS 6:22-23 (NIV)
22. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become
slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result
is eternal life. 23. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God
is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
Romans 4:15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
Romans 6:4 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Romans 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. 7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. 9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
ROMANS 6:22-23 (NASB)
22. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you
derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome,
eternal life. 23. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of
God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
ROMANS 6:22-23 (KJV)
22. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God,
ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23. For
the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 JOHN 3:7-9 (NIV)
7. Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does
what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8. He who does
what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from
the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy
the devil's work (SIN AND THAT WHICH CAUSES SIN =THE LAW!). 9. No one who is born of God will continue to sin,
because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning,
because he has been born of God.
1 JOHN 3:7-9 (NASB)
7. Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who
practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; 8. the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. (Was this a sinning angel?) The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.(WHICH IS SIN) 9. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His (Gods) seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
1 JOHN 3:7-9 (KJV)
7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth
righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8. He that
committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the
beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he
might destroy the works of the devil.(SIN) 9. Whosoever is born of God
doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot
sin, because he is born of God.
Bible study Wed. 6:30 dillmunsell@yahoo.com God loves you and you can see there is only one Body of Christ.

2007-11-21T14:41:00.000-06:00

Going On in The Lord 11/21/2007
John 8:30-32 30 As he spake these words, many believed on him. 31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
The following is a list of the characteristics of people who profess to be Christians. The list #1 is characteristics of one who goes on in the Lord (True Christian). The 2 list is characteristics of one who goes backward and eventually will fall away from the Lord (False Christian). Use this list on a regular basis to evaluate your life in light of the scriptures.

1 HE WHO GOES ON IN THE LORD 2 HE WHO GOES BACK

1 Has a reverential fear of God. (Prov.28:14, Psl.147:11)
2 Has NO fear of God.
1 Values his deep personal relationship with God.
2 Does not have a real personal relationship to God.
1 Has a long term vision of his life in the lord.
2 Has No vision. or little vision.
1 Practices what he learns.
2 Hears, sees, doesn't really learn, take no Acton.
1 Listens to and responds to the Holy Spirit.
2 Listens to and responds to his own spirit flesh

1 Strives in all things to please God.
2 Cares only about pleasing himself.
1 Puts others first.
2 Puts self first.
1 God is center of his life.
2 He is center of his life.
1 Attitude is "I love you". (Jn.13:34)
2 Listens to and heeds most or all spirits.
1 Is free in the Lord. (Gal.5:13)
2 Is in bondage to this world.
1 Lives a Holy Spirit led life.
2 Is free wheeling, out of control.
1 Works with conviction.
2 Works with condemnation.
1Is morally pure.
2 Has variable morality.
1 Is constantly changing, becoming holy.
2/Unchanging, staying carnal.
1Walks in and brings peace.
2 Walks in and brings strife.
1 Crucifies (kills) his flesh daily.Gal.5:24
2 Exhalts (satisfies) his flesh daily.
1 Is a redemptive person.
2 Is a condemnative person.
1 Restores.
2 Destroys.
1 Examines self daily in light of Scripture.
2 Has no need to examine self,I'ok

1 Prays regularly.
2 Seldom prays.
1 Studies Scripture regularly.
2 Seldom or never studies Scripture.
1 Is righteous through the Blood of Jesus.
2 Is self righteous.
2 Sows to the Spirit. (Gal.6:8)
2 Sows to the flesh.
1 Wants to be a blessing to others.
2 Wants others to bless him.
1 Is concerned about inner change.
2 Is concerned about outer appearances.
1 Is a giver. (Gal.6:10)
2 Is a taker.
1 Knows God is his source for all.
2 I can do it all.
1 Has a circumsized heart.
2 Has an uncircumsized heart.
1 Is longsuffering.
2 Is impatient.
1 Understands need for authority.
2 Hates authority.
1 Desires proper leadership.
2 Detests all leadership.
1 Submits to proper authority.
2 Usurps authority.
1 Is fruitful, produces good fruit.
2 Fruitless or produces bad fruit. (Gal.5:19-21)
1 Is humble. (Prov.29:23)
2 Is proud.
1 Is just. (Prov.29:27)
2 Is unjust.
1 Is satisfied with God's provision.
2 Is never satisfied. Is greedy.
(Prov.28:25)
This is only a short partial list, you can add much to this list.

Come study with us. Dillard&Iris Munsell Wed. 6:30 PM dillmunsell@yahoo.com

2007-08-30T20:28:00.000-05:00

God moves when we pray!!
A prayer
O Lord, we stand in awe of your great wisdom in authoring the Bible to reflect not only Your infinite qualities of love and truth, but also our individual character in relation to You, whether we are in harmony with you or in opposition. Give us the courage to look deeply into this divinely inspired mirror of identity. Open our minds and hearts to the perfect reflection of our own nature - and Yours - that you have placed in your word for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church. Amen.

From Suzie (Gunn) Ingham
Dear Dillard and Iris,
Well, I'm trying to get better about contact. Thought I would write a few lines to you guys.
It was glad to see you all at Uncle David's house. Hope everything is going good for all. We are doing good to. I wanted to share maybe a few things God has been showing Me.
Me and a couple of friends were in prayer this week and I saw a full length mirror and I felt impress by the Spirit of God that He was saying to me.... you don't have to fear looking into the mirror (God's mirror...God's TRUTH!) or be afraid of what you'll see, (seeing ourselves in the natural compared to God and His Holiness)
Your imperfections anymore because my Spirit is there to help you be what I have already said you are to be. Don't be afraid of what you see I am well able to take care of it. You are not alone..My Spirit is there and will not leave you don't have to face anything alone...I am with you. Not fearing the future or what may come my way...Teaching me to rely on His Spirit.
We all need to be reminded of what a really powerful, loving, merciful, all capable God we serve..... The word of God is GOOD NEWS!!!!
Do you get the God channel on tv? There is a man by the name of Mike Brickle that has prayer on Tue-Friday at 10:00 am He has a ministry in Kansas City that is all about prayer and intimacy with Jesus...Matter of fact he wrote a book that I've read called Passion for Jesus (wonderful book) and it tells about how he came to be where he is now. He's a very humble man with a fire for God and a Passion that causes you to see God in a whole new light...Well I guess that all for now..Hope to hear from you soon....Suzie Ingham (GUNN) Below Mikes Book
http://www.amazon.com/Passion-Jesus-Growing-Extravagant-Love/dp/088419258X

2007-08-03T14:38:00.000-05:00

WHOEVER LIVES IN LOVE LIVES IN GOD, AND GOD IN HIM.

“Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.”

John says Gods love is made complete in us “because in this world we are like him”! Fashion that! In the previous chapter John made the point that we live a different kind of lifestyle (we no longer continue in a lifestyle of sin) because God’s seed remains in us. If we listen to what John is telling us, as opposed to a preconceived template of what we might expect to find as we read our Bibles, John is not telling us to love to be good Christians – he is telling us we love because we are Christians. God is love, therefore, because we are like God in this world we love too!

“In this world we are like him.” Such an incredible thing! Paul tells us in Romans 8:29, “For those God foreknew [Christians] he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Not just “in the sweet bye and bye” but right here in the now! In this world we are like him!

My thought I have this morning is that since “in this world we are like him” and we love because he is love, Christians are the most interesting and fascinating people in the world. Our God certainly is interesting and fascinating and if we are like him in this life it stands to reason. I’m not saying we take on deity as Christians, neither does John or Paul. What they say is that our character and nature conforms over a period of spiritual growth to that which is like God. It is his seed that remains in us and because God has foreordained we be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ we do just that.

John talks of the confidence we have in this verse. We have confidence as we look ahead to judgment day. Why? Because we know what lays ahead for us as believers. In this life we are the most confident of people. Because God knows the end from the beginning and has revealed some of that to us we are confident. Our God we serve is a transcendent, sovereign, omniscient and all powerful God. He has no wrinkle of insecurity and as we mature in him, we grow in our confidence as well. Not because we are transcendent, sovereign, omniscient and all powerful, but because he is and we are his. We reflect the confidence our faith in God brings us.

In my mind there are so many other aspects of God that are reflected in his people here on earth today. Our God is a joyful and happy God, and so are his people. Our God is a kind, caring and merciful God and so are his people. Our God is an honest and fair God and so are his people. I challenge any believer to take a hard look in the mirror and honestly answer the question, “Since I have become a follower of Jesus Christ and now indwelt with the Holy Spirit do I not see these changes within me?”

As I say, I think Christians are the most interesting and fascinating people in the world because our God is interesting, fascinating and beautiful in character and nature.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!

(If you want to be on Trevor's email list email him. He is a blessed brother with a gift.)
Trevor V. Fisk trevorf@gracehill.org

2007-06-19T01:20:00.000-05:00

Gods Kingdom is larger than we can ever dream.

What a promise to sick Nations. "Healing"? Yes.

A war is raging today over the word of God. The majority does not believe that we have the word of God in our language; still others do not even believe that the word of God was inspired in the originals. Why such a battle? Satan realizes that the word of God is life. He also realizes that if people get to God’s perfect word and eat of it they will have eternal life. God’s word tells of a tree that appears in the Garden of Eden and then reappears in the last chapter of Revelation. A close look at this tree will show you characteristics of the word of God.

Matthew 16:6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. KJV

It pays to know the written word and be born again.

Revelation 22:2 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
Revelation 2:7 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

We Need a passion to see the Gospel of the Kingdom preached to all Nations with Signs, Wonders and Miracles.

Revelation 22:1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the midst of the street of it, (Holy city and New Jerusalem >are the Same.) and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. KJV (Remember the tree of life was in the Garden of Eden.)

On the Day of Pentecost, the disciples experienced something new and powerful in their lives. It was something which took them from being a group of scared believers cowering behind locked doors because of their fear of the Jews to being some of the boldest witnesses for Christ in all history. What was it that changed their lives so dramatically? It was the fulfillment of the promise that Jesus had reminded them of just days prior. (Acts 1:4-5) In fact, Jesus saw this promise of the Holy Spirit as so significant that He commanded that the disciples not attempt anything until they had received it. (OH MY) Acts 1:4-5 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

The exciting thing about what happened to the disciples in that upper room is that the same thing can and will happen to us today. In his sermon in which Peter explained what had happened that day, he said that the promise wasn’t just for the particular individuals who experienced it that day, but it was for everyone that the Lord would call. (Acts 2:39) If you have been called by God, this promise is yours! (Acts 2;39) Or and to people far in the future; Greek reads and to those far away.) (Unless we have the same Spirit the Nations will not be healed. What a promise to us and the sick Nations.)

It is up to us who received Jesus.

(Luke 11:11-13) Ask in simple faith. Jesus said that we should ask the Heavenly Father for the Holy Spirit with the same attitude in which we would ask our earthly father for a fish expecting to get a fish and not a serpent.
Romans 8:26-28 26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

There will a separation of Sheep nations and Goat Nations

Matthew 25:31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, (JESUS) and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. (Wow for US Gentiles also) 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' (Note this is talking about those who gave us the BIBLE!!! The writers of the word of GOD. NIV

God is Going to make Israel a strong nation and then save her.
Isaiah 66:8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. KJV

Romans 11:13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches. NIV

Micah 4:7 And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.

Isaiah 60:22 A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time.

Zechariah 8:22 Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD.

(THANK GOD FOR THE LEAVES OF THE TREE OF LIFE!!!)

