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How are you doing today?
I pray all is well and the biopsy shall come out benign as we prayed for that good result.
As we are truly born-again Christians, we always hold on to the gift of hope, faith and love given by our Comforter, the Holy Spirit.
Each time I pray especially for my son, I also tried not to forget to include your sons in that prayer. I empathize with you on your worries concerning them. Muslim faith is believing in one God, but they do not believe that we are saved by Jesus dying on the cross for us, so that is where the problem lies. The other son's problem is the depression: I believe that the problem of depression is not only chemically based, but it is spiritual as well. I myself have overcome the mild symptom of depression by boosting prayer time and enriching my relationship with Jesus, therapeutic exercises, and following some kind of Mediterranean diet. I think you only have to spend more time to talk to your son.
You can reply to me my friend, as I am excused from work today.
Warm regards,
May
Jesus told them the only sign would be as Jonah, 3 days and 3 nights, but He confirmed the brass serpent was a foreshadowing as in John 3:14 and when He told them "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he", John 8:28. My understanding and something to consider is it points to Matthew 27:50-54 when Jesus cried out the last time is when all these things happened.
The veil of the temple was rent, and the earthquake, and the rocks rent, and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. The Greek word egersis, translated as resurrection here, is the only place in the NT it was used.
It means waking up, as from sleep, a rousing or rising up from passing out that I am sure Jesus did several times, but this last time when He cried out just before He died, all these things happened to show they have just killed the Messiah, the Son of God as verse 54 confirms all this happened when Jesus revived and cried out.
Death could not hold Jesus because He was without sin, Acts 2:24 and when God resurrected Jesus Jesus was victorious over death and is the Firstfruits of those that slept. We were slaves/servants of sin, in captivity, Jesus broke the bounds and led the captivity of sin, Rom. 6:6, and took us captive to Himself, Eph 4:8. He freed us from that enslavement or captivity to sin and when we are resurrected, we can say 1 Cor. 15:52-57.
In John 3:13, John wrote this after Jesus ascended, we see that for what John said Jesus was in heaven when John wrote this. Also, we see what Paul wrote, David has not ascended to heaven, Acts 2:29, 34, you would think if Jesus took people to heaven, He would have taken David.
Just some thoughts.
God bless,
RLW
I pray the Lord blesses you abundantly today. May you feel His presence ever so near.
One general rule that I believe needs to be practiced is to take any scripture as literally and specifically as possible unless otherwise indicated (such as overt symbolism which is usually defined within the passage as such and the meaning intended).
John 7:38 about "rivers of living water" would be such an example. Ezekiel 47; however gives no indication of the need to make the "fresh water" and the very literal descriptions within the text as being anything but an actual event. In other words; it SHOULDN'T be a cross reference to the John 7:38 verse. We can see even currently fresh water that comes from underground sources that is infiltrating into the Dead Sea; just as we can see the desert starting to bloom as described in Isaiah 35:1. If that verse is taken literally the other should be as well.
There are other things such as 1 Peter 2:9 (cross referenced with Deut. 14:2) that are describing in context the church in the same light as God was delineating His chosen people within the nation of Israel. In both cases there is a REMNANT who are truly called and chosen. Romans 10 describes how we are grafted in and there is no longer any distinction between Jew and Gentile; however the very next chapter shows how eventually the veil is lifted and the blindness of the Jews will change ( Romans 11:25). Isaiah shows how eventually the Gentiles will be blessed; and Zechariah shows how the nation will have to be broken enough to finally recognize their Messiah. The problem in all the cases I've mentioned so far is not the validity of a parallel passage existing but the application of it.
There certainly are cases where things are referred to as cross references when they are really not. Daniel 12:4 is not really tied into any other specific scripture; but in this case the application can be exaggerated especially when other verses that sound similar are referring to another historic event. Nahum 3 is case in point.
When referring to passages that are cross referenced; there are the obvious ones such as events described in more than one Gospel; for example. The presence of such is often a nearly identical passage; but the viewpoint of the author tied in with the particular message the Spirit of God is conveying will often either bypass a point or add something to the context. Such would be the case; for instance with the subject of divorce which is in Luke and Mark (where remarriage is ALWAYS considered adultery); and in Matthew where two passages allow for the so called "escape" clause based on what is translated "fornication". Further insights on that subject are something to be covered elsewhere; although in this case I would point out that this is the only Gospel (Matthew) that discusses Joseph's desire to "divorce" his wife (who was in fact a woman espoused to him but nonetheless according to the culture had the same legal constraints as one who actually had consummated the marriage).
