In chapter two, once again, in the book Dealing with the Rejection and Praise of Man by Bob Sorge. Today, as I asked God to teach me more about this, I was reminded of the oyster and the irritant. That little grain of grit that gets inside and tries to wreck havoc and discomfort to the little oyster. It’s a story Jesus told to help us understand that in this life, we will have trouble. Some trouble will even come from those we thought were our closest friends. Jesus said that He was rejected by men (even His most intimate of friends), and so, we shall also be rejected in this life. The rejection Jesus speaks of is not rejection for something we did wrong. No, this type of pain can only come when we are being obedient and trying to do good and help others. Thankfully, the oyster (us) has been equipped at its conception, to handle the painful things, in a way that changes that gritty, uncomfortable thing into something smooth, soft, beautiful and of great value. These are the pearls we make of the insults, false accusations, judgments and rejections we experience. No one really wants to have to experience this type of pain, they and we just want to see something valuable come from it. But to get to the end result of a beautiful Pearl, the oyster has to once again experience pain. To extract the Pearl, the oyster has to literally be torn apart to remove it. It that’s the point of laying one’s life down for another. Jesus did it. He is our Pearl of great price that was torn apart to give us value we didn’t deserve. We were the irritant and we became His Pearl. He paid a great price for us - His very life. Because He did it for me, it encourages me to allow the irritants or rejection to be transformed into pearls for others to benefit from. Of course, we must be careful who we offer our pearls to and why. All for God’s glory and praise.
THE ONENESS IN THE 3-IN-1 GODHEAD
A STUDY BY LEEANNA PORTER
WHOSE SON IS THE CHRIST? IS HE ETERNAL? IS HE THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA, THE ALMIGHTY GOD, THE MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH? IS HE THE CREATOR? HAS HE ALWAYS BEEN WITH GOD AND IS GOD? HOW DID HE APPEAR IN THE OLD TESTAMENT? DID OTHERS SEE GOD AND IF SO, HOW DID THEY SEE THE INVISIBLE GOD? HOW DID GOD APPEAR TO MEN IN THE BIBLE? HOW DID HE CLOTHE HIMSELF OR WRAP HIMSELF TO BE SEEN BY MEN SO THEY DIDN’T DIE?
In our English vocabulary, we generally use the word “person” to describe a flesh and blood human being. When Trinitarians use the phrase “in three persons” are they saying they worship 3 gods? Absolutely NOT. Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. But Jesus also said, in Mark 12:28-37, that knowing this commandment was not all the Scribe needed to know to inherit the Kingdom of God. There was more they had to acknowledge.
DEFINE: Immortal – (aphthartos #861) – in essence or continuance undecaying. Not corruptible, incorruptible uncorruptible, (NOT subject to death or decay; perpetually not mortal)
1 Timothy 1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God be honor and glory forever and ever, Amen.
Romans 2:6-9 …..to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life.
immortality (aphtharsia #861), genuineness, incorruption, unending existence
eternal life (aionios #165 & Zoe #2198 life in time) Eternal, everlasting, perpetual life – including past to future.
YOU ASKED WHO “ALONE” HAS IMMORTALITY” See also,
2 Timothy 1:10 (Jesus Christ has abolished death, and, brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.)
1 Timothy 6:14-16 (our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in UNAPPROACHABLE LIGHT, whom no man has seen or can see (#1492 See literally or figuratively; in the perfect only; to know). To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.)
1 Corinthians 15:53 For this corruptible must put off incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality (#110 athanasia deathlessness).
1 Corinthians 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption (#861 aphthartos – incorruptibility; unending existence; sincerity) 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.
DEFINE: Eternal: #H6924 qedem qedmah) Law of 1st Mention: (Absolutely the fore part/front place, relatively, the East; antiquity of time; before time; ancient time, Before; east end
Deuteronomy 33:27 The eternal (#6924) God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms; and He shall trust out the enemy from before thee, and shall say, Destroy them.
Matthew 19:16 & 25:46 (speaking of the righteous into life eternal)
Acts 13:48 as many as were ordained to eternal life believed….
John 3:15 whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 4:16….gather fruit until life eternal
John 6:54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
John 10:28 Jesus speaking…I give them eternal life3; and they shall never perish (experience full destruction or loss, be lost, or perish) , nor shall any man pluck them out of my hand
Eternal #G166 aionios, perpetual (also used of past time or past and future as well): eternal forever. Everlasting world (began).