All Israel Will Be Saved after the times of the Gentiles

Luke 21:20 "When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by (Roman AD 70) armies, you will know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. 22 For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. 23 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. NIV

Romans 11:25 25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. 27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins NIV

Ezekiel 39:7 'I will make known my holy name among my people Israel. I will no longer let my holy name be profaned, and the nations will know that I the LORD am the Holy One in Israel. 8 It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign LORD. This is the day I have spoken of. NIV

Micah 4:3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. KJV What King will fufill this? From the bible.
http://1amimybrotherskeeper.blogspot.com/

http://keepinminddavedill.blogspot.com/
http://indianstufffamily.blogspot.com/

Dillard Munsell Bible study wed. 6:30 dillmunsell@yahoo.com

2007-02-08T16:40:00.000-06:00

JESUS THE GOOD SHEPHERD BY DAVID GUNN 2007

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. (JOH 10:10-11).
Now, our blessed Saviour came to fulfill all that was prophesied of Him. He said in LUKE 24:44, "And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me."
What we need to see and to understand that all of the things that came upon our blessed Saviour-all of these things where He was called Beelezebub, despised and rejected of men-were things written of Him.

John 10:11 Jesus the good Shepherd, A good Shepherd smells like his sheep!!
The Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep.
The Blood of the Shepherd- The Cross of the Shepherd -is Our Salvation.
Romans Chapters 1-8 deals with two aspects of our Salvation
The value of Christ Blood - The greatness of the Cross
#1- Blood
Rom 3:25 the Blood gives remission of (sins / Plural) 1st John 1:9 it cleanses from all sins.
Rom 5:10 we are reconciled to God by his blood but we are saved by his life.
The Blood deals with the work of Christ in our justification through the remission of sins.
#2- Cross
The Cross gives deliverance from the Sin that made us sin = (the old man / sin nature)
Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our (old man is crucified) with him, that the body of sin. might be destroyed. The work of Christ that is represented by the cross is our union with Christ’s suffering, the death, we died, was burial, and rose, and set with him that identifies us with him.
A- The Blood deals with what we have done. (Sinned) and come short of the glory of God. Rom3:23
a - So the Blood gets rid of our sins. Washes, cleanses white as snow.
b- Heb 9:15 Jesus by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions.
B- The cross deals with what we are. (Sinners by nature)
b - The Cross strakes a death blow to what makes us Sin. (Our nature). Now dead!!!!!
C- To know the true value of the Blood of Christ I must understand the value that God puts on it.
a- The Blood is for atonement and has to do with our Standing and Justification before God. We need forgiveness for sins or we will come into Judgment, so they are forgiven not because God overlooks them, but because he sees (The Blood).
D- Lev.16: Day of Atonement - The Blood benefitted man but it satisfied God.
a- The Blood was first and foremost for God. Exodus 12:23 When I see the blood.
b- The sin offering was offered publicly in the court of the Tabernacle for all to see, but the High priest alone was the only one that could go into the most Holy place with the Blood and sprinkle it upon the Mercy seat to atone for the sins of Himself and also for the people. He did the work! He was a type of Christ Jesus.
c- The going into the Most Holy Place was to present the blood to God!!
d- The Blood was what God required, the only thing acceptable, and something he was satisfied with.
e - Value # 1 Blood (satisfied God) AMEN
Value # 2 (benefitted man)
Value #3 (overcomes the accuser)

Heb 9:12 Jesus offered his own blood (Peter says precious blood) (one time) for (all time), He offered it to God to redeem us, to sprinkled our conscience from evil, He forgave us, He cleanses us, it satisfies us. Do you feel Clean by the word of God? It washes.

David Gunn dgunn@brtc.net Email him.
Three Blogs for us, study them all and you will learn about life forever.
http://keepinminddavedill.blogspot.com
http://1amimybrotherskeeper.blogspot.com
http://indianstufffamily.blogspot.com Dillard Munsell dillmunsell@yahoo.com

2007-01-15T23:31:00.000-06:00

True Faith - False faith My church RFC 1/14 / 2007 Sunday David E. Gunn

Have you been to the Dr. lately? Why did you go? Maybe you just wanted to make sure everything was ok. The Apostle Paul tells us that we should examine ourselves to see if we are ok Spiritual, and guess what we are qualified to do the examination. We start by making sure our faith is the right kind of faith.

2nd Corinthians 13:5 Paul said, examine yourselves, whether ye be in (The faith) / Prove your own selves, Know you not, that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be a reprobate.

# 1-How many here this morning know and can prove that your faith is a true and saving faith?
# 2- What would you look for in your self to know that you were in the True Faith?
# 3- Is it possible to have faith and it not be the True Faith?

True faith is evidenced in who we are, and what we do.

We must know the real before we can know the false.
(The Faith) is not a Denomination, it is defined in Heb 11:1 as (Substance & Evidence) It is described as something rock solid, like( God’s presence now, as substance) and the conviction of a future life as evidence. True faith is a faith that believes, relies on, and trust upon Jesus Christ alone for salvation) in all circumstances of life. In trouble, in trials, in difficulties faith says through Christ I cannot fail!!

True Faith says God's plan for our salvation is the only plan.
The bible reveals in a number of places that there is a faith that will not result in your Salvation. The bibles warns us against that kind of faith. True faith will join us to Christ Jesus for all eternity. Faith in faith will get us nowhere!! only Faith in Christ, He is the object of our faith.

Heb 12:2 Jesus The author who starts and finishes our faith.

