GOD the WORD

GOD
the WORD

Our
Bible, which is often called the Word of God, starts out in (Gen 1:1)
with "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth".
Then in the NT book of John we see that it starts out "In the
beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the
Word was God" (John 1:1). We as humans with our "finite"
minds, find it near impossible to understand this simple, but
profound statement. But the fact is there can be only one
"beginning", and there is only "one God". Our
problem with understanding the Bible, stems from the fact that our
English Bibles, no matter what version we use, are all translations
from the original languages God used to have it recorded. Our English
language lacks the ability to always express the complete meaning of
words used in either Hebrew or Greek, the languages used by the
writers of various books of the Bible. Often the translators used the
same English word to translate words that can have several different
meanings. This is the case in point with the word used by John in
chapter one, which of course he wrote in Greek. One meaning for the
word in Greek which our English translators always translated as
"word" is [logos], and another Greek word [rhema], with an
entirely different meaning, is always translated as "word".
Without a knowledge of the original languages, or the use of a good
study Bible, it's no wonder people get confused!

For
your information [logos] means "transmission of thought",
and [rhema] means "communication or utterance". In other
words [logos] is the message; and [rhema] is the communication of the
message! Logos is the Bible in its entirety; Rhema is a verse from
the Bible. Another way of expressing this truth might be, the Bible
is the written [logos]; while Jesus is the living [logos]. An
understanding of this difference is helpful when reading verses like
(Rom 10:17), of course the word in the Greek here is [rhema], and the
NLT does a much better job of translation than the KJV here, where it
says "So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the good
news about Christ". I find that very often people pick out a
particular verse from the Bible [logos], usually a good promise,
and claim it as their own, when it has never been made personal to them
as a [rhema]. This often results in disappointment, and sometimes
even a loss of faith. Yes, the promises in the [logos] are true, but
until the Lord makes them personal to us as a [rhema] we cannot claim
them! He often brings these to our minds in a time of intimate
worship, when God manifests His Divine presence to us. The main thing for us to remember is that Jesus is God, and God the Father has sent God the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus to our understanding! Hallelujah!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer 

THE FEASTS OF THE LORD (part 2)

THE
FEASTS OF THE LORD (part 2)

In
part 1 we covered the first four spring feasts, Passover, Unleavened
Bread, and First Fruits, these 3 were all tied together closely, then
were followed 50 days later by Pentecost. As we noted Jesus fulfilled
these first three by His death, burial, and resurrection, and of
course Pentecost was fulfilled when the new group of followers of
Jesus were baptised in the Holy Spirit as recorded in (Acts 2:1-4)

In
this second part we will look at the three fall feasts 5/ Feast of
Trumpets (Rosh Hoshanna), 6/ Day of Atonement, 7/ Feast of
Tabernacles, also known as the Feast of Booths. These all fall in
late Sept or early Oct according to our calendar. In part 1 we
mentioned that these feasts were given to God's chosen nation of
Israel, and they correspond exactly to the seven stages of spiritual
growth we go through on our way to spiritual maturity. The Christian
life is progressive. It starts with the forgiveness of our sin, by
accepting Jesus as our Savior, as we saw accomplished in our looking
at the real meaning of the four spring feasts. It progresses from
this "new birth", all the way to a "glorious
perfection"!

In
the OT the Feast of Trumpets were sounded to prepare His people for
what was going to happen in the days ahead. Trumpets were always used
to get their attention. In the NT times in which we live, the message
should be the same, prepare for the spiritual battles and conquests
that lie ahead of us as we prepare for the second coming of Jesus.
Because of certain teaching that Jesus could come at "any
moment" to "catch away" the church in a
"Pretribulation Rapture", the church, by and large, are not
preparing themselves for what is ahead of us. Every time the Holy
Spirit starts to move towards drawing His people into a closer
relationship with Jesus, all they can think of is that the rapture
must by near at hand. Some people even teach that this Feast of
Trumpets will be the rapture, instead of pressing on to a fuller life
of holiness and surrender. (1 Peter 1:13), (Phil 3:12-215), (Heb
6:1-3).