John 17:3 and this is life eternal #166; LIFE ETERNAL is that they might know You, the Only True God, AND Jesus Christ, whom Thou has sent.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life #166, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
ROMANS 1:20. FOR THE INVISIBLE THINGS OF HIM FROM THE CREATION OF THE WORLD ARE CLEARLY SEEN, BEING UNDERSTOOD. BY THE THINGS THAT ARE MADE, AND ALSO, EVEN HIS ETERNAL POWER AND GODHEAD; SO THAT THEY ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE.
ETERNAL #G126 from 104 AIDIOS Ever enduring (forward and backward or forward only), eternal and everlasting.
GODHEAD #G2305 Theiotes – Divinity, Godhead
2 Corinthians 4:18 the things which are not seen are eternal #G166
2 Corinthians 5:1. We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
#165 Eternal same as #104 aion, an age eternal, perpetuity (also past); specifically (Jewish) a Messianic period (Present or future); eternal age, forevermore, beginning without end
#G4286 purpose prothesis: a setting forth; a proposal (intention); specifically, the Show Bread (in the temple) as exposed before God; purpose shown
2 Timothy 2:10 …. That they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
Titus 1:1-2. Paul, BOND-Servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, but at the proper time manifested His word in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior
Hebrews 9:14. 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?
DID THE APOSTLES TEACH AND GIVE EVIDENCE THAT FATHER, SON JESUS CHRIST, HOLY SPIRIT WERE WORSHIPED AS ONE? JOHN 1:1-14 COULD NOT BE MORE CLEAR THAT THEY CERTAINLY DID. JOHN IN REVELATION ALSO SAW JESUS IN HIS GLORY AND IN HIS ONENESS WITH FATHER GOD.
PRE-INCARNATE the Son was Spirit and Creator God with God and was God. The Father, The Eternal Son, The Holy Spirit are all God and they are ONE God, not “3 people” as Oneness people seem to take pleasure in trying to “prove” trinitarians worship 3 gods. This is a lie. We worship the God of the Bible who teaches us that the FATHER is GOD, the SON is GOD, and the HOLY SPIRIT is God. All three existed in the beginning without any beginning and without any end. The Son, being fully God, came at the appointed time in history to become our KINSMAN REDEEMER. A Kinsman Redeemer had qualifications: They had to be a close relative, they had to have flesh and blood, they had to had the ability to redeem or pay the ransom, they had to also have the will to pay it, they also had to follow through to the paying of the ransom. Only the blood of a spotless Lamb/our Kinsman Redeemer would pay our ransom. AND HE DID. Yes He was GOD and yet HE BECAME A MAN BORN OF A WOMAN so that he would take on flesh and blood body to be the sacrifice for our sins. It was not the FATHER who died on the cross, but it was the Eternal Son who volunteered to Go into the world in obedience to the Father’s will and be our sacrifice but not just any kind of sacrifice, the humiliating excruciating death on the cross. After the resurrection, Christ was glorified back to the Father where he sits at the RIGHT HAND of the FATHER on HIS THRONE.
As Stephen being stoned IN ACTS 7, saw the heavens opened and saw the glory of God, and SAW THE SON OF MAN STANDING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. ***IT MAKES NO SENSE HOW THE ONENESS PROPONENTS DISMISS THIS AND MANY OTHER SCRIPTURES LIKE THIS TO MEAN THAT THERE IS ONLY ONE “BEING” PRESENT. OVER AND OVER THE BIBLE CLEARLY REFLECTS TWO BEINGS ON THE THRONE. JESUS TOOK THE SCROLL OUT OF THE ONE WHO SITS ON THE THRONE IN REVELATION. WAS JESUS HOLDING THE SCROLL ON THE THRONE AND THEN ANOTHER JESUS COMES AND TAKES THE SCROLL? IT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL. THEY SAY IT IS JESUS ONLY AND HE IS ALSO THE FATHER—ONE AND THE SAME. THE PROBLEM WITH THIS IS THE BIBLE IS VERY CLEAR---THEY ARE ONE IN ESSENCE AND IN SPIRIT BUT THE APPEARANCE OF THE FATHER WHICH WE SEE, IS IN JESUS. THEY ARE ALL HOLY SPIRIT AND THEY ARE ALL GOD, BUT THEY ARE NOT ALL THREE JESUS ONLY. JESUS NEVER CALLS HIMSELF FATHER AND NEITHER DO THE APOSTLES EVER CALL HIM FATHER.