Rom 5:1 True faith Justifies us. I believe in our world there is a perversion of this doctrine of faith. Lots of preachers seldom preach about (none saving faith) which is dangerous because of it’s eternal consequences.
We must distinguish between Justifying faith that saves and false belief that does not save.
Example = Some preachers say Just say these words and believe and you will be saved, (True), BUT it must be clarified. To believe implies trust, to entrust one’s spiritual well being to Christ Jesus, commit to trust, put in trust with.
# 1 Devils believe and tremble James 2:19 but they’re not saved. No commitment to God
# 2 Temporarily faith = Luke 8:13 People believe for a while ,when trials come they fall away.
Dr. Adrian Rogers says faith that fizzles before the finish was faulty from the start.
# 3 Believed in vain = 1Cor 15:2 If you don’t keep my sayings you have believed in vain..
# 4 Dead faith = James 2:20 will thou know, O vain man, faith without works is dead?
You can’t separate being born again or Regeneration from it’s effect. A changed life. Faith is the condition of Regeneration.
2nd Cor 5:17 You can’t be in Christ /saved without it bringing a change. Old things gone all things new.
# 1- John 3:3 except a man be (born again / Regeneration) he can’t see perceive, understand God's Kingdom. John 3:5 cannot (enter) the kingdom He can not come to Christ
John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:
The renewed heart and mind; must act according to their nature.
It loves and Desires God, Loves his word, obeys his commandments.
Joh 8:51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
Faith is not believing in spite of the evidence, but it’s obeying in spite of the consequences.
false faith
#1a - Wants benefits of the cross without bowing the knee to Christ’s rule.
b - like the prodigal son who wanted his father's goods but not his father's rule.
c - They want to go to heaven, but not by the narrow way.
#2 - Jesus is Prophet, Priest, and King.
a - They want Christ only as a Priest to pardon and give peace.
b - Not as a Prophet to instruct them in the narrow way.
c - Not as King to rule over them.
#3 - Has no close relationship with Christ or his word. Don’t even want a bible conversation.
a - Does not want the inconveniences that goes with following Jesus. Persecution.
b - It may cost you everything to be a Christian, yet eternal life is a free gift.
#4 - False believer's heart is not changed, and, therefore, his faith is not operative.
a - Acts 15:8, 9 True faith is operative, purifying the heart.
b - True Faith is tried by obedience, By faith Abraham, when he was called obeyed.
c - Just As it is impossible to please God without faith, so it is impossible not to desire to please God with faith.
Conclusion : Make sure you are in (The Faith) http://1amimybrotherskeeper.blogspot.com
To contact David Gunn email dillmunsell@yahoo.com

2007-01-11T07:13:00.000-06:00

What about your conscience?
Have you been caught up the religion of the last days. The Bible teaches that God has placed basic principles of His Law in every person's conscience (Romans 2:14,15 This operates whether or not the person ever reads the Bible or even has been told anything about God. However, by the constant ignoring of that conscience, the internal voice can be dulled to the point that when evil is done the conscience responds very little or not at all. A conscience in this condition is referred to as a "seared conscience" in I Timothy 4:2

Study these scriptures and think for yourself.

1 Timothy 4:1-3 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3 Forbidding to marry,(?) and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary: "contrite ... grieving and penitent for sin or shortcoming."
Psalms 34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Psalms 51:16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.(King David)17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Isaiah 66:1-2 Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? 2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

To have a clear Conscience Be Reconciled to Your Brothers and Sisters

Matthew 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
LUKE 17:3-4 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. 4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
The New Testament Greek Lexicon conscience = Definition.>1 The consciousness of anything. 2 The soul as distinguishing between what is morally good and bad, prompting to do the former and shun the latter, commending one, condemning the other

Suffering for Christ, not your own rightnessness.

1 Peter 2:19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
1 Peter 3:16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
1Peter 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
Conscience Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary:
"conscience ... the sense or consciousness of the moral goodness or blameworthiness of one's own conduct, intentions, or character together with a feeling of obligation to do right or be good."
Rodale's Synonym Finder: "conscience ... sense of right and wrong, moral sense, inward monitor; the still, small voice; principles, scruples, morals, ethics, standards."
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance: "4893 ... suneidesis ... co-perception, i.e. moral consciousness." Strong's Number: 4893
Every occurrence of the Greek word suneidesis in the New Testament is translated conscience(s) in the King James Version. Every occurrence of the word conscience (s) in the King James Version is a translation from the Greek word suneidesis.
John 8:3-9 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. 7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
Acts 23:1 And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.
Acts 24:10-16 Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself: 11 Because that thou mayest understand, that there are yet but twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem for to worship.12 And they neither found me in the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people, neither in the synagogues, nor in the city: 13 Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me. 14 But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: 15 And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. 16 And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.
Romans 2:11-16 For there is no respect of persons with God. 12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; 13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. 14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) 16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
Romans 9:1-5 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, 2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. 3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: 4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; 5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
Romans 13:1-5 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. 5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
1 Corinthians 8:1 Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. 2 And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.3 But if any man love God, the same is known of him.4 As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.5 For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.7 Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.8 But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.9 But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak.10 For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols; 11 And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?12 But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. 13 Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.
1 Corinthians 10:19- What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?20 But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.22 Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he? 23 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.24 Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth. 25 Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake: 26 For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof. 27 If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.28 But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof: 29 conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? 30 For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? 31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: 33 Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
2 Corinthians 1:12 For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
2 Corinthians 4:1-2 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; 2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, "not" walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your conscience.
1 Timothy 1:5-7 Now the end of the commandment is charity (love) out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: 6 From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; 7 Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.
1 Timothy 1:18-20 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; 19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: 20 Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.
1 Timothy 3:8-9 Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; 9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.10 And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless.
1 Timothy 4:1-3 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3 Forbidding to marry (?), and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
2 Timothy 1:2-5 To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 3 I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day; 4 Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy; 5 When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
Titus 1:15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. 16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
Hebrews 9:6-14 Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. 7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: 8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: 9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; 10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. 11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Hebrews 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Hebrews 10:16 -22 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21 And having an high priest over the house of God; 22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Hebrews 13:18 Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.
1 Peter 2:18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
1 Peter 3:13-22 And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? 14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: 16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. 17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. 21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: 22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
Rom. 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
Paul makes it very clear in these words that there are two ways of living, two kinds of character and disposition = the natural and the spiritual; and further, that one leads to death and one to life.The greatest enemy to our salvation is taking it for granted, being satisfied with ourselves, seeing nothing wrong.