Next
comes the Day of Atonement, which was a picture of the purifying
process by which God is getting His Church ready to become the Bride
for His Son. This will require a certain amount of suffering. (1
Peter 4:12-17). This suffering for refinement is a preparation for
a great revelation of God's glory to us and in us! The Feast of
Tabernacles is the final and most joyous of all the seven Feasts,
when they celebrated the full harvest. Pentecost was a celebration of
the early harvest of grain like barley, but Tabernacles comes only
after all the crops were safely gathered into their barns. For
believing followers of Jesus in these last days we should look
forward to the fulfillment of these fall feasts with great
anticipation, knowing they are meant to prepare us for the glorious
appearing of our Lord in the clouds! (Acts 1:9-11)

This
is only a very brief description of these "Feasts of the Lord"
and an outline of how they were a picture of the process of our
growth to spiritual maturity. I trust it might create a hunger in all
of us who claim to be followers of Jesus, to press on to know Him
better, so we will be ready! (1 John 3:2)

The
new birth is only a beginning; Pentecost, or the baptism with the
Holy Spirit, is not the end as some people teach; but we need to
prepare for the glory that is soon to be revealed. As Paul exhorted
in (Rom 2:7) "He will give eternal life to those who keep
on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that
God offers" (NLT)

Sincerely
submitted.

Dave
Jamer

THE FEASTS OF THE LORD (part 1)

THE
FEASTS OF THE LORD (part 1)

The
scriptures mention eight feasts, that were first given to the nation
of Israel, and are often referred to as the Jewish Feasts. They are
explained in the OT book of Leviticus (Lev 23:1-44), but are
called in verse 2 in the NLT "These are the Lord's appointed
festivals, which you are to proclaim as official days for holy
assembly". Since they are the Lord's feasts, they should be
observed by followers of Jesus as well as Jewish people. The first
one mentioned is a weekly feast day called "the Lord's sabbath
day" which is still celebrated faithfully by Jewish communities
as "Shavuot", a 24 hour period every week when all normal
activity stops. The other seven yearly feast days are divided into
four that are observed in the spring season, and three in the fall.
The spring feasts were fulfilled perfectly by Jesus Christ by His
first coming to planet earth as "the Lamb of God that takes away the
sin of the world", and we can expect that He will see that the
fall feasts will be fulfilled perfectly,as well!

The
Spring Feasts---The first three, Passover, Unleavened Bread, and
The First Fruits, are all clustered together in the first month on
the Jewish calendar, which always falls in March or April on our
calendar, and then the fourth is Pentecost, which comes fifty days
later. These first three are often referred to as the Passover
season, and commemorate the first passover in Jewish history, which
is recorded in (Exodus 12:1-30). These special days were to be
a picture of the spiritual deliverance that God would provide for His
people through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, the true
"Passover Lamb". Then fifty days later the Festival of
Harvest, when the first of the barley crop was ready to harvest, was
a picture of the first believers in Jesus being filled with the Holy
Spirit and sent forth into the world to harvest souls for the Kingdom
of God. So we see that these four spring feasts were already
fulfilled when Jesus came the first time, and are a picture for us of
the first stages of spiritual growth in the life of a "born
again" believer. These stages are 1/ Receiving our deliverance
from sin, by asking for, and receiving forgiveness through accepting the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross which
allows us to pass over from death to life (John 3:16-18, 36), 2/ Laying aside our old sinful nature inherited from Adam, and being
baptized in water (Rom 6:1-4), 3/ Receiving the new life of
the Spirit in our spirit (Eph 2:1-10), 4/ Receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit as the source of power to
live a victorious Christian life, (Acts 1:8). The fulfilling
of these four feasts are now a historical fact, and in part 2 we will
discuss the three fall feasts that are yet future.