Sometimes something seems to pop up in unexpected places in the O.T.; Hosea 13:14 is a good example. Within that text there is talk of destruction for the Edomites and Israel's judgments in particular then this suddenly crops up in the middle of that discussion. That book itself is a very interesting tale as to God's demands of Hosea; and what may seem on the surface to God going through conflicting emotions. There are of course many prophetic texts such as what I have gone over recently about Christ found in the Psalms; many verses of which were quoted by Christ Himself read part of Isaiah 61 but stopped short of the prophetic implications in the text for the return of Christ (see Luke 4:16-17).
There are certain things which are more general than others; most prophecy does have multiple applications. This may tie into the personal applications for a Prophet and a future Messianic one. Part 2 to come...
Is really that hard to tell hole truth about the first true race here on earth?
There are 204 books of dialog on ethiopians form the beginning and yet we are told only66 books. Why did the white man place a picture of the third pope son and call him Jesus, why all the misconceptions and half truths? Why have the white man try destroying the heritage and history of ethiopians? Who are black.
I second that.
God bless you for all you do.
Cigarettes are more than a bad habit. They are one of the devils "tools". They steal, kill, and destroy. But there is freedom in Christ.
This was a major bondage in my life. The BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST destroyed that yoke! I have been loosed of it, 16 months ago. PRAISE THE LORD! This was a major prayer answered. I couldn't/wouldn't have done it on my own.
When I get a craving I just start praising God. And the craving leaves. (Thank You Lord)
Hallelujah.and glory to God in the highest. So much good has come to my life just from quitting cigarettes.
If you're struggling with an addiction to _________, ask God to make you HATE that thing. He will do it!
I have found God to be faithful, when I am not. To be a merciful loving Father, Savior, Deliverer, Healer, Friend, and so much more!
I'm praying for you.
:-)
Some have said they are attracted to the same sex but they don't act on it...Is that a sin?
Part 5.
Many a church has fallen into a condition of indifference, and when it does so it generally becomes the haunt of worldly professors, a refuge for people who want an easy religion, which enables them to enjoy the pleasures of sin and the honours of piety at the same time; where things are free and easy, where you are not expected to do much, or give much, or pray much, or to be very religious; where the minister is not so precise as the old school divines; a more liberal people, of broad views, free-thinking and free-acting, where there is full tolerance for sin, and no demand for vital godliness. Such churches applaud cleverness in a preacher; as for his doctrine, that is of small consequence, and his love to Christ and zeal for souls are very secondary. He is a clever fellow, and can speak well, and that suffices. This style of thing is all too common, yet we are expected to hold our tongue, for the people are very respectable. The Lord grant that we may be kept clear of such respectability!
We have already said that this condition of indifference is attended with perfect self-complacency. The people who ought to be mourning are rejoicing, and where they should hang out signals of distress they are flaunting the banners of triumph.
Once more, this church of Laodicea had fallen into a condition which had chased away its Lord. The text tells us that Jesus said, "I stand at the door and knock." That is not the position which our Lord occupies in reference to a truly flourishing church.
More later.
Part 4.
You will only be a drag upon a man's zeal and earnestness. Five thousand members of a church all lukewarm will be five thousand impediments, but a dozen earnest, passionate spirits, determined that Christ shall be glorified and souls won, must be more than conquerors; in their very weakness and fewness will reside capacities for being the more largely blessed of God. Better nothing than lukewarmness.
Alas, this state of lukewarmness is so congenial with human nature that it is hard to fetch men from it. Cold makes us shiver, and great heat causes us pain, but a tepid bath is comfort itself. Such a temperature suits human nature. The world is always at peace with a lukewarm church, and such a church is always pleased with itself. Not too worldly,- no! We have our limits! There are certain amusements which of course a Christian must give up, but we will go quite up to the line, for why are we to be miserable? We are not to be so greedy as to be called miserly, but we will give as little as we can to the cause. We will not be altogether absent from the house of God, but we will go as seldom as we can. We will not altogether forsake the poor people to whom we belong, but we will also go to the world's church, so as to get admission into better society, and find fashionable friends for our children.
How much of this there is abroad! Compromise is the order of the day. Thousands try to hold with the hare and run with the hounds, they are for God and Mammon, Christ and Belial, truth and error, and so are "neither hot nor cold." Do I speak somewhat strongly? Not so strongly as my Master, for he says, "I will spue thee out of my mouth." He is nauseated with such conduct, it sickens him, and he will not endure it. In an earnest, honest, fervent heart nausea is created when we fall in with men who dare not give up their profession, and yet will not live up to it; who cannot altogether forsake the work of God.
See Part 5.
Part 3.