Have you left the Holy commandment "Love one another"

2 Peter 2:18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: (religion) for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
Is your conscience "OK"? Only by the BLOOD of Jesus.
Romans 6:13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Romans 6:12 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
John 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
2 Peter 2:19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. Dillard Munsell dillmunsell@yahoo.com
http://1amimybrotherskeeper.blogspot.com/2006/04/but-when-that-which-is-perfect-is-come.html > A long study.

Testament Church Meeting?

2006-11-21T02:48:00.001-06:00

Early New Testament Church Meeting?

The Corinthians practiced what are called participatory, open, or interactive meetings. Should we imitate them in this regard? The Bible gives us guidelines on how to have a church gathering. Found in 1 Co 14:26-40.
1 Co 14:26 begins with "What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation." All five gifts of the ministry, nine gifts of the Spirit was working. Do you want to have CHURCH like this? "Well", Jesus already has built the rules but we have go away from them.
In this verse, 1 Co 14:26 the apostle Paul was describing what church life was like for the Corinthians. It may come as a surprise to us to realize he did not say, "When you come together, the minister in charge has something to say. OR the pastor has a word of instruction." the early church saints were so full of what they had heard from God and the Holy Spirit had comforted it they couldn't wait to gather and speak what they had heard form the lord, through the week and that not having it written in a bible "but the Old testament only" and the Holy Spirit working with them both men and women giving utterance through the spirit. The Five hundred or more that saw him after his restoration to life had much to say. The world wouldn't hold the books that could be written. John 21:25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.KJV
All of the people and brethren at Corinth came ready to contribute something. Some might think that the Apostle Paul was criticizing the Corinthians for this. Perhaps there was some mild criticism intended, for as we read on, the apostle provides guidelines regarding who can speak, how often, and when. He restricted the number of those who could publicly speak in tongues and prophesy in a given meeting, (Notice But not in Acts Chapter 2:3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.) and corrected the behavior of some.

But if there was any criticism intended in verse 1 Co 14:26, it was quite limited. He assumed the right of any of the brethren (People ) to speak in the meeting, Thus, his intent was merely to provide some corrections, "not to stop the "utterance of the spirit which created the written word". "That we read today." He did not mean to stop Praying in the Spirit.
This verse makes it startlingly clear that at Corinth, the right to publicly bring a teaching to the entire gathering church was not the exclusive right of one payed Elder or Pastor. Or a father Devine.
Col 3:16, we learn that things were apparently like that at Colosse, too: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God." (To all the people at Colosse.)
"Speak to one another,"\

Paul also wrote in Ephesians 5:19-20 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; KJV

Notice the emphasis on teaching "one another", and singing to "one another."
It is apparent that the way most of us have church gathering today is not "normal" in Old New Testament times. Early church meetings were a time when the everyday Christians contributed to the meetings. The right to teach in church was not the exclusive domain of the payed so called or those appointed who hired themselfs and build their own church buildings.

We see advantages in the way that the early Christians practiced church. Their gifts all (nine) were free to move in the Holy Spirit. One of the first meeting two people fell dead for lying to Peter and the Holy Spirit. Acts 5:5 And Ananas hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. (Still want to have church like the early church.) Then tell the truth!!
Ephesians 4:10-13 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, Elders / pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: "Till" we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (At any time they grow up.) So they actually lived it in their church meetings and in the streets of every city. Even in the synagogue on the Sabbath.
Some say these five Gifts have been done away with which means we can't have meeting like the early church. So they are still canonizing the written word. Are they changing it? YES

1 Corinthians 14:1 Follow after charity, (Charity is love in action) and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. (? How can you if our leaders say there no more five gifts? No more nine gifts, tongues, no more healing, no more apostles, teachers, "MY" what happened to the Gift of FAITH. Jesus said will I find faith when I come? Do you belong to the"Tombstone Church" Proverbs 9:18 But he does not know that the dead are there, That her guests are in the depths of hell. (Hebrew Sheol) The Grave ON earth. In other words where the spirit is quenched and your program has got in the way there is no more liberty in Christ. 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

1 Corinthians 14:5 I would that ye all spake with tongues but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, "except" he interpret, that the church may receive edifying. ( You know someone might interpret> If you who think that you have power over Gods people and can stop someone from speaking tongues by the Spirit of God. You may be outside the camp of the saints.> (Church) except he interpret, except he interpret, IN CHURCH GATHERINGS!!!
Ephesians 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; (Do you know what the Spirit is?) (It is not chanting words in writing in the old testament. It is the Gift of the Holy Spirit that Jesus said it will testify of me.The Spirit is the word of God.
Ephesians 6:17-19 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: (Not your canonized book by men. (What comes out of your BELLY only.) 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; (John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of (Notice)> his belly shall flow rivers of living water. John 7:38 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." Out of your belly NIV) (Right in the gathering where two are I am in the mist of them. Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, (JESUS) there am I in the midst of them.
1 Corinthians 14:19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,( Paul meant where ever I am. Jerusalem or Rome through out the world. We can have the same utterance when God gives the Spirit of utterance.

A supplication in the Spirit Done at home or at a Gathering

James 5:13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. 14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; (in or out of the gatherings) and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (Talk to one another.)
Malachi 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. (Written four hundred years before the preaching of John the Baptist and Jesus.) A book of remeremberance is being written. From Jesus till he comes again.