1 John 1:2. For the life (#2222) was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life (#166 & #2222) WHICH WAS WITH THE FATHER, and was manifested unto us.
1 John 5:11. GOD has given to us eternal life and this life is IN HIS SON
JOHN 1:1.
In the beginning Was the Word, and the Word was with God, AND THE WORD WAS GOD.
John 1:2. The same, The Word, was in the beginning with God
John 1:3. All things were made by Him (The Word); and without Him was not anything made that was made.
Genesis 1:1 In the Beginning, GOD created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Genesis 1:3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And
Genesis 1:4 God saw that the light was good and God separated the light from the darkness
Genesis 1:1-31 Everything was created on Days 1-6 and God rested on Day 7
Genesis 1:26 on Day 6 God said, “LET US MAKE MAN IN OUR IMAGE, AFTER OUR LIKENESS. AND LET THEM HAVE DOMINION ….
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.
John 1:4. In Him (The Word) was life #G2222; and the life was the light (#5457 phos: manifestation like shining luminous rays) of men
John 1:5 And the light shineth (#5316 phaino: lightened, showed, appeared) in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend (#2638 & 3756: from #2596 & 1983 katalambano: to take eagerly; to comprehend or attain or obtain or overtake it)
John 1:6-9 John the Baptist was sent to bear witness of The Light (The Word) that all men through Him (the Light; the Word) might be saved through Him. This is the True Light which lights every man that comes into the world.
John 1:10 He (The Word and The Light), was in the world and the world was made BY HIM (The Word, the Light) and the world did not know Him.
John 1:11 He came unto His own, and his own did not receive Him.
John 1:12 But, as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become the sons of God, to them that believe on his name.
John 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God
John 1:14 AND THE WORD (THAT WAS WITH GOD AND WAS GOD AND MADE EVERYTHING THAT WAS MADE IN THE BEGINNING), WAS MADE FLESH
(WHEN THE FULLNESS OF TIME HAD COME, GOD SENT FORTH HIS SON): SEE GALATIANS 4:4
AND DWELT AMONG US, AND WE BEHELD HIS GLORY THE GLORY AS OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH.
JOHN 1:15 JOHN BARE WITNESS OF HIM, AND CRIED SAYING, THIS WAS HE OF WHO I SPOKE, HE THAT COMES AFTER ME IS PREFERRED BEFORE ME FOR HE WAS BEFORE ME.
DEFINE BEFORE: #4413 Protos; foremost in time, place, order or importance; before the beginning, the best, the chief, former, first of all
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
DEFINE BEGOTTEN: #3439 Monogenes Only born, sole begotten son,
John 3:19 This is the judgment that the Light has come into the World, and men loved the darkness rather than The Light for their deeds were evil.
1st mention of begotten in the scriptures is when Adam beget Seth
H3205 Yalad
Medically birthed child; calved brought forth, to show lineage
Revelation 1:5 JESUS CHRIST who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth
1 JOHN 5:1 WE WHO BELIEVE JESUS IS THE CHRIST, ARE BEGOTTEN OF GOD;
************PAUL WROTE THIS 1 Cor. 8:6 …. ********
FOR US THERE IS ONE GOD THE FATHER, FROM WHOM ARE ALL THINGS AND FOR WHOM WE EXIST, AND ONE LORD, JESUS CHRIST, THROUGH WHOM ARE ALL THINGS AND THROUGH WHOM WE EXIST. HOWEVER, NOT ALL POSSESS THIS KNOWLEDGE…..
(GOD IS THE FATHER; JESUS IS NOT THE FATHER, JESUS IS OUR LORD AND THEY ARE GOD—THEY ARE THE GREAT I AM)
THERE IS ONE GOD AND ONE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MEN, THE MAN CHRIST JESUS, WHO GAVE HIMSELF A RANSOM FOR ALL, TO BE TESTIFIED IN DUE TIME, FOR WHICH I WAS APPOINTED A PREACHER AND AN APOSTLE—I AM SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN CHRIST AND NOT LYING—A TEACHER OF THE GENTILES IN FAITH AND TRUTH. 1 TIMOTHY 2:1-7
HEBREWS
1:3 HE, Jesus, is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature and he upholds the universe by the WORD OF HIS POWER,. After making purification for sins, he sat down AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE MAJESTY ON HIGH, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say,
You are my Son,
Today I have begotten you?