Sincerely submitted

Dave Jamer

THE
DAY OF THE LORD

This
expression is used many times in the OT, and sometimes referred to in
the NT as the "Day of Christ", or the"Day of Jesus
Christ". In my opinion the writers are always speaking of the
same day, but from different perspectives. The OT references such as
(Zeph 1:12-18) compare quite favorably with the NT reference
(2 Peter 3:3-16). Notice they both speak of judgment by fire!
In (Luke 17:26-30) Jesus makes reference to two OT events and
relates them to the events of His second coming. The first was to the
flood in Noah's day, which as we know was a judgment on the wicked
inhabitants of the world after Noah and his righteous family were
safe in the ark! This would seem to me to be a reference to a
"Prewrath Rapture" of the righteous followers of Jesus at
His glorious return to put an end to the "great tribulation"
of the Antichrist. (Matt 24:21-22). The second reference by
Jesus was to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire. Both
events are tied in to His return in glory, the first to rescue Noah
and his family from the judgment that destroyed the wicked world with
a flood; the second to rescue His "elect" from the
destruction by fire associated with the judgment of the "Day of
the Lord"! Two things will happen on the very same day, as I see
it. First will be the return of Jesus at His appearance in the clouds
when every eye will see Him (1 Thess 4:16-18). This is
certainly not a "secret thing", as some people teach, but
visible to all who are alive at that time. Then later that same day
Father God will release His angels to commence the judgments
connected with the "Day of the Lord". Read (Rev
8:2,6-13; 9:1-21; 11:15-19) for a sequence of events that will
take some time to complete, but all will commence with the breaking
of the 7th seal of the large scroll.

For
a more detailed account of the Day of the Lord here are a few more
scriptures to check out.

(Isa
2:12, 17, 66:15-16; Joel 2:1-3; Zeph 3:8; Matt 3:12; 13:39-43; Luke
12:49; 1Thess 1:4-10)

This
outline of events associated with this expression "The Day of
the Lord" is the result of many years of studying end time
scenarios from the scriptures, as well as from different writers perspectives, but trying

to compare
scripture to scripture for the most accurate possible scenario from
my perspective.

Sincerely
submitted.

Dave Jamer

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM LAKELAND FLORIDA?

Now that the so-called"Lakeland Outpouring" has come and gone with all it's unusual happenings in the last 5 months, has the church learned anything from it all?  One thing we should have learned is how easy it is to be led into deception by listening to the media with their hyped up reporting of the  so-called signs and wonders, and miracles of healing.  The fact that the evening services were spread around the world by God Tube Video was certainly a key factor in the speed with which the "revival" became well known. Many believers who follow the Charismatic branch of the church, especially the so-called "apostolic/prophetic movement" would seem to be the ones most affected, and only time will tell how much they learned.

Many good well balanced articles have been published so far about this event by various writers, including a letter of apology by Dutch Sheets expressing to the church at large how he regretted what had happened. And even though he was not personally involved in the events that took place in Lakeland, he felt to repent on behalf of the Charismatic group of churches that he has been associated with for many years. This act on his part may prompt similar actions by those ministers who were directly involved in encouraging Todd Bentley in his unscriptural teaching. There again, only time will tell if this attitude of repentance comes forth publicly from them, or not.

Jesus warned us in (Matt 24:24-25) that these things would happen in these end times. Paul also spoke about this sort of thing in (2 Thess 2:9-12), where he warns about the "man of lawlessness", better known as the Antichrist, who will come on the scene some day. It would seem that Todd Bentley was playing the role of a type of the Antichrist in Lakeland when you consider his teaching that was contrary to scripture, and his embellishing of the accounts of healings and raising people from the dead, which were never confirmed. It is never easy to admit that we are wrong, and have been deceived. Actually the one who has been deceived is usually the last one to know that he has been deceived. But I believe there are many leaders who must do this in order to bring a sense of integrity back into the apostolic/prophetic movement. This might help to heal the division that has been caused by people supporting both sides of the controversy that has developed. Let us agree in prayer that this will happen, and we can get on with the true "Revival" that God wants to bring to our land! This true revival has been prophesied now for many years, and most likely Lakeland was an example of the enemy's counterfeit of the real thing, which God allowed to test our ability to discern the true from the false!

Sincerely submitted.
Dave Jamer