THE TRUE SIGN (part 1)

Recently while researching the topic of signs and wonders I came across some interesting scriptures that led me to realize that Jesus is really "The True Sign"! In (Isa 7:14) we read the prophecy of a virgin conceiving a child as a sign from God, then in (Matt 1:18-23) this was confirmed to both Mary and Joseph that Jesus was the promised son to be born of the virgin Mary. Then in (Luke 1:26-35) this sign of the virgin birth is again confirmed to Mary. And in (Luke 2:12) Jesus is described as a sign to the shepherds, and in verse 34 He is again referred to as a sign by Simeon. Now a sign is not a fulfillment in itself, but merely points forward to something or someone. For example a road sign points to a certain destination, and usually gives the distance to be covered before the destination can be reached. Now if Jesus is the true "Sign", and I believe scripture states that He is, then what is the fulfillment of that sign? Is it His return to planet earth as is promised in (Acts 1:9-11), or something different? I believe that the fulfillment of the Sign represented by Jesus, could be His Body that is in the process of being formed on planet earth right now. He is the head of this body, and is presently located in heaven at the side of His Father, from where He has been building this body now for some 2000 years. In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul speaks much about this body in (Eph 2:19-22, and 4:11-16), as well as other places.

This Body of Christ is the "True Church", composed of people who have been born again by the Spirit of God, and not the nominal denominational variety that carries the name church! At various times in the past God has come to His Church in special ways in a revival or restoration movement. He apparently wants to draw His people closer together, in order to have fellowship with them, and reveal some new truth to them. This could be called a coming "to" His Church for refreshing, teaching, or edification, but because of a teaching that is common in the churches that Jesus is coming at any moment "for" His Church, they miss the real purpose of his coming. He has always desired to have a family of redeemed humans dwelling on planet earth that He could commune with, from the time of Adam and Eve in the garden. However Satan, who is the avowed enemy of God, has done all he can do to prevent this true Church from being formed, and functioning as God planned. I believe this accounts for the many difficulties the Church has experienced since its beginning.

Sincerely submitted.

Gramp

JUSTICE OR JUDGEMENT

The scriptures speak about both of these things many times, and we should come to a real understanding of each of these words. Both of these words express part of the very essence, or character of God. He is certainly just in all His ways, and because of this He will have to judge evil! We often hear people speak of the coming judgement of God as a very fearful event, when He pours out His wrath on the ungodly after the rapture of the Church. It will indeed be a fearful event for those who have not made the choice to receive Jesus as their own personal Savior, but not for those of us who have made this choice!

God declares over and over in His Word that He is a just and righteous judge, because He is perfect, and knows all things. Therefore His judgements are always based on perfect justice. As we look around the world today we see very little justice! God is often blamed for this injustice because people say if He is really all powerful, then He could prevent these incidents that are unjust. The real problem is that when He created this earth and put Adam in charge of it, and He didn't take back this authority from Adam even when he chose to disobey God's command and follow Satan's suggestions through his wife Eve. Then when at the appointed time Jesus came to earth to be the Savior of fallen mankind, He destroyed Satan's power and gave back the authority to rule the planet earth to His followers, the Church. So the injustice we see in the world is not God's fault, it is the fault of the Church who has not assumed their rightful place of authority, but have given it to the world system which is under the control of Satan!

We will only see a proper system of righteous justice when Jesus returns to set up the visible Kingdom of God on planet earth. This will definitely happen at a time appointed by Father God, as promised in His Word. In the meantime He has given us His Word to direct us in the way of righteousness, and how we should live our lives to please Him. Recently I heard a brother sharing in a message that he was not looking for coming "judgement", but for "justice" on the earth. This clicked with my spirit, because both things are going to come to earth at the same time when Jesus returns! If you study the scriptures that mention "The Day of The Lord" you will clearly see that it is a day of blessing for the righteous, but a day of terror and extreme destructive judgement for the unrighteous! Take your Bible and check it out for yourself! (Acts 17:11).

Sincerely submitted

Gramp

RECIPE FOR FACING A NEW YEAR

1/ Don't hang out with the "wicked"----(Ps 1:1), Remember we were all in that crowd before we were saved (Eph 2:1-10). Remember we have been redeemed for a purpose! (Phil 1:27, 2:14-15)

2/ Forget the past ---(Phil 3:12-15), Press on to reach perfection! (not sinless perfection, but Christian perfection), or maturity! And verse 16 reads "But we must hold on to the progress that we have already made".