Or again,
I will be to him a father,
And he shall be to me a son? (when he brings the firstborn into the world)
For someone to bring someone somewhere, he had to be somewhere beforehand
IT IS BEYOND DISPUTE ACCORDING TO HEBREWS that
Jesus was a High Priest after the Order of Melchizedek, appointed by God,
See Hebrews 7:1-28 Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, king of Peace, WITHOUT FATHER OR MOTHER, or having a genealogy, having NEITHER BEGINNING OF DAYS NOR END OF LIFE, but resembling the Son of God, he continues a priest forever.
The Melchizedek priesthood is forever eternal unlike the Levitical priesthood.
Jesus came from the Tribe of Judah, not the Tribe of Levi.
IN THE BEGINNING WITH GOD AND WAS GOD:
Philippians 2:5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours In Christ Jesus who, though he was In the form of God, (Form: #G3444 morphe—having the nature of, in the shape of/ form of God)
****Notice that God the Son was fully aware and the one who did not cling to his position to become like one of us, This was not just an idea in the mind of God. The Son was a willing participant BEFORE the incarnation. He was fully aware of being the BREAD COMING DOWN FROM HEAVEN to be born into a human body. He obeyed the FATHER. He was NOT the FATHER.
Jesus did not count equality (#2470 isos—being equal in likeness) with God a thing to be grasped (as if he was afraid of losing his equality) but He emptied himself (#2758—made himself of no reputation as being equal with God; didn’t cling to that form he had before the incarnation), but taking the form of a servant and being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
PRE-INCARNATE SON
John 17:2-3 This is eternal life, that they may know YOU, the only true God, AND Jesus Christ whom YOU have sent. I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. NOW, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself with the glory which
I HAD WITH YOU BEFORE THE WORLD WAS. I HAVE MANIFESTED YOUR NAME TO THE MEN WHO YOU GAVE ME OUT OF THE WORLD.
John 17:8 I came forth from You and they believed that YOU SENT ME.
John 17:18 As you sent me into the world, I ALSO HAVE SENT THEM INTO THE WORLD.
JOHN 17:21 Jesus prayed to the Father, that they may all be one, even as You, FATHER, ARE IN ME and I in YOU, that they also may be in US, so that the world may believe that YOU SENT ME
(*****TO BE SENT SOMEWHERE, YOU MUST FIRST HAVE EXISTED ELSEWHERE)
JOHN 5:39, 43-44 YOU SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES BECAUSE IN THEM YOU HAVE ETERNAL LIFE,
IT IS THESE THAT TESTIFY ABOUT ME; AND YOU ARE UNWILLING TO COME TO ME SO THAT YOU MAY HAVE LIFE…..
I HAVE COME in my Father’s name and you do not receive Me, if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another, and you do not seek THE GLORY that is from the one and only God?
JOHN 5:45-47 JESUS said he will not accuse them, but that Moses would accuse them before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses in whom you have set your hope.
For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, FOR HE WROTE ABOUT ME
If you do not believe His writings, how will you. Believe My words?
WHAT MOSES WROTE ABOUT JESUS:
Genesis 3:15 – I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.
Galatians 3:16 as commentary on Gen 3:15—The promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to ONE, “AND TO YOUR OFFSPRING, WHO IS CHRIST.
Philip found Nathaniel and said he had found the One Moses wrote about in the law…
Jesus is the Passover Lamb whose blood was shed for our salvation
Like the manna in the desert, Jesus is the Bread from Heaven (John 6:51)_
Jesus said, I am the living bread that CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.
Life the water that sprung from the rock, Jesus is the Living Water that satisfies our spiritual thirst (John 7:37)
John 3:14-15 Like we have been bitten by the snake, satan, in our sin we can look up to Jesus who was lifted up and be saved.
1 Peter 3:18 The rock that was struck in the wilderness, was Christ: Should never be struck twice because Jesus suffered once for all time.
Jesus is the fulfillment of the life of Joseph, which foreshadows Him being the beloved Son, envied by His own brothers, rejected by his own relatives and cast down into a pit, then resurrected from the pit, sent to a distant country where he became the lord of all and who then provided salvation and forgiveness for His own who repented for rejecting him.
Jesus is The Lion of the Tribe of Judah Genesis 49:8; Revelation 5:5
Moses also said God would raise up “a prophet like me”( in Deut. 18:15), a reference to the coming Messiah.