SO THIS MUST BE A MEETING FULL OF EDIFYING ONE ANOTHER

Corinthians 14:2 He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; (If he don't interpret,) but he that prophesieth (InYour language) eifieth the church that speaks the same language. (Any spiritual Person knows this Gift of tongues has been abused because of the lack of knowledge. But its still in the bible for all ages till Jesus comes.) If you don't have it you are not lost. "OK". Most of you are not permitted to say any thing in your gathering, "Please be quite ok. You are out of order!!" Mass is going on or my sermon being preached. If you have a growing in Christ problem, ware a baby christian diaper. "But I want to praise God." Go in the bath room then!! "No wonder people are coming out of the churches". They want to worship God in Spirit and in truth. Even if they have to do it at home without the fellowship of some. Some services or planned from January to December in a book, (so no need for the Spirit to interfere there "and he will not."
1 Corinthians 14:4 For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit ("THIS SPIRIT IS NOT THE WRITTEN WORD BECAUSE" > ) he speaketh "mysteries." (We have secrets with God: Isn"t that wonderful!! I think it is a privilege to have a tongue from the Spirit in our gathering. Or at home alone. It’s a CONFIRMATION from God that he is in your PRAYER!! I mean a real one and not fake.This Verse is saying they are talking to God direct. WOW!!! And if it is interpreted we are saying words from God to those present in that meeting.("Of course there goes the canon of the bible out the window already written",) May be to only to one person or the whole gathering of people. This is not changing that which is already written. Can we praise God for this, "yes" don't silence him or her. This would be quenching the Holy Spirit. If you don't pray in the spirit you surely wont get an interpretation. Praying the bible verses in our own language is not what this means. Nothing wrong with it though.
1 Corinthians 12:10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers (many) kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: (Do we really want to have church gathering like the early CHURCH?) I SAY MOST PEOPLE DON'T. And most will be burned in the fire. Get ready the train is coming and JESUS is on it.) We must pray for god to activate his Spirit that is in us. Then the world will see Jesus was from God.Jude 1:19-21 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. (Wonder why he didn't say the written word. The Spirit was working in the early church meeting.) (These be they who separate themselves: From who? >The Elders of the early Church, Those that had heard Jesus) 20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, (There it is again!!) (The only written word they had was in these letters they wrote to one another and the old testament.) 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. KJV
1 Corinthians 14:14 For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, (MY WHAT?) but my understanding is unfruitful > Notice .(If they don't pray with the understanding don't Judge them OK praying in the Spirit is what we are to do . It helps our infirmity even. My spirit prayeth with the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 14:15 What is it then? I will pray with the Spirit, for our present needs. (Not quote scriptures) and I will pray with the understanding.= Knowing that the Spirit is making interception for me. 15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the Spirit, ( ( NEW SONGS )and I will sing with the understanding also. (IN our Gathering!!)
16 Else when thou shalt bless with the Spirit, There it is again!! (Written word? No) how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? So let tongues be they are for the unbelievers, 1 Corinthians 14:39: "do not forbid speaking in tongues." if the unbelievers come to your gathering at times. Tell me how you can bless with the Spirit if you don't use it? How do you know if there is not an unbeliever in the room? Sorry but We have a need on this subject!
It is tough for one man to meet the teaching needs of everyone in his congregation alone. The early church gatherings, more than one person taught in the meetings, so that was not a concern. And since church leaders got to hear teaching from others, it was less likely that they had unmet spiritual needs. Is there a church leader on earth who is so mature that he cannot benefit from the teaching of others in his church? We doubt it.
We can imagine someone objecting, "we allow others with the gift of teaching to teach in Sunday School, not in church." at least the members of some churches have some outlet for teaching one another. There were also opportunities to teach outside of church meetings in NT times. Something distantly kin to Sunday School, classes for new converts, arrived on the scene early. Paul held discussions daily in the Hall of Tyrannus, and others surely did similar things now and then. But Paul could not have been speaking of one of these ancient predecessors to Sunday School, because Acts 14:23 makes it very clear that he was writing about when the "whole church comes together!" And we know that Sunday school, invented less than 200 years ago, could not have been what He had in mind! No doubt, Paul was talking about church meetings, not Kingdom Hall meeting, for he used the word "church" seven times in this chapter!

And so we cannot avoid the conclusion that any man (Our woman) with the spiritual maturity to teach was welcome to bring a message in an early church meeting. In fact, since Paul does not limit the number of teachers who may speak, it probably often happened that more than one man would teach in a given meeting! A lot of good Women and men have been put out of churches that are called of god to teach. No doubt, church meetings were different in the early days of the church. They were they better and healthier? I think that they were, at least after Paul got the Corinthians with these instructions. Otherwise, in the verses that follow verse 26, Paul would have steered the Corinthians more toward our modern way of doing things. But he didn't! If they would have had a program paul would have left not saying any thing.This epistle was addressed not only to the early Corinthians, but to "all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord". (That would include us!)
1 Corinthians 14:36 What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only? 37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. >(Let us pray the lords prayer that the God of Heaven and earth will gather out of his church all things that offend that the kingdom may be purged and show the world that God sent Jesus to save the people and earth from destruction and his will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven. Dillard Munsell See am i my brothers keepers.
http://1amimybrotherskeeper.blogspot.com/
Study with us Wed. 6:30 dillmunsell@yahoo.com

2006-06-26T22:23:00.000-05:00

David Gunn 6/25/06 God’s gifts A Sermon outline
James 1:17 Every good and perfect Gift comes down from the Father of Light
God gives gifts and they are perfect.
Are your spiritual senses functioning properly? Are we walking in the spirit?

1St Cor 12 = Manifestation Gifts
I believe the Corinthians 12 gifts are the (spiritual senses) of the Church. Just as we have five physical senses that allow us to function properly in the natural world, we also have nine gifts (the spiritual senses). Of the Holy Ghost that enable us to function properly in the spiritual realm.

Three Categories of Gifts Gods gives to the church read.

#1 Ephesians 4:11 = Ministry Gifts = Apostles, prophets, evangelists, Pastors, teachers.

To mature us for the work of minstry.

