PHILIPPIANS ONE ONE

PHILIPPIANS ONE ONE

 

This first verse of Paul's letter to the church at Philippi gives us a picture of a typical local church from God's perspective I believe. In the NLT version it reads "This letter is from Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus. I am writing to all of God's holy people in Philippi who belong to Christ Jesus, including the elders and deacons". We can see clearly four different groups of people listed here by Paul, who was the man to whom God had revealed the mystery of "His Church". (Eph 3:1-13). Since Paul was God's chosen vessel to bring this great revelation to the human race, we can safely assume that this description given here is the correct one! How did we ever get so far removed from God's original plan? A simple brief study of early church history will lead you to the fourth century, when Emperor Constantine joined the "Church" of the day to the mighty Roman Empire that ruled the world at that time!

 

These four components listed here are 1/ The apostolic leadership team,

2/ The group of God's holy people, 3/ The elders, 4/ The deacons. There we have it friends, the church that God revealed to Paul, that he used to start churches all over that part of the Roman Empire, that "turned the world upside down", or should we say "right side up"? Let's have a little closer look at these four groups that compose God's Church.

 

1/ The apostolic team---Jesus always sent out His original disciples/apostles 2 by 2, and never alone. Paul never started out on his missionary journeys by himself either, but always with at least one or more companions. In this case it was Timothy, and notice his closing remarks where he mentions the "brothers (plural) who are with me", indicating more than just Timothy. In some of his letters he mentions several others by name.

2/ God's holy people---This would include all those who were "born again" believers who had received Jesus as Lord and Savior, and had been adopted by the Father into His "Forever Family".

3/ Elders---Notice they are always listed as plural, meaning there was always more than one, and they were the leaders of the church.

4/ Deacons---They were also listed as being more than one, and apparently assisted the elders in their task of giving leadership to the Church.

(more to follow in a separate article.)

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                  04/02/12

SOUL TIES

SOUL TIES

 

This expression can be thought of as the complete opposite to one made famous by Anne of Green Gables. Her expression I refer to was "kindred spirits", used to explain her relationship with certain "special friends". One has to do with our soul realm, and the other with the spiritual. Many people confuse these two, since they both deal with the invisible realm, as opposed to the visible, material world we live in! Our spirit and soul are so closely related that only the word of God can separate the two. (Heb 4:12).

 

Our "soul" is composed of our mind, will and emotions, and is that part of us we use to communicate with each other. Our spirit on the other hand is that part of us reserved for communication with Father God. Since the fall of Adam, recorded in Gen 3, the human spirit has been "dead in trespasses and sin" (Eph 2:1), and needs to be "born again", or "made alive" in Christ before we can have a relationship with our Creator. The unregenerate man can communicate with other humans, but not with God.

 

What we mean by "soul ties", are sometimes unhealthy relationships we can enter into with other people that lead to bondage. They are often in the sensual realm, and often involve sexual activity, or at least close emotional relationships. Once formed these ties are most difficult, if not impossible to break. We often hear of two people who formed this type of soul tie when they were young, and then perhaps after 30 or 40 years and each married to different spouses, they meet each other and before they know it are involved in an illegitimate emotional or sexual affair. This is the root cause of many divorces today, even in the church. Like any other sin, the only way to break a soul tie is to confess it as sin, repent of it, and ask Jesus to set you free from it. Better still we should never enter into any close emotional relationship with another human being, unless we know it to be "in the Lord", and with His complete approval.

 

This is a vital lesson for young people to learn before they start to establish relationships with members of the opposite gender, .or even unhealthy ties with members of the same gender! We refer to these as "gender issues", which can, and often do, lead to homosexuality in males, or lesbianism in females. This is a major problem in our modern culture!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                             4/10/11

 

THE MAIN POINT

THE MAIN POINT

 

I like the way Paul begins the eighth chapter of his letter to the Hebrew church in Jerusalem. We know from reading (Rom 10:1-3) that he had such a burden for his Jewish brethren, that although Peter was definitely the "apostle to the Jews", it would seem that they made a deal that if Peter would let him write a letter to the Jews then he in turn would allow Peter to write to the Jews in the churches Paul had established in Galatia, which he did. So, he starts with "Here is the main point", and proceeds to explain to these Jewish believers who had recently left the "Law of Moses" to follow Jesus their Messiah. Paul spent this whole chapter explaining how Jesus was the real "High Priest", who had come to replace the "Old Covenant" that Moses had established, with the "New Covenant" promised by Jeremiah in (Jer 31:31-34). He says in verses 7-9 "If the first covenant had been faultless there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it. But when God found fault with the people He said the day is coming says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. They did not remain faithful to my covenant, so I turned my back on them says the Lord". This a very serious scripture, whether you are a Jewish person or a Gentile follower of Jesus! Paul said that "in Christ" we are all one, and that this scripture applies equally to both Jew and Gentile.