3/ Accentuate the positive-----(Phil 4:8-9), Eliminate the negative! (3:18-19)

Don't mess with Mr in between! (Phil 2:12-15)---(the words of an old song)!

4/ Be content with what you have----(Phil 4:11-13), (1 Tim 6:6-10), It seems that contentment often has to do with our desire for riches, or material possessions.

Why not give these simple steps a try this year and see what happens.

Sincerely submitted.

Gramp

THE FALL FROM THE WALL

You all know the story of Humpty Dumpty and his fall from the wall, and all the kings men couldn't put him back together again. I recently read an article, in which the author likened the situation in the church structures of today to this children's story. Present day church structure is not the same as Jesus had in mind when He made the statement "I will build my church" (Matt 16:18). When we read the book of Acts, the church we see developing in Jerusalem after the day of Pentecost was more like what He had in mind, I'm sure! Here we see a church that was based on "relationships" between people who were being saved and added to the church (Acts 2:42-47). They met for teaching and fellowship in homes, and in public places for larger gatherings.

Unfortunately this all changed after Emperor Constantine merged the church together with the Roman Empire in 317AD and we see the beginning of the first State Church, which over the years developed into various denominations. A brief study of early church history will reveal how the church became like Humpty Dumpty on the wall, with each group thinking they had the right doctrines, and therefore all others were wrong in what they believed. Jesus never came to start a "Religion", but that is what church became, and most people consider Christianity to be one with the other major religions of the world. Actually it would be more accurate to say Jesus came to destroy religion! The main religion of the day was Judaism, and the Pharisees were one of the leading denominations which were always at odds with the teaching of Jesus. And these religious people were the only ones that He criticized for their hard hearted religious practices (Matt 23:1-36) gives a graphic description of what Jesus thought of religion, and I have no reason to think He has changed His opinion of such religious practices!

In our present 21st century we are beginning to see some major changes to religious structures that could easily be compared to Humpty Dumpty on the wall. I believe as this system falls, it will be impossible to put it back together again like it was, and what will take it's place will be a completely different structure that will be more like the church we see functioning in the Book of Acts. It seems that the newly formed "house church networks" that are springing up all over the world, could take the place of old line denominational structures with their expensive to maintain buildings, and their elaborate system of "top down" management patterned after the world system! Let us be praying for proper discernment for believers during this transition period!

Sincerely submitted.

Gramp

THE INCARNATION

At this time of year when we celebrate the coming to earth of Jesus Christ, in a time we call “Christmas”, our minds are drawn to the miracle of what we call “the incarnation”. In the writings of the apostle Paul, we find several passages that pertain to this event. (Phil 2:5-11) is one of my favorite scriptures pertaining to the first coming of Jesus to our planet, and (Gal 4:4-7) is another. But first we should look at (Luke 1:26-38), where we read of the coming to Mary of the Archangel Gabriel, with the news that she had been favored by God for the task of being the human instrument through whom the Savior of the world would take on human form!

Most of us learn quite early in life how the human reproduction system works. It requires a female to produce an egg at a certain point in her monthly cycle, which must then be fertilized by a male at the right time in order to achieve conception. In Mary’s case, at the correct time in her monthly cycle, she was “overshadowed” by the Holy Spirit, and the child conceived in her womb was truly the Son of God. This was one of the greatest miracles of all time!

The way Paul described this miracle event in (Phil 2:5-11) is "awesome!" The first part of the chapter describes how we should relate to other members in the body of Christ by putting others ahead of ourselves. He uses Jesus as our example of humility. Let me quote verses 5-7 from the Amp version “Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus—let Him be your example in humility—who although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained; but stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity] so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being.”

That is what Christmas is all about!! Is it any wonder that the world system and other world religions, do not want us to celebrate Christmas as the birthday of the Savior Jesus Christ? They do not believe in Jesus, and don’t want to be reminded of His coming in the “fullness of time”, born of a virgin, so that He could fulfill all the scriptures from the Old Testament prophets, who told about His supernatural birth. Let’s do all we can do to keep this true message of Christ in Christmas this year, and every year until He comes again for His second appearance!!

Sincerely submitted.

Gramp