NATURE ABHORS A VACUUM
Apparently this statement is credited to the ancient philosopher Aristotle, who stated that based on his observation that "nature requires every space be filled with something, even if it is colorless, odorless air". As far as I know the study of science over the years has agreed with this conclusion. I think the same truth can be applied to the spiritual world, as well as the natural.
This is based on my understanding of scripture that I have gained from studying God's Word since becoming a follower of Jesus nearly 50 years ago. The Bible teaches clearly that we are born into this world with a sinful nature inherited from the first Adam, our first human ancestor. (Rom 5:12). All humans since him are hopeless sinners (Rom 3:10-23), and doomed for death (Rom 6:23).
Because of the foreknowledge of our Creator God, who knew this would happen, He already had a plan to correct this human dilemma. This plan included His only begotten Son Jesus to be incarnated into human flesh by way of the womb of a virgin Jewish maiden. As a perfect human without a trace of Adam's sinful nature, He would then die to pay the price to redeem mankind. After 3 days the Father would resurrect Him in a glorified body, and call Him back to heaven to sit at Father's side. (Ps 110:1). Then they would send the Holy Spirit to earth to take the place of Jesus, until the time appointed for Him to return to earth to receive the Church that He said He would build. (Matt 16:18) The Holy Spirit convicts humans of their sinful condition, and the truth that Jesus came to be their Savior. Then when they repent and accept Jesus as Savior they are "born again". At that moment the Holy Spirit moves into their human spirit, and they become a "new creation". (2 Cor 5:17). Or we might say they are then part of a completely "New Species" of beings, as members of "God's Forever Family"!
The Holy Spirit is meant to fill the space in mankind that was originally filled by our sinful nature, however if we don't continue to remain filled as Paul admonishes in (Eph 5:18), then the fleshly nature will creep back into occupy the space that we don't let the Holy Spirit occupy. We are then classed as "carnal Christians", (1 Cor 3:1-4), and not spiritual, because we are not completely filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit of God!
Sincerely submitted.
Dave Jamer
Monday, February 28, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
SPRING TUNE UP
A SPRING TUNE-UP
Spring is on the way, although you may not know it by looking outside at the huge banks of snow, on this mid-February day. People often think of getting their car tuned up at this time of year, to be sure of trouble free miles of travel throughout the summer months. But do we ever realize that we might need a "spiritual tune-up", after the cold winter months of waiting to see if spring will actually come? I suggest a careful study of (Matt 5, 6, 7) where we read about the first fully recorded sermon of Jesus. It is often referred to as "The Sermon on the Mount", and starts with the "Beatitudes".
As the term implies, Jesus was dealing with "attitudes", and how they can affect our lives. Jesus lists 9 attitudes in (Matt 5:3-11) that can affect our lives, and that will all please our Father God!
Notice that 2 of the 9 things listed will result in a different relationship to the Kingdom of God, than the other 7! Verses 3 and 10 use the present tense of the verb referring to their relationship with the Kingdom, "is theirs" as opposed to "will be theirs", this could be quite significant in understanding the Kingdom of God. In other words, some people referred to believe that the Kingdom exists now on earth, while others understand it to be yet future. This is the actual case in the church circles today. Because of a teaching that declares the church age must end, before the Kingdom age can begin, this situation has arisen.
Scripture is clear that Jesus Christ in the King of the Kingdom of God, so when He came to earth as the babe in the manger, the Kingdom came with Him, so to speak. When He began preaching about the Kingdom after He was baptized by John, when He was 30 years old, He often used expressions like "the Kingdom is at hand", or "the Kingdom is within you". We can understand this as meaning at the present time it is invisible, and can dwell in the hearts of believers who follow Jesus, but will be fully manifested on earth for all to see, when Jesus makes His second appearance in the clouds of glory! This is part of the mystery of Godliness that we cannot understand with our finite minds, but when we see Him we shall be like Him, and then understand all things. (1 John 3:1-3). As followers of Jesus, we should all be looking forward with great expectation to His second coming. But we know from certain scriptures like (Ps 110: 1), (Acts 3:16-22), (Matt 24:14), that He can't come at any moment, as some believe!
Sincerely submitted.
Dave Jamer
Spring is on the way, although you may not know it by looking outside at the huge banks of snow, on this mid-February day. People often think of getting their car tuned up at this time of year, to be sure of trouble free miles of travel throughout the summer months. But do we ever realize that we might need a "spiritual tune-up", after the cold winter months of waiting to see if spring will actually come? I suggest a careful study of (Matt 5, 6, 7) where we read about the first fully recorded sermon of Jesus. It is often referred to as "The Sermon on the Mount", and starts with the "Beatitudes".