The prophetic act of Abraham sacrificing Isaac In Genesis 22:1-19, representing God sacrificing his one and only begotten son Jesus for us. (*Abraham said, we are going to the mountain to worship God and we will return).
Jesus is our Great High Priest, After the order of Melchizedek, to whom Abraham paid tithes to Christ because Christ was prior to Melchizedek
Jesus said, Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM
THE LORD made appearances to Adam and Eve in the garden; Abram in Gen 12:7; Abram in Gen 17:1; Gen 18:2; 26:2; 26:24
God appeared to Jacob and he called the place El Bethel, because God appeared to him
Gen 35:7
God appeared to Jacob again and blessed him in Gen. 35:9
Gen 48:3 Jacob told Joseph that God Almighty appeared to him at Luz in th4e land of Canaan and blessed him there.
Exodus 3:2, The Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire from the middle of a bush and Moses told the Elders The Lord God of your fathers, of Abraham of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying “I have surely visited you and see what is done to you in Egypt.
The context of Deut 18:15-18 is speaking of Jesus because Peter quotes it himself in the context of Jesus.
REVELATION 1:5-8
1:5 FROM JESUS CHRIST THE FAITHFUL WITNESS THE FIRSTBORN OF THE DEAD, AND THE RULER OF KINGS ON EARTH; TO HIM WHO LOVES US AND HAS FREED US FROM OUR SINS BY HIS BLOOD
1:6 AND MADE US A KINGDOM, PRIESTS TO HIS GOD AND FATHER, TO HIM BE GLORY AND DOMINION FOREVER AND EVER AMEN.
1:7 BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, AND EVERY EYE WILL SEE HIM, EVEN THOSE WHO PIERCED HIM, AND ALL TRIBES OF THE EARTH WILL WAIL ON ACCOUNT OF HIM, EVEN SO AMEN.
1:8 I AM THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA SAYS THE LORD GOD, WHO IS AND WHO WAS AND WHO IS TO COME THE ALMIGHTY
Revelation 22
V13 JESUS SPEAKING: I Am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.
Revelation 21:22 I saw no temple in the city for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty AND the Lamb…. The glory of God gives the city light and its lamp is the Lamb.
Rev 22:1-3 The throne of GOD AND OF THE LAMB….
WHO DIED AND WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD?
The Father gave His only Begotten Son (Jesus emptied himself of his equality with God and willingly became our Kinsman Redeemer by taking on flesh and blood body to be born of the virgin Mary to be sinless sacrifice--- free of any originai sin of the First Adam. Jesus was the perfect Lamb of God. The Lamb of God was the sacrifice that was killed and it was his blood that was applied to the Mercy Seat in heaven. Believers are washed in this blood when we believe on Jesus). So who died? The human flesh and blood part of Jesus died on the cross. HIS HOLY SPIRIT INDWELLING HIM DID NOT DIE---JESUS SAID, FATHER INTO YOUR HANDS, I COMMIT MY SPIRIT AND HE GAVE UP THE HOLY GHOST to the Father.
Jesus said, in John 10:18 NO ONE TAKES MY LIFE FROM ME. I SACRIFICE IT WILLINGLY (VOLUNTARILY). I LAY DOW MY LIFE OF MY OWN ACCORD. I HAVE AUTHORITY TO LAY IT DOWN AND I HAVCE AUTHORITY TO TAKE IT UP AGAIN. THIS COMMAND I RECEIVED FROM MY FATHER!
When Jesus gave up the Holy Ghost to his Father in his human death, the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Jesus went back to the Father.
WHO RAISED CHRIST JESUS FROM THE DEAD?
Ephesians 1:4-5 says that the Father has chosen and predestined believers to adoption in Jesus Christ. Jesus accomplished redemption through his death and resurrection, 1:7, and The Holy Spirit has sealed the Believer providing the down payment and assurance and security of the eternal destination to the believer (eph 1:13-14). Eph 1:18-20 says that the FATHER’s POWER WAS EXERTED WHEN HE RAISED CHRIST JESUS FROM THE DEAD. THE SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD, WHO IS IN THE FATHER AND IN THE SON, AND NOW IN US, IS THE SAME POWER THAT RAISED CHRIST JESUS FROM THE DEAD. All of this is for God’s glory (Eph 1:6, 12, 14).
we see the involvement of the FATHER, THE SON, and THE HOLY GHOST involved in our redemption. They are ONE in all they do. THE Father glorifies the Son and the Son glorifies the Father.
