SECOND SAMUEL SEVEN

SECOND SAMUEL SEVEN
In this chapter we read about King David's desire to build a permanent house for God to dwell in. Since the time of Moses, God was content to dwell in the "Holy of Holies" inside the tabernacle that Moses had constructed according to the plan shown him by God. The prophet Nathan brought the word of the Lord to David that his "Seed" (Jesus, not Solomon) would build a house "for My name". We know from reading the NT, that Jesus came to earth for this very reason, to build a house for God. While Jesus lived in His earthly body He was that house. Paul stated that "in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Col 2:9), in other words as long as Jesus lived in His earthly body, He contained all of God there was to have! That's why He said to His disciples in (John 16:7) "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you".

We know that Jesus came to earth primarily to redeem fallen mankind back to God, by taking upon Himself on the cross the sin of every person since Adam. But He revealed the other purpose in His first coming by stating in (Matt 16:18) "I will build My church". This church which we see being established in the book of Acts was birthed in the upper room on the evening of the very day that He arose from the tomb. (John 20:22) "He breathed on them and said receive the Holy Spirit". This was the birth of this church, when these first disciples received the promised Holy Spirit. Then in (Acts 2:4) we see Him being poured out on the larger group of believers to give them power to be witnesses of the resurrection! (Acts 1:8). This church of "called out ones" became a "community of the King", which is really an extension of God's family in heaven. consisting of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We cannot understand this mystery completely with our finite minds. Once we are "born again" into God's family, the Holy Spirit moves into our lives to bring us the assurance that we are indeed children of God, and part of the "household of God" that Paul speaks of in (Eph 2:19). God has always wanted to dwell with man on earth, and now He can do that through His church. According to (Rev 21) He will spend eternity here on planet earth with His church, the "bride" that comes down from heaven as the "New Jerusalem" which will be located just above natural Jerusalem, often referred to as the "city of David". What an "awesome" way to spend eternity!! This truth has been completely obscured by certain church doctrines that have come into the church since the fourth century!
Sincerely submitted.
Dave Jamer                                                                                20/09/11

GOD STILLS MOVES

GOD STILL MOVES

 

This phrase is part of a song on a tape by Back to The Bible radio ministry that I heard recently. There is much more to the song, but these words have been constantly in my mind for days! The line these words are taken from states "In the hearts of people God still moves". I believe that is a powerful statement, and explains a very basic scriptural principal that it is the heart, or spirit of a human, that God moves in! Heart and spirit are often used interchangeably in scripture. As you probably know, we humans are created in the image and likeness of our Creator God. (Gen 1:26-27) Since God has revealed Himself as a "Trinity", so we are a three part being. Someone has described us as a "spirit", who has a "soul", who lives in a "body". I believe that to be a proper description of a human being, spirit, soul and body. Paul states that in 

(1 Thess 5:23), where he clearly uses these three words to describe us followers of Jesus.

 

Church history records many moves of the Holy Spirit throughout the years since the first Pentecost of (Acts 2:4). Some of them have lasted for weeks, months, or sometimes years, but many were infiltrated by unholy spirits from the enemy's kingdom of darkness, and caused confusion and division! It would appear that every time there is a genuine move of God, Satan is quick to start a counter move, in an attempt to offset the real thing with a counterfeit move. It is often very difficult to tell the difference between a true and a false or counterfeit move of the Spirit. Paul lists the gifts of the Spirit in (1 Cor 12:7-11), in verse 10 he tells about one called "the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God, or from another spirit." (NLT)  

 

It seems to me that this might be the most important gift of the Spirit that the followers of Jesus require to stand against the deception that Jesus said to beware of in these last days! (Matt 24: 4, 5, 11, 24, 25). Paul also warns us in (2 Cor 11:13-15) to expect false prophets, and workers of iniquity sent forth by Satan to deceive believers, and hinder the extension of the Kingdom of God. So as followers of Jesus in these present times, let us pray for moves of God's Holy Spirit, both within the church, and outside the organized church structures. But let us also pray for the gift of discerning of spirits, so we can be able to discern between the true move of God, and the counterfeit moves of Satan. Yes, God still moves by His Spirit in the hearts of His people, but remember Satan still tries to hinder with his unholy spirits!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer

AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST

AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST

I recently heard a definition for "ambassadors" that gives new meaning to
(2 Cor 5:20) from which the title for this article is taken. The dictionary tells us an ambassador is "a diplomatic agent of highest rank" or a representative of one country to another in the world. The new definition I heard was that an ambassador is really "the embodiment" of the country they represent! Try to wrap your mind around that thought for a few minutes!! As you probably know an ambassador's living expenses are totally taken care of by the government of the country they represent. Their housing, travel, meals, children's education, etc. Read (Matt 6:25-34) again with this thought in mind! Remember you are reading the words of the King of the Kingdom that you and I represent right? We are ambassadors of the Kingdom of God, of which Jesus Christ our Savior is the King!!