As the term implies, Jesus was dealing with "attitudes", and how they can affect our lives. Jesus lists 9 attitudes in (Matt 5:3-11) that can affect our lives, and that will all please our Father God!
Notice that 2 of the 9 things listed will result in a different relationship to the Kingdom of God, than the other 7! Verses 3 and 10 use the present tense of the verb referring to their relationship with the Kingdom, "is theirs" as opposed to "will be theirs", this could be quite significant in understanding the Kingdom of God. In other words, some people referred to believe that the Kingdom exists now on earth, while others understand it to be yet future. This is the actual case in the church circles today. Because of a teaching that declares the church age must end, before the Kingdom age can begin, this situation has arisen.
Scripture is clear that Jesus Christ in the King of the Kingdom of God, so when He came to earth as the babe in the manger, the Kingdom came with Him, so to speak. When He began preaching about the Kingdom after He was baptized by John, when He was 30 years old, He often used expressions like "the Kingdom is at hand", or "the Kingdom is within you". We can understand this as meaning at the present time it is invisible, and can dwell in the hearts of believers who follow Jesus, but will be fully manifested on earth for all to see, when Jesus makes His second appearance in the clouds of glory! This is part of the mystery of Godliness that we cannot understand with our finite minds, but when we see Him we shall be like Him, and then understand all things. (1 John 3:1-3). As followers of Jesus, we should all be looking forward with great expectation to His second coming. But we know from certain scriptures like (Ps 110: 1), (Acts 3:16-22), (Matt 24:14), that He can't come at any moment, as some believe!
Sincerely submitted.
Dave Jamer
Monday, February 14, 2011
THE WEDDING GARMENY
THE WEDDING GARMENT
Jesus told a parable as recorded in (Matt 22:1-14), which involved a king who arranged a wedding for his son, and sent out invitations to various people to come to the wedding. But verse five states that "they made light of it", and refused to come. After several attempts failed, he sent his servants out "into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests" (Matt 22:10) NKJV
When the king went in to inspect the guests, he found one man who didn't have on a "wedding garment", who was cast out into "outer darkness". The parable ends in verse 14 with "For many are called, but few are chosen".
Like all of the parables that Jesus told, this one is definitely meant to teach us a lesson. This one would seem to be telling us that there needs to be a proper garment that must be worn to qualify us to attend the wedding of the King's Son, which we can safely assume, is referring to is the marriage of Jesus to His true Church. In other words not everyone who is invited to be at this special event will accept the invitation. And even not everyone who accepts will be qualified, unless they are wearing the proper garment. These people would be like those listed in (Matt 7:21-23), who thought their spiritual attainments would qualify them for entrance into the Kingdom! So what is this special wedding garment that is essential for entrance into the eternal Kingdom of God?
One scripture passage that helps to give the possible answer I believe is found in (2 Cor 5:17-21). Here we read about all those who are "in Christ", become new creations, and that "God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" NKJV. As I understand this scripture, the moment we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are "born again" of the Spirit, and then become "in Christ", and receive our own personal "wedding garment"! This is our true ticket, so to speak, for admission into the wedding ceremonies in heaven. This is when Jesus and the true Church, that He has been in the process of creating for the last 2000 years (Matt 16:18), finally come together! So we can see that obtaining this wedding garment is the most important thing that you can receive. And remember it is a gift from God, and we can never do anything to earn it, it is definitely grace plus nothing (Eph 2:4-10). Religious activities will never take the place of this, no matter how much we may strive for it!!
Sincerely submitted.
Dave Jamer
Jesus told a parable as recorded in (Matt 22:1-14), which involved a king who arranged a wedding for his son, and sent out invitations to various people to come to the wedding. But verse five states that "they made light of it", and refused to come. After several attempts failed, he sent his servants out "into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests" (Matt 22:10) NKJV
When the king went in to inspect the guests, he found one man who didn't have on a "wedding garment", who was cast out into "outer darkness". The parable ends in verse 14 with "For many are called, but few are chosen".