Hebrews 10:5 Therefore when Christ came into the world he said,
Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
But a body you prepared for Me;
With burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased,
Then I said, “Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, my God.
And by that will, we have been made holy. Through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (vs10).
1 CORINTHIANS 15:15 GOD RAISED CHRIST FROM THE DEAD
By His great power and might!
IF JESUS IS GOD, WHY DID HE SAY “THE FATHER IS GREATER THAN I”
Jesus became flesh to be our Kinsman Redeemer. Flesh is lower than God (FOR A LITTLE WHILE, JESUS PUT HIMSELF IN A PLACE OF HUMILITY TO THE FATHER). JESUS in context, is telling his disciples that he is doing His Father’s will and by the nature of the incarnation Jesus was temporarily made a little lower than even the angels that HE himself created. THAT IS HUMILITY!! Being subservient in role does not mean he was subservient in nature or essence of being. There is no difference in the equality of the Father and the Son in their essence as God. But Jesus laid aside his rights to become one of us in flesh nature. But they are still divine in their God nature. When Jesus took on the form of a man (FOR A LITTLE WHILE), IN NO WAY NEGATES THE DEITY OF THE SON NOR DIMINISH HIS EQUALITY WITH GOD. Remember when Jesus washed his disciples feet? He said the greatest among you will be the servant of all. The first will be last and the last will be first. Human people cannot comprehend the truth that a servant is greater than a master who lords over others and demands to be served to prove their worth. Jesus is our example of emptying ourselves and allowing ourselves to be another’s servant.
IS THE WORD TRINITY IN THE BIBLE?
NO the word “trinity” is not in the bible but neither is the word “oneness”.
The word omnipotent is also not in the bible, but God’s omnipotence and the revelation of 3 beings but one God, is seen in demonstration all over the old and new testaments. It cannot we wished away or cut from the scriptures.
DID JESUS GIVE UP ‘HIS WEEKEND” OR HIS WHOLE LIFE FOR US?
This is a question clearly answered in the verses I have given above. He gave up his rights to remain on the Throne in Heaven and his rights as equal to God in essence and He willingly and voluntarily said “Here I am, send Me”. He became our closest blood relative and paid our ransom for our sin debt with his own priceless spotless blood and the body that was PREPARED FOR HIM. His entire Body died. The Holy Ghost within him did not and could not die—His Spirit went back to His Father. He is eternal and his Spirit CANNOT DIE. Ours in Christ also cannot die. When our flesh is dead, our spirit returns to the Father and so we shall always be with the Lord. Jesus received a resurrected body at his resurrection. He is the first fruits of a new glorified body. Jesus is still God in his resurrected body. If you want to see what Jesus really appears as in Heaven, read Revelation 1-3 and 20-22.
Can anyone truly understand the nature of the Almighty God the Father, God the Son and Goed the HOLY SPIRIT? We are human and we try to put God in a human box the way we understand things humanly.
GOD IS SPIRIT. Father is Spirit in essence, the Holy Spirit is spirit in essence is also God, and the Son, who is also God, volunteered to take on a body prepared for Him by the Father and He was called Emmanuel “God is with us” and we called him Jesus for God is our salvation (Jesus is also God). When Jesus almost got stoned by the jews for making himself the Son of God and claiming to be the I AM revealed to Moses, He was not joking around. Unless you believe that Jesus the I AM you will die in your sins. These are Jesus’ words. This is the same Jesus who claimed “Before Abraham was, I AM”. Was Jesus God before the incarnation to be our Kinsman Redeemer? Well, yes He was. Now He was been glorified just as he was before the incarnation. He sits at the right hand of God the Father, just as Stephen saw him the day he was stoned to death.
To quote George MacDonald on Water, by CS LEWIS, Pages 95-96 :
Is oxygen-and-hydrogen the divine idea of water? God put the two together only that man might separate and find them out? He allows his child to pull his toys to pieces; but were they made that he might pull them to pieces? He were a child not to be envied for whom his inglorious father would make toys to such an end! A school examiner might see therein the best use of a toy, but not a Father! Find for us what in the constitution of the two gases makes them fit and capable to be thus honored in forming the lovely thing, and you will give us a revelation about more than water, namely about the God who made oxygen and hydrogen.