#2 Romans 12:6 = Motivation Gifts = Prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhorting, giving, ruling Mercy. Use Only to the extent of faith that God has given you.
#3 1St Cor 12 = Manifestation Gifts = Wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues, interpretation.

The Corinthians were imperfect people with perfect gifts.

Rom 12:6 Says to use only to the extent of faith that God has given.
Using our spiritual gift is a very important aspect of the ministry of believers.
Ministry and motivation gifts are not as spectacular as the Manifestation gifts but they are just as important in the life and function of the church.

God has given nine great gifts of the Holy Spirit to enable us to.

#1- Mature spiritually = Grow up spiritually to accomplish the Spirits desire. Eph 4:15
#2- Edify others = Spirit gift knows when act on behalf of others to edify.
#3 -Do the work of ministry = these gifts are perfect and they will accomplish God’s purpose.

These nine gifts can be classified into three categories:

#1- Revelation Gifts = Gifts that reveals something (supernatural)
A- Word of wisdom
B- Word of Knowledge
C- Discerning of spirits
#2- Power Gifts = Gifts that do something (supernatural)

A- Faith
B- Healing
C- Miracles
#3 Inspirational Gifts = Gifts that say something. (Supernatural)
A- Prophecy
B- Speak with divers Tongues
C- Interpretation of Tongues

Purposes of the Gifts

1- Spiritual maturity
You cannot help someone who is weak unless you are strong yourself. Spiritual gifts help you mature so you can edify the Church and strengthen others.
I Corinthians 14:12
2- Edification to the church
Spiritual gifts are for the edification of the Church and bring us into spiritual maturity: 1 Corinthians 14:12 Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.
Example V: 13 wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.

3- The real thing

Proof is having evidence of your authority. When the gifts are displayed, it confirms that you are a true believer, Mark 16:17 - these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues.

4- Spiritual riches

I Corinthians 12:7 say, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. That’s true Riches how do you get the gifts? Seek them, they come by prayer
A-men David Gunn

2006-06-16T23:35:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 15:51-54 Grave where is your Victory? David Gunn 6/17/2006
Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, V: 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. V: 53 for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. V: 54 so when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, and then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Isaiah 25:8 Hosea 13:14 = (HE) Jesus will do it!!!
V: 55 O death, where is thy (sting)? O grave, where is thy (victory)?
1Cor 15:56 Paul says the (sting) of death is sin; and the (strength) of sin is the law.
I - V: 51 = First Paul said Let me Show you a mystery and then I will explain it.
A - The mystery is (The Transformation of Our Bodies.)
B - We shall not all sleep, but we all shall be changed.
C - Quickly (twinkling of eye) – orderly – Dead first – particular time (Last trump)
D - The dead (corruptible) shall be raised (incorruptible), and we (alive) shall be changed.
E - There will be no evolution process our change comes quickly, (dead or alive).
F- Because this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
G- Paul tells us (two things) that will be changed about our bodies.
# 1 – (The Corruptible part) and (The Mortal part) of our bodies. Jesus body saw no decay.
# 2- (corruptible = perishable) Perishable means = that our bodies, wear out, run down breaks.
#3 -. Mortal means that our bodies die. You can die in your youth before you wear out.
#4 V: 54 so when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Isaiah 25:8 – Hosea 13:14 (He) shall swallow up death. Jesus said I am the resurrection.
II - Victory over Death: What is the (Victory)?, how does it Happens?.
A -Paul says when our bodies are changed from (corruptible to incorruptible) from (mortal to immortal) then death is swallowed up in victory.’ O (grave), where is your victory? O (death), where is your sting?
Jesus promises two things, victory over the graveyard, and to take the sting out of death.
B – Paul says when Jesus comes he will Swallow up death. Barns commentary = drink down, drown.
1 - Death is an enemy and it will be destroyed 1St Corinthians 15:26 -Heb 11:29 destroy and remove
2 – How do you destroy an enemy without killing him?
A -We die, and it seems like a defeat, but the resurrection is where the victory comes over death. (You don’t kill death ;) it is (removed / rendered powerless) swallowed up by life.
C- Paul says Jesus is going to take the sting out of death.
1 – Snake –poison – pain. This is what we think of the sting of death.
2 – Paul says there will be no sting in death; the snake bite will not hurt us because the poison has been taken out, and death will not destroy us. Death is not death anymore.
3 -John 11:25-26, Jesus said I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. There is no(death in death) for those who believe in Christ. The poison is gone. (SIN)
III 1St Cor 15:56 the sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
A - What does that mean? It means (Sin puts the sting in death).
B - Death is the result of sin; Death is horrible / terrible because of sin.
C - Death is damnation, hell, gnashing of teeth, outer darkness, because of sin.
E - Death is the wages of sin (Romans 6:23) Because of sin (death is punishment). It is the final sentence: away from God and away from peace and joy into torment that never ends. That’s the sting. And that’s the horror, because of sin.
IV The power of sin is the law. = The Law gives sin its power and force.
The punishment, the legal verdict, has force, power and authority, and is binding because the law of God tells us what to do. And what happens if we reject.
So what makes death terrifying is our sin, and what gives that terror great force is that the whole law of God stands behind and backs it up.
V: 57, Paul says but, thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Death is swallowed up in victory and the sting of death is gone) because God did something, He sent Jesus to satisfy all the demands of the law and bear all the penalty of our sin. Galatians 3:13, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us; Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. 1 Peter 2:24, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree." The curse of the law is satisfied, the sins are taken away, death is swallowed up in victory and the sting of death is gone. Halleluiah!!! I’m Happy!!
2 Corinthian 5:8 so to be absent from the body and at present with the Lord. No sting!!!
E - Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. (Steady as you go) (Don’t get pushed over) (Do lots of work in the work). Amen!