This concept of a kingdom has been replaced in our world by other forms of government. For most of us that would be some form of democracy, or a republic. Even most church forms of government have taken on the idea of a democracy, or a government of the people for the people. This was never God's plan; in fact it is the complete opposite of a kingdom concept. His plan called for a King or supreme ruler with delegated authority given to certain people, through whom He could govern His kingdom. Every world kingdom or empire before the Roman Empire came into power used the same technique when they conquered an enemy nation. They subdued the nation, dispersed the people from their homeland and often took prisoners back to their capital city. Daniel and his three friends are an example of this concept under the Babylonian Empire of their day. However Rome set up their empire under a kingdom concept, they left the people in their homeland and appointed governors in every conquered nation, to govern the people. Pilot in the time of Christ would be an example of this kingdom concept of delegated authority, answerable to the Roman Caesar as king. Because of this Roman influence God chose that time for Jesus to come to earth and introduce the Kingdom of God. (Gal 4:4)  As ambassadors of Christ we have been chosen by Almighty God to be His delegated representatives on Planet earth, the "embodiment" of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. That is a truth to meditate on!!
Sincerely submitted.
Dave Jamer

A SOUND MIND

A SOUND MIND
These words are found in Paul's second letter to Timothy (2 Timothy 1:7) "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind". In the Greek this word that is translated as "sound mind" is a combination of two words, one means "safe", and the other "mind", hence "safe thinking". According to Strong's Concordance it denotes good judgment, disciplined thought patterns, and the ability to understand and make right decisions. It also includes the qualities of "self-control" and "self-discipline". As Christians we should give close attention to this verse!
The first thing we see is that fear is a "spirit", and it is not given by God! Therefore we know that fear must come from the enemy, and we should resist it in Jesus' name whenever it tries to enter our life. How many Christians do you know that are plagued with all kinds of fears, except the "fear of God", which is the only positive kind of fear? God has given us (past tense) "power", "love" and a "sound mind". These are all part of the package we receive when we repent of our sin and accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, and the Holy Spirit comes into our life to give us the assurance of salvation. We need to remind ourselves of this fact quite often,

"Self control" and "self discipline" are two things that should be evident in every believer's life. Self control is listed as one of the "fruit of the Spirit" in (Gal 5:22-23), and Peter mentions it as one of the signs of spiritual growth in (2 Peter 1:5-8). In verse 8 he states "for if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ". Paul goes on in 2 Timothy to talk about not being ashamed of the gospel. In verse 8 he states the power of God "has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began" This is a powerful statement about the "gospel of the Kingdom" that Paul preached, as well as Jesus, John the Baptist, and the other disciples. The "so-called gospel" that is generally preached today is something quite different. It is "man centered", and might be called a "gospel of convenience". It lacks the power to change lives, and give people the assurance Paul talked about in verse 12 "For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him until that day". This should be our testimony if we really know Jesus and are filled with His Spirit.
Sincerely submitted
Dave Jamer                                                                             20/09/11

A NEW NAME FOR CHURCH

A NEW NAME FOR "CHURCH"

I recently read an editorial in the magazine called Mission Frontiers, by Ralph Winter, in which he quotes a man named Bob Goldmann. Mr Goldmann makes the point that we should no longer use the term "church planting", but instead we should adopt the term "movements to Christ", or in other words fellowships built on families, not groups made up of loose individuals. His point is well taken because of the misunderstanding of what "church" really means to the average person in our Western society in this 21st century. In recent articles about the church we pointed out the scriptural meaning of the term church, and how it has come to mean something completely different in our day. To quote Mr Winter "We Americans live in a country where families are almost expected to drift apart, creating artificially 'individualized' people. Thus as a result we produce artificial "church" fellowships which collect loose individuals or family fragments into a surrogate family--which we then call a "church".

In much of the world this fragmentation of the family unit hasn't happened. There we still see families that are truly "multi-generational", which is much like those from NT times. In the scriptures we often read about whole families becoming "worshipping households" when one person from that home accepts Jesus as Savior. This is more the pattern of a local "church" as we see them in the NT. They didn't have buildings called "churches", so they met in each other's homes. This all changed of course in the 4th century when the church became part of the Roman Empire, and large cathedrals were constructed and called churches.

Today in our Western world we are seeing a definite move toward so called "house churches", where people can experience "koinonia" which is more like that mentioned in the NT. Perhaps these groups should even drop the term church from their name, and simply be known as "home fellowships". At least until we understand that the scriptural term "church" does not mean a building, a denomination of churches, or anything other than a group of followers of Jesus meeting for fellowship with their Lord. Jesus did say that wherever "two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among you" (Matt 18:20). It seems to me that is a proper description of "church" as it should be held, according to Jesus. And He should know because He said "I will build My Church" (Matt 16:18).  
Sincerely submitted.
Dave Jamer                                                                             2/10/11