There is no water in oxygen, no water in hydrogen; it comes bubbling fresh from the imagination of the living God, rushing from out of the great white throne of the glacier. The very thought of it makes on gasp with an elemental joy no metaphysician can analyze. The water itself, that dances and sings, and slakes the wonderful thirst---symbol and picture of that draught for which the woman of Samaria made her prayer to Jesus—this lovely thing itself, whose very witness is a delight to every inch of the human body in its embrace—this live thing, which if I might, I would have running through my room, yea, babbling along my table---this water in its own self its own truth, and is therein a truth of God. Let him who would know the truth of the Maker, become sorely athirst and drink of the brook by the way—then lift up his heart—not at that moment to the Maker of oxygen and hydrogen, but to the Inventor and Mediator of thirst and water, that man might foresee a little of what his soul might find in God.
Week 9: Genesis 4:1-8
Day 3: Why Are You Angry?
READ: Genesis 4:1-16, noting the significance of anger and sin, resulting in death and separation
EXPLORE:
Oh! Happy day! when the first woman, Eve, conceived her first child and gave birth to a son named Cain. What joy to also give birth to his brother Abel! We don’t learn much about their early years except that Cain was a farmer, a tiller of the ground, bringing forth fruit of the ground. Abel, on the other hand was a keeper of flocks. As God would have us to know, we learn that there came a day, in the course of time, that these men would bring forth offerings and present them to the LORD. As we learned in week 5, day 2, of our WTL study, the LORD Yahweh is God’s personal name and reveals the desire of God to have a close relationship with his children; in this case, Cain and Abel.
We soon see that these two brothers presented their offerings to the LORD. Abel’s gift was the first of his flock with its fat portion and the LORD was pleased. But as for Cain’s offering, the first fruit of the ground, the LORD did not approve. In this exchange, the LORD observed that Cain was very angry over the LORD’s disregard of his fruit offering.
I love the ministry of Breakthrough Prayer and often use this biblical example of how the LORD asked Cain a self-discovery question, in order to help him see the danger ahead of him. Unconfessed sin will often lead to terrible consequences. Knowing this, the LORD graciously asked Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” What is the principle here? That if we do not discover the root of why we are angry and master it, we will cultivate it, to the point of our anger becoming sin. The result of Cain’s unresolved anger and intense jealousy, was murderous rage, resulting in death and separation, not only from the one he despised most, but also from the ones he loved the most.
The LORD, being a personal God, wanted to have a conversation with Cain about his anger. He wanted to talk with him about it and help him see the error of his ways. When the LORD didn’t regard Cain’s offering, He had a very good reason. In fact, the LORD is always just and right in His decisions, no matter how we might feel about it. It would have been beneficial for Cain to inquire of the LORD, repent and make his offering acceptable, as Abel did. But Cain’s intense anger and refusal to come to the LORD with his pain, blinded him to doing the right and honorable thing towards God and his brother.
APPLY: Do you have any unresolved unforgiveness, jealousy, or anger towards another person? How long has this festered and how much longer will it continue? Do you sense any hesitancy or resistance to having a conversation with the LORD about what happened to you? What do you believe would happen if you talked this over with God in prayer? Sometimes, hurts are valid and the only cure for truth-based pain is to allow the LORD to carry it. However, unresolved anger is never the way to a cure. As you surrender your anger and unforgiveness, to the only One who truly knows the entire story, you will be free. He is the Just Judge of the Universe and judges wisely on your behalf. If you need help letting go of your hurts, reach out to our Breakthrough Prayer Ministry. We truly do want to go on this journey of freedom, with you.
Week 5: Genesis 2:4-17
Day 2: Knowing God through His Name
READ: Review Genesis Chapters 1 and 2, marking the names of God, revealed in these chapters
EXPLORE:
As you read and marked the Creator’s name, in Chapter 1:1 – 2:3 you probably observed God’s exclusive name used as “God” or Elohim. Then, in Genesis 2:4-22 you may have noticed His name seemed to change exclusively to “LORD GOD” or the compound Yahweh-Elohim. Does this mean the Genesis account of creation is referring to two different gods and their accounts of creation? This concept of some, is not true.
I would first like to draw your attention to the rest of the Bible and what it says about God. Deuteronomy 6:4 says, “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!” Look what Isaiah 43:10 declares: “…I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me.” Isaiah 44:6 confirms this with “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me.” The New Testament also confirms this truth: “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).”