2006-05-19T00:05:00.000-05:00

Keep in mind: The promise of the Father?
http://indianstufffamily.blogspot.com/2006/05/1st-epistle-of-john-bible-book-of.html

2006-05-18T23:39:00.000-05:00

1st Epistle of John (The Bible A book of Absolutes) By David Gunn 3/12/2006
We as a people don’t have to guess; we can (Know).
John is a book about knowing
Written to the church at large No greeting, no fare wells
So we are included, we can rest in his assurance.
A- 1st John1:1 John says.
1- We have heard
2- We have seen
3- We have handled the word of life. = (John 1:14 Word made flesh =Jesus)
B- V: 2 He was Manifested and we have seen him.
1- I bare Witness and show unto to you. You don’t have to be in doubt.
C- John‘s reason for writing this epistle.
1- Ch 1:4 - To bring Joy to God’s people. Knowledge with assurance brings JOY.
2- Ch 2:1 To Guard against Sin; (but) if you do we have an Advocate (Jesus)
3- Ch 2:26 To warn against False teachers; those who would seduce you. (Deceive)
A- About true God, fellowship, sin,
E. life, knowing.
4- Ch 5:13 To strengthen their faith. To believe on the Name of the Son of God
5- Ch 5:13 To bring assurance of Eternal Life. That you may know.
Three words stand out
D- (1:3 Fellowship) (3:1 Love) (2:29 Know)
Fellowship
E— 1:5 God is light and our fellowship with him is conditional. John declares the conditions of that fellowship. Walk, lifestyle, attitude toward sin, obedience.
A- God is Light and our (Walk) must be in the light. If we have UN confessed sin we are in walking darkness. (ch1:5)
B- (Sin not1:9) write that you sin not; it breaks our Fellowship and separates us from God.
C- (Confession and forsaking sin)(ch1:9) faithful/just to forgive us of all unrighteousness.
D- Obedience to Commandments (3:11) love one another to be in fellowship.
Love
Love is the distinguishing mark that we have passed from darkness to light. (Love one another)
1- Assurance is the outcome of love. Ch 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
Know
John is absolutely Certain, one step be on Faith (is to know) and he is writing to bring assurance to the church. God is Light, Jesus is Lord, and we are in him through birth, fellowship & obedience.
Righteous living is the sign of a (regenerated heart / born again believer)
Ch 2:29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that does righteousness is born of him.
Ch 3:24 And he that keep his commandments dwells in him and he in him. And hereby we (know) that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
Ch 5:15 these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may (know) that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he hears us And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we (know) that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
So we close with Answered Prayer
http://keepinminddavedill.blogspot.com/2006/04/are-not-we-all-that-one-bread.html dillmunsell@yahoo.com

2006-02-10T13:45:00.000-06:00

A Bible Arrow Head # 1 By David Gunn Blogger Dillard Munsell

Keep in Mind Matthew 5:1-11 Read
John just baptized Jesus. Ch.4, Spirit led Jesus to wilderness to test (by devil) his commitment, and he came to Capernaum to fulfill prophesy 4 V:14 , Jesus came preaching the kingdom of heaven is at hand, he proves the kingdom was near by healing the sick of all description.4 V:23
1St Jesus came to do do Two things
A- Seek and save the lost / With all prevision for salvation. (Authority and Power)
B- Establish a Kingdom / He came to be King / Herod are you King? For this cause came I
( Prophets foretold)
Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder:(Authority / power /responsibility to rule) and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
V:7 Of the increase of his (government and peace) there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
The Kingdom is like Leaven Jesus said / (unseen)- mustard seed (small) but works mightily When Jesus came to establish his kingdom he announce his founding principles which are the foundation upon which his kingdom would rest
(Principle)
Matt 5:1-11
Beatitudes = The very Constitution of his Kingdom
The Kingdom hast to be established first in the Heart of man (not observation)
The principles hast to be settles in our Spirit
Then we become citizens of his kingdom
Take a good look at what the kingdom of heaven really looks like

V:3 The poor in spirit: no self interest (only Gods)
V:4 Those that mourn; because of sin
V:5 meek Spirit: lowly, but powerful
V:6 A heart that hunger and thirst after righteousness
V:7 A merciful Heart
V:8 A pure heart:
V:9 A peacemakers
V:10 A heart that is willing to be persecuted for righteousness.
V:11 Heart that is(For Christ sake) willing to be revile, persecute spoken evil against with no ill.

2Nd What does it mean to be Blessed? Not what we have, these verses just divested us of all our own selfish interest.
A- Not our happiness -you are to make God happy.
B- Having God’s approval is the true meaning of being blessed

Look at these Two
V:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
V:4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

V:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
V:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: V:14 Ye are the light of the world.
V:21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill.( Must exceed)
V:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother. (This exceeds)

Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (this is the path to being Blessed)
V:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

#3 Three Heartittudes of God’s Blessings

#1 V:3 Poverty of spirit = bankrupt of your self , Need of God’s Spirit
A- A heartfelt recognition of spiritual need should draw us to God’s Grace
C- Pride brings spiritual separation / Christ is Humble lowly)

#2 V:4 Mournful of sin ; Grief for the pain of Sin? No!!
Grief for Sin - not the pain it brings
(Example) An honest appraisal of the (Impact of sin) will cause us to Grieve.
To love God is to hate sin.

Why does sin not grieve me?
1. A callous heart(spirit) , no hate for sin, that grieves God.
2. Denial of sin, we deny
3. Distance from God , Close to the world

#3 V:5 Humble in Life ; Meek and lowly at heart = gentle spirit= (Controlled power)
Not willing to have peace at any cost / the cost of comprise / not interpreting dctr
Jesus said I came not to bring peace but a sword / no comprise brings trouble

How can I become Humble?
1. Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you / yoke up with Jesus for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
V:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
2. Gal. 5 Realize that a gentle spirit is a gift from God.

3. Matt 5:3-11 Follow the path to blessedness = Matt 11:29 Take my yoke upon you this is the path