Like all of the parables that Jesus told, this one is definitely meant to teach us a lesson. This one would seem to be telling us that there needs to be a proper garment that must be worn to qualify us to attend the wedding of the King's Son, which we can safely assume, is referring to is the marriage of Jesus to His true Church. In other words not everyone who is invited to be at this special event will accept the invitation. And even not everyone who accepts will be qualified, unless they are wearing the proper garment. These people would be like those listed in (Matt 7:21-23), who thought their spiritual attainments would qualify them for entrance into the Kingdom! So what is this special wedding garment that is essential for entrance into the eternal Kingdom of God?
One scripture passage that helps to give the possible answer I believe is found in (2 Cor 5:17-21). Here we read about all those who are "in Christ", become new creations, and that "God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" NKJV. As I understand this scripture, the moment we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are "born again" of the Spirit, and then become "in Christ", and receive our own personal "wedding garment"! This is our true ticket, so to speak, for admission into the wedding ceremonies in heaven. This is when Jesus and the true Church, that He has been in the process of creating for the last 2000 years (Matt 16:18), finally come together! So we can see that obtaining this wedding garment is the most important thing that you can receive. And remember it is a gift from God, and we can never do anything to earn it, it is definitely grace plus nothing (Eph 2:4-10). Religious activities will never take the place of this, no matter how much we may strive for it!!
Sincerely submitted.
Dave Jamer
Monday, February 7, 2011
A DONE DEAL
A DONE DEAL
I was impressed by the devotional reading for today, Oct 22/06 in Our Daily Bread, based on the words of Jesus uttered from the cross, and recorded by John in his gospel (John 19:30) "when Jesus had tasted it (the sour wine), He said 'it is finished!' Then He bowed His head and released His spirit". Vernon Grounds, the writer of this devotional, states that these last words of Jesus in the original language was only one word which took three words in English to give it's meaning. The word was "completed" or "ended", in other words it was a "done deal"! We often use this expression to denote something that is finished and can't be changed.
Those of us, who have heard and understand the message of the gospel, know what Jesus meant. He had completed the work the Father had sent Him to earth to perform! That was to pay the price for our redemption from the sinful life style inherited from Adam, by His sacrificial death on the cross. As believers, we often take this fact for granted without truly realizing what a tremendous event this was. We were all born into this world with a sinful nature (Eph 2:1-10), and there was nothing we could do to remedy this condition. Since in God's economy the penalty for sin is death, someone had to die to atone for our sin. Our Creator God knew this, and because of His great love for us, his creation, He allowed Jesus, His only begotten Son, to take on human flesh (the incarnation) and die on the cross in our place!
To quote Vernon Grounds "We can do nothing to add to His sacrifice. Christ's self-giving death was all-sufficient. We stretch out the empty hand of faith, and God in grace puts into it the gift of eternal life". I thought that statement was a well worded explanation of what happens when we, a guilty sinner, come to acknowledge our sin and repent of it, and receive Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. He includes a poem by Hess
"It is finished" Jesus cried,
Then on Calvary's cross He died;
Christ the Lord atonement made,
And sin's debt was fully paid.
His "punch line" was "Christ's sacrifice was what God desired and what our sin required". This I consider to be the perfect "done deal"!!!
Sincerely submitted.
Dave Jamer
I was impressed by the devotional reading for today, Oct 22/06 in Our Daily Bread, based on the words of Jesus uttered from the cross, and recorded by John in his gospel (John 19:30) "when Jesus had tasted it (the sour wine), He said 'it is finished!' Then He bowed His head and released His spirit". Vernon Grounds, the writer of this devotional, states that these last words of Jesus in the original language was only one word which took three words in English to give it's meaning. The word was "completed" or "ended", in other words it was a "done deal"! We often use this expression to denote something that is finished and can't be changed.
Those of us, who have heard and understand the message of the gospel, know what Jesus meant. He had completed the work the Father had sent Him to earth to perform! That was to pay the price for our redemption from the sinful life style inherited from Adam, by His sacrificial death on the cross. As believers, we often take this fact for granted without truly realizing what a tremendous event this was. We were all born into this world with a sinful nature (Eph 2:1-10), and there was nothing we could do to remedy this condition. Since in God's economy the penalty for sin is death, someone had to die to atone for our sin. Our Creator God knew this, and because of His great love for us, his creation, He allowed Jesus, His only begotten Son, to take on human flesh (the incarnation) and die on the cross in our place!
To quote Vernon Grounds "We can do nothing to add to His sacrifice. Christ's self-giving death was all-sufficient. We stretch out the empty hand of faith, and God in grace puts into it the gift of eternal life". I thought that statement was a well worded explanation of what happens when we, a guilty sinner, come to acknowledge our sin and repent of it, and receive Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. He includes a poem by Hess
"It is finished" Jesus cried,
Then on Calvary's cross He died;
Christ the Lord atonement made,
And sin's debt was fully paid.