In this state of the church there is much self-glorification, for Laodicea said, "I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing." The members say, "Everything goes on well, what more do we want? All is right with us." This makes such a condition very hopeless, because reproofs and rebukes fall without power, where the party rebuked can reply, "We do not deserve your censures, such warnings are not meant for us." If you stand up in the pulpit and talk to sleepy churches, as I pretty frequently do, and speak very plainly, they often have the honesty to say, "There is a good deal of truth in what the man has said:" but if I speak to another church, which really is half asleep, but which thinks itself to be quite a model of diligence, then the rebuke glides oft like oil down a slab of marble, and no result comes of it. Men are less likely to repent when they are in the middle passage between hot and cold, than if they were in the worst extremes of sin. If they were like Saul of Tarsus, enemies of God, they might be converted; but if, like Gamaliel, they are neither opposed nor favouring, they will probably remain as they are till they die. The gospel converts a sincerely superstitious Luther, but Erasmus, with his pliant spirit, flippant, and full of levity, remains unmoved. THERE IS MORE HOPE OF WARNING THE COLD THAN THE LUKEWARM. When churches get into the condition of half-hearted faith, tolerating the gospel, but having a sweet tooth for error, they do far more mischief to their age than downright heretics.
It is harder a great deal to work for Jesus with a church which is lukewarm than it would be to begin without a church. Give me a dozen earnest spirits and put me down anywhere in London, and by God's good help we will soon cause the wilderness and the solitary place to rejoice; but give me the whole lot of you, half-hearted, undecided, and unconcerned, what can I do?
See part 4.
Part 2.
It makes one's flesh creep to see how sluggishly they move: I long for a knife to cut their red tape to pieces, and for a whip to lay about their shoulders to make them bestir themselves. Things are respectably done, the rich families are not offended, the sceptical party is conciliated, and the good people are not quite alienated: things are made pleasant all round. The right things are done, but as to doing them with all your might, and soul, and strength, a Laodicean church has no notion of what that means. They are not so cold as to abandon their work, or to give up their meetings for prayer, or to reject the gospel; if they did so, then they could be convinced of their error and brought to repentance; but on the other hand they are neither hot for the truth, nor hot for conversions, nor hot for holiness, they are not fiery enough to burn the stubble of sin, nor zealous enough to make Satan angry, nor fervent enough to make a living sacrifice of themselves upon the altar of their God, They are "neither cold nor hot."
This is a horrible state, because it is one which in a church wearing a good repute renders that reputation a lie. When other churches are saying, "See how they prosper! see what they do for God!" Jesus sees that the church is doing his work in a slovenly, make-believe manner, and he considers justly that it is deceiving its friends. If the world recognises such a people as being very distinctly an oldfashioned puritanic church, and yet there is unholy living among them, and careless walking, and a deficiency of real piety, prayer, liberality, and zeal, then the world itself is being deceived, and that too in the worst way, because it is led to judge falsely concerning Christianity, for it lays all these faults upon the back of religion, and cries out, "It is all a farce! The thing is a mere pretence! Christians are all hypocrites!" I fear there are churches of this sort. God grant we may not be numbered with them!
See Part3
C.H. Spurgeon.
AN EARNEST WARNING AGAINST LUKEWARMNESS.
Part 1.
The condition described in our text is, secondly, one of mournful indifference and carelessness. They were not cold, but they were not hot; they were not infidels, yet they were not earnest believers; they did not oppose the gospel, neither did they defend it; they were not working mischief, neither were they doing any great good; they were not disreputable in moral character, but they were not distinguished for holiness; they were not irreligious, but they were not enthusiastic in piety nor eminent for zeal: they were what the world calls "Moderates," they were of the Broad-church school, they were neither bigots nor Puritans, they were prudent and avoided fanaticism, respectable and averse to excitement. Good things were maintained among them, but they did not make too much of them; they had prayer-meetings, but there were few present, for they liked quiet evenings at home: when more attended the meetings they were still very dull, for they did their praying very deliberately and were afraid of being too excited. They were content to have all things done decently and in order, but vigour and zeal they considered to be vulgar. Such churches have schools, Bible-classes, preaching rooms, and all sorts of agencies; but they might as well be without them, for no energy is displayed and no good comes of them. They have ministers who may be the angels of the churches, but if so they have their wings closely clipped, for they do not fly very far in preaching the everlasting gospel, and they certainly are not flames of fire: they may be shining lights of eloquence, but they certainly are not burning lights of grace, setting men's hearts on fire. In such communities everything is done in a half-hearted, listless, dead-and-alive way, as if it did not matter much whether it was done or not.
See part 2.