The two different Hebrew words used to reveal God, in the creation account of Genesis 1 and 2, describe different characteristics of our one true God. The author is wanting to emphasize the majestic and all-powerful, awesome Creator God, “Elohim” in Chapter 1. In Chapter 2, God’s character is revealed to His creation/man, as Yahweh-Elohim. Yahweh (always translated in all capital letters as “the LORD”), is God’s personal name and reveals the desire of God to have a personal relationship with us, His special creation.
Another Old Testament name referring to God, Adonai, means “my master”, is also translated as Lord in English, but not with all capital letters. These two names translated in Scripture for the name of God (LORD Yahweh and Lord Adonai), can often be confusing. The context of how the name is used will help clear up any questions. Just as Elohim, Yahweh-Elohim, and Adonai, are names of our one true God, Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Nissi, Jehovah Rapha, El Roi, Immanuel, and others, are also used, at times, to help us humans understand God’s nature.
We can be assured that the Scriptures clearly teach that our God is one, even when He is described by different names. There is no contradiction between the creation accounts, in Genesis 1:1-2:3 and Genesis 2:4-22, merely because two different names and attributes are given us.
APPLY: What did you learn about the character of God today? How does this knowledge inspire you to worship and have a more personal relationship with your Creator?
Week 18: Genesis 9:18-24
Day 4: Do Not Be Drunk, But be Filled with the Spirit
Read: Genesis 9:20-21 “Noah began to be a man of the soil (a husbandman), and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.”
Usually, when we read others opinions on Noah getting drunk, we immediately assume that Noah had a reputation of being a drunkard. In other words, habitually drunk. But this is not at all what we read from the text given to us. It is never a good idea to read more into something than what is actually revealed. We are given very little information on the why of Noah’s inebriation, and what we do have, does not say that Noah sinned or was even reprimanded. This may reveal Noah was actually blameless in this one act.
The conditions of farming the earth became drastically different, after the Flood. The soil was probably different and the sun more potent. It seems that Noah was the first to plant a vineyard, after the flood, and the first to drink some of the fruit of it. Both of these terms: “vinedresser” and “drunk”, were the first mentioned, in the Bible. We cannot presume that Noah already had experience with the fermentation of grapes. Nevertheless, after this occasion of Noah drinking “of the wine”, with no mention of him partaking excessively on purpose, he became drunk. If post-flood atmospheric conditions surprised Noah with the vine’s potency, could this single recorded act of drunkenness, have been accidental on Noah’s part?
It would seem terribly unfair to label Noah a (habitual) drunkard for all eternity, when there is no subsequent proof he ever let it happen again. The literal definition of drunkard, or even glutton, for that matter, is “one who habitually consumes more than is needed or required; in excess.”
Having said that, it would seem that Noah learned a valuable lesson, as did his sons and grandsons. Drinking more than enough, risks predisposing a person to great shame and heartaches. No one disputes that knowingly and purposely getting drunk is disallowed biblically. At this point in Noah’s story, he became suddenly aware of what fermented wine, even “some”, in this new world, could do. Being a godly man, I think it’s safe to believe that Noah didn’t intend to get drunk at all, if he even knew what that meant. Certainly Noah doesn’t deserve the bad rap of being labeled a “drunkard”. It’s sad that a righteous man like Noah has had to take the fall, for being the first to happen upon drunkenness, in the Bible. But I suppose someone would eventually have been the first.
Since “love always thinks the best” when in doubt, we would be wise, to take Noah’s unfortunate experience to heart, learn from his presumed innocent ignorance, and not repeat the same mistake.
Main Idea: Consider applying the lifestyle, of the disciples of Jesus, to overcome the temptation to get drunk with wine, beer or strong drink.
Application Questions:
· To walk with God, we must walk in the Spirit. To walk in the Spirit is to be filled with the Spirit. When filled with the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit will manifest in your life: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Gentleness, Faithfulness and Self-Control. Does the way you eat, drink or even do other things in excess, currently exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, in particular self-control?
· Ephesians 5:17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.
Do you struggle with moderation in all things? Do you get drunk habitually?
· Acts 13:52 And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Since today’s subject is the matter of drunkenness, you should be aware that the Bible is clear: those who practice drunkenness will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Therefore, if this is your current lifestyle, it’s of utmost eternal value to humble yourself, confess your sins, to one another, and be made whole, in Jesus name.