His "punch line" was "Christ's sacrifice was what God desired and what our sin required". This I consider to be the perfect "done deal"!!!
Sincerely submitted.
Dave Jamer
Thursday, February 3, 2011
RIGHT SIDE UP
RIGHT-SIDE- UP
We often hear the expression that everything seems to be "upside down", when our piece of bread, spread with peanut butter falls on the floor, and lands with the buttered side down! Or if things don't work out like we think they should in our life situations. This is also the attitude we might take when we read scriptures like chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew, where the words of Jesus are recorded. This is commonly called His "Sermon on The Mount", which starts with the "Beatitudes" (Matt 5:3-11). This would apparently be the first recorded full message of Jesus, in which He was attempting to lay out God's expectation for how His Kingdom on earth should be lived. To the natural mind that has not been "born again", much of what Jesus said seems to be upside down too, and impossible for humans to do. And in the natural they are impossible, that's why Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to replace Him on earth when He went back to heaven to be with the Father until the time of His second coming. In the gospel of John chapters 14, 15, and 16, Jesus explains to His followers what the Holy Spirit would do when He came. He would not only be "with them" as Jesus had been, but because He would be Spirit, He could also be "in them"! As the indwelling Spirit He can give us followers of Jesus the inside revelation, or understanding, of the scriptures He had inspired writers like Matthew or John to record.
So with the help of the indwelling Spirit, we can understand scriptures like the Sermon on the Mount, and see exactly what Jesus meant. He can make statements that seem to our natural mind as being upside down, to be turned "right side up"! This sermon by Jesus was His attempt to describe to us, who attempt to follow Him, guidelines to follow. We might consider them the bylaws, or regulations to govern our behavior, just like traffic laws govern the speed at which we can legally drive our vehicle. Because our Creator God is a God of perfection and absolute order, His Kingdom must have rules and regulations to govern it. And Jesus said we are to pray for this Kingdom which governs heaven, would come to earth. (Matt 6:10). If we are to see this happen, it stands to reason this must involve changes from the way we normally live our lives in this "fallen world". No human being enjoys change, because we are creatures of habit and resist change, even though we know we need it! That is why Jesus never told us it would be easy to be His followers, even though some other teachers today might!
Sincerely submitted.
Dave Jamer
We often hear the expression that everything seems to be "upside down", when our piece of bread, spread with peanut butter falls on the floor, and lands with the buttered side down! Or if things don't work out like we think they should in our life situations. This is also the attitude we might take when we read scriptures like chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew, where the words of Jesus are recorded. This is commonly called His "Sermon on The Mount", which starts with the "Beatitudes" (Matt 5:3-11). This would apparently be the first recorded full message of Jesus, in which He was attempting to lay out God's expectation for how His Kingdom on earth should be lived. To the natural mind that has not been "born again", much of what Jesus said seems to be upside down too, and impossible for humans to do. And in the natural they are impossible, that's why Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to replace Him on earth when He went back to heaven to be with the Father until the time of His second coming. In the gospel of John chapters 14, 15, and 16, Jesus explains to His followers what the Holy Spirit would do when He came. He would not only be "with them" as Jesus had been, but because He would be Spirit, He could also be "in them"! As the indwelling Spirit He can give us followers of Jesus the inside revelation, or understanding, of the scriptures He had inspired writers like Matthew or John to record.
So with the help of the indwelling Spirit, we can understand scriptures like the Sermon on the Mount, and see exactly what Jesus meant. He can make statements that seem to our natural mind as being upside down, to be turned "right side up"! This sermon by Jesus was His attempt to describe to us, who attempt to follow Him, guidelines to follow. We might consider them the bylaws, or regulations to govern our behavior, just like traffic laws govern the speed at which we can legally drive our vehicle. Because our Creator God is a God of perfection and absolute order, His Kingdom must have rules and regulations to govern it. And Jesus said we are to pray for this Kingdom which governs heaven, would come to earth. (Matt 6:10). If we are to see this happen, it stands to reason this must involve changes from the way we normally live our lives in this "fallen world". No human being enjoys change, because we are creatures of habit and resist change, even though we know we need it! That is why Jesus never told us it would be easy to be His followers, even though some other teachers today might!
Sincerely submitted.
Dave Jamer
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