Verses 21-32 speaks to the adjustments that are made to those too poor to bring all of the animals or even the kinds of animals for the sacrifices. The animal sacrifices are still necessary, and the rest of the rites remain the same for the poor as well as those who are not poor But allowances are made for only one lamb instead of three and different types of birds rather than just one type. God saves all who come to Him to be forgiven. He is merciful to rich and poor and in between."
Verses 33-57 details the way to deal with a home that shows signs of "leprosy" (most likely an overgrowth of mold, mildew, or fungi). There is a three step process to this problem, if needed. If after the first inspection by the priest, "leprosy" is visibly seen on the walls, then the home is shut up for 7 days. Upon reinspection, if no "leprosy" is seen, the home is clean and can be lived in. If there is still signs of "leprosy" then the wall that it is on must be scraped, torn apart and the stones taken out. Then this wall is replaced with new stones and mortar. After another 7 days, if no signs of "leprosy" is seen on the walls, then the house in clean and can be lived in. If the "leprosy" is still there and has spread, then the whole house is to be torn down and the materials taken out of the camp for disposal. Anyone who came in contact with the home needs to clean their clothes and bathe, and then be considered ceremonially clean that evening.
After the home is declared clean (perhaps even rebuilt) the priest will take two birds, cedar, hyssop, and red wool, an earthen vessel, and clean water. There at the home, the priest will perform the offering as he would do for a former leper (described in the middle of this chapter.
An, so is summed up the law concerning skin leprosy (various diseases) and clothing and dwellings that show leprosy (mold, mildew, fungus).
It is interesting that sin, trespass and burnt offerings are made for these conditions.
Since the one being declared clean cannot yet enter the sanctuary, he must present himself to God at the door of the tabernacle.. It is there that he will lay his hand on the lambs before they are slaughtered, but the priest does the slaughtering in his place, since he is not yet ceremonially clean to do so. Before the lamb is killed, the priest presents it as a wave offering for a trespass offering with oil. Then the priest will kill the lamb, some of the blood will be collected in a bowl to be thrown against the north side of the altar, and a small portion will be collected in the priest's hand. The priest then uses this blood in his hand to anoint the former leper in the same way he was anointed to the priesthood, using his thumb to place blood on the former lepers right ear, right thumb, and right toe. Then the priest will dip his hand in the oil and sprinkle it on the man 7 times then anoint the man's ear, thumb, and to with the oil. The rest of the oil will be poured onto the former leper's head. having done this the priest has made atonement for the former leper before the LORD.
Jesus is our High Priest who cleanses us from all sin by His sacrificial death, He made atonement for us with His won blood and sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in believers as an ongoing Sanctifier.
After this, the priest shall offer another lamb for the sin offering in the same way as the trespass offering and follow that with the burnt offering with the flour and oil (meat) offering. Upon completion of these three sacrifices the former leper is determined to be ceremonially cleansed and fully atoned for. This triple offering, one right after the other reminds us of all the ways we are to be cleansed from the uncleanness of sin and all of the ways Jesus represented us, expiated our sins, and propitiated the wrath of the Father to take away our sins, cleans us from the putridness of sin, and restore us to wholeness.
continued...
This chapter speaks further concerning leprosy (skin diseases) and about the process to declare a leper clean (and recovered from leprosy). This was a very involved process, with presenting oneself to the priest to be examined outside of the camp. The former leper is to bring two doves, cedar, red wool, hyssop and oil for the priest to perform a cleansing ritual that Moses taught the priests to do. The first dove was killed in a new earthen dish with fresh (running) water in it. The blood of the bird spilled into the water in the dish. Then the dove was buried. Next, the second bird was dipped into the liquid int he earthen dish along with the hyssop, cedar, and red wool. Then the living bird is set free to fly away. There isn't mention of what is done with the cedar, wool, and hyssop after they are dipped. Perhaps the hyssop was used by the priest to sprinkle the liquid on the former leper. It does not say this though. Perhaps the hyssop and cedar are used to scent the water. But it does not say this. And the red wool, perhaps it represents that sins are as red as scarlet, depicting Jesus being the slain lamb with our sins upon Him.
After this, the former leper is to wash his clothes, bathe his body, and shave off All hair on the body. Then he could come into the camp nut not abide in his tent with his family nor participate in the sanctuary ceremonies. This somewhat probationary period was to last 7 days.
The next day, the former leper goes to the priest with two male lambs and one female lamb (all without blemish), one tenth of an ephah of flour mixed with oil, and one log of oil for the priest to sacrifice as a sin offering, trespass offering and a burnt offering....continued
After this, the priest is to sprinkle the person to be purified and sanctified with the liquid. Perhaps the blood represents the justification of Christ and the oil the sanctification of the Holy Spirit (as one commentator mentioned).