Saturday, April 23, 2011

The Jesus Filter " The true meaning behind the term"

Hello Everyone,

Over the last several weeks we have been on a journey through, creation, sin, the law, sacrifice, and now finally to the end of our journey, but the beginning of life!

This week we celebrate Passover, Good Friday, and Easter or Resurrection Sunday. To celebrate anything you need to understand the meaning behind the celebration.

Passover was celebrated as God's Angel of death "passed over" the Jewish first born when Moses was liberating God's people from Pharaoh. It is where the term blood of the lamb was taken as the Lord commanded the Jewish people to put the blood of a sacrificial lamb over their doors to mark them as God's people. Sometimes in the world and in the church we celebrate without knowing the reason or the cost associated with the celebration.

That brings us to Good Friday. Many people in the world today recognize it as a three day weekend and nothing more. Good Friday to me marks the day God paid the ultimate price just to be close to us. Think about that for a minute; how many of us would think of giving up our material possessions to be with God. Not many in today's society would give up anything they have to be with God. He gave up his son! Not only did he give him up to be with us but sent him down to live as us and suffer for something he didn't do. God being Holy could not go back on his word or judgments without someone paying the price for the sin of the world. Knowing that we could never pay the price ourselves he came and dwelt among us, then on Good Friday paid that price!


Jesus Dies on the Cross

45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
47 Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, “This Man is calling for Elijah!” 48 Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink.
49 The rest said, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.”
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, 52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
54 So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
55 And many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there looking on from afar, 56 among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

In the above passage the veil being torn represents the doors being opened so all of mankind could have an open relationship with our sovereign and Holy God. Jesus' death on the cross brings an end to the law, and starts the new beginning we all have access to, through Christ. God now sees us through the Jesus Filter and no longer sees our sins when he looks at those who have accepted Christ.

Now giving us that access, he didn't stop there. Knowing that man is sinful by nature, God raised Christ from the dead on Resurrection Sunday. Good Friday is the day we mourn, and also celebrate Christ' death on the cross, but Sunday is the day he came back to live in our hearts.

John 3: 16-17

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son; that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Have a blessed Resurrection Sunday!

Billy

Sunday, April 17, 2011

The Jesus Filter

Hello Everyone, We are one week away from Resurrection Sunday which means we are only five days away from celebrating Good Friday or the day when our debt was paid. In the past weeks we have been looking at why we were created, our fall, our laws, and our ways of atonement for sin. This week we are going to look at The Holiest of Holies in the Tabernacle and the Levite Priests and what they had to do to cover the sins of the Jewish people and the way God changed all of that. Hebrews 9:1-7 1 Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. 2 For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lamp stand, the table, and the show bread, which is called the sanctuary; 3 and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, 4 which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; 5 and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. 6 Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. 7 But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance; Genesis 22: 7-8 7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together. The Jewish people were shown that they were to pay for their sins against God through an offering, most of the time it was to be a lamb.This had significance as in Genesis Abraham told Isaac that God would provide a lamb for an offering when he was told to go up on the mountain to sacrifice his son Isaac. John 1: 29 29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! Now see God created us to be in fellowship with him but through our own doing we fell away from God. Through our freewill we chose to sin against God and man by doing things that did not glorify God. Being holy and to his word God could not have fellowship with us without judgement and payment for those consequences. He tried allowing us to pay for our sins but we kept repeating the same sins over and over and over again, generation after generation. The only way for God to have that Father/ Child fellowship with us was to pay for our sins ONCE and for ALL. Matthew 26 : 1-2 1 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples, 2 “You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” When Christ was put on the cross God no longer saw our sins, he sees our sins through the blood of Christ. At that point total atonement for our sins was paid by someone who did not have to pay the price but loved us so much he chose to pay the price. Next week we will conclude our journey at the top of the glorious mountain of God! Have a blessed week! Billy

Sunday, April 10, 2011

The Jesus Filter

Hello Everyone, The road is winding but the scenery and destination are so beautiful I feel it will be worth the trip we are going on. This week we are going to dive into the laws and what they represent to us. Before Moses came down the mountain with the tablets in his hand, man didn't know that he was sinning. God had to find some way to give man a chance to redeem himself of the wrongs he had done. Being a just God he could not convict man without first letting him know what the Law said. The Jewish people have spent many years and generations obeying the laws that Moses brought down from the mountain. Sacrificing, eating only certain foods, following the Law. But still they were not able to speak face to face with God. What would it take to atone for the great sin and be able to be in fellowship with God? He wants a relationship with us or he would not have given us the rules to live by. We can follow the laws and be what we would call perfect but we would still fall short and not be good enough to be in fellowship with God. So what could man do that would be enough? What could man give to buy his salvation? Romans 3:23 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God Matthew 19:24 And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Unfortunately man alone can never do enough, and there is not enough money in the world to buy your salvation. There is only one way to salvation and that is through Christ our Lord. For not by our works will we be saved but through our faith in Christ. Romans 3: 21-26 21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Have a blessed week, Billy

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

The Jesus Filter

Hello Everyone,

We are continuing with the series called The Jesus Filter. As I said last week just stay with me as this is an awesome journey with a wonderful end, but like all journeys you have to travel to get to your destination.

See man never knew that he was naked until he ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Even then he didn't know what was wrong, he just felt different, ashamed and he didn't understand the feeling. Then Cain slain Abel and he too didn't understand what he had done wrong, but he too had a feeling that something was wrong. Mankind went on feeling like something was wrong without really knowing what it was.

God had to find some way to show them what it was that they were doing wrong. He gave us rules to live by and follow so we could get closer to Him. So the chasm that had been created by that day in the garden could be attoned.

Exodus 20: 1-17

1 And God spoke all these words, saying:
2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
8 “ Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
12 “ Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”


This week think of this passage and what The Ten Commandments meant to the people of Israel.

We are headed to a wonderful ending but as I said we must travel through some unexplained territory and some bumps in the road to reach our destination.

Have a blessed week,

Billy