 

The fact that God has replaced the OT "Law of Moses" with a completely "New Covenant" is vital for us all to understand. Even as followers of Christ, most of us have established "traditions" based on the teachings of the denomination we belong to. They may vary on certain points, depending on the church you attend, but they are still traditions. In (Mark 7:8, 13) we read about Jesus rebuking the Jewish leaders about allowing their traditions to over rule the Word of God. And I believe there is a danger in our churches of allowing this very same thing happening! Many church traditions are based completely or partly, on man made doctrines, and not really on the scriptures taken in context. They are often based on a single verse taken out of its proper context, and hence becomes error. Let us search the scriptures carefully like the Bereans did in (Acts 17:11)!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer.                                                                                                       

THREE SIMPLE STEPS

THREE SIMPLE STEPS FROM SINNER TO SAINT

 

We have all read much along the lines of how to become a follower of Jesus, but this simple 3 step formula came to me the other day.

 

1/ Admit to God and to yourself that you are a sinner.---According to God's word we all were born into this "fallen world" as sinners, so why try to ignore this fact? (Rom 3:10-12) It seems many people hate to admit that they are sinners, they have a concept that to be classed as a sinner, you have to be some wicked person who has done some horrible things like robbing a bank or killing someone. The truth is we were born a sinner, and because we are sinners we just naturally commit sins. It may be something as simple as telling a little Lie, or being proud, or envying a friend. Why try to hide it, or pretend it didn't happen? Just admit it!

 

2/ Confess your sin to God and ask Him for forgiveness.--- He is compassionate and full of mercy, and is quick to offer forgiveness for any confessed sin. (1 John 1:9). The DNA of God as based on His declaration of Himself as recorded by Moses in (Ex 34:5-7) includes 1/ compassion, 2/ grace, 3/ slow to anger, 4/ mercy, 5/ truth, 6/ faithful, 7/ forgiving. Who in their right mind would refuse to want to have a relationship with a God like that?

 

3/ Accept His offer---Although we are sinners and enemies of God, He loves us so much that He made a way for us to come to Him. It involved Him allowing His very own Son Jesus Christ to become one of us humans by the miracle of the "incarnation", where his Holy Spirit came upon a Jewish virgin maiden named Mary, and she bore Jesus, who was completely "sinless", and paid the price of our sins by His death on the cross. The wages of sin is death, (Rom 6:23), so someone had to die to satisfy the requirements of a just and Holy God. This required the death of a human being  without sin, and Jesus was the only one who qualified. Whenever anyone confesses their sin and receives Jesus Christ by faith as their Savior, they are "born again" and Father God "adopts" them into His Forever Family. Then they become a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17) and are referred to as a "saint"! Paul often wrote his letters to "the saints at" whatever city church he was writing to. It is just that simple according to the "good news" of the "Gospel of the Kingdom"!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                     24/01/12

 

A CORNERSTONE

A CORNERSTONE

 

A common practice in past centuries when constructing a public building like a city hall or library was to have a special stone carved from a permanent type of stone like marble or granite, to build in at the most prominent corner of the building. It was meant to be seen by all who visited that building. There was always a special celebration for the "cornerstone laying ceremony", involving city and political officials. There was always a special metal box containing items of interest of the day that they wanted preserved as a memorial that was built in the wall behind the cornerstone. In Paul's second letter to Timothy in (2 Tim 2:19) we read in the NLT "But God's truth stands firm like a foundation stone with this inscription 'the Lord knows those who are His', and 'All who belong to the Lord must turn away from evil'". As you know a cornerstone has two sides exposed so it can be seen from both directions as long as the building stands! I consider that this simple statement by Paul should be given close attention by all followers of Jesus in our 21^st century. We know that "God's Truth" is a person, His only begotten Son Jesus, made clear by the apostle John in

(John 14:6), a scripture that we should all be aware of.

 

The critical question for us as followers of Jesus is simply 'how well are we showing forth to the world these two qualities that Paul mentions here? This is probably more important for men to consider, because they are often more exposed to the world in their daily activities than their wives. But these two things mentioned by Paul are equally critical for all to consider. So we must search our hearts continually, to make sure that every little closet or drawer that we all seem to have, where we place little odds and ends that we keep because we might find a use for them in the future, is not concealing articles that are not "pleasing to the Father"! I trust I am not the only guy who has these places, that he doesn't want his wife to clean up, because then he can never find things when he needs them! Right? Well it just might be that some things stored there that you are guarding from your wife's tendency to want to keep everything "in order", just might be items the Father is not pleased with either! We were all given the gift of the Holy Spirit when we received Jesus as Savior, He will help us in these areas if we ask Him to!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                            23/01/12