Remember The Wrapping

REMEMBER THE WRAPPING

 

I was impressed by the devotional message from Joe Stowell in the ODB today Dec 22, 2014. He called it "Remember The Wrapping", he was referring to what Jesus chose as His divine wrapping when He came to earth to be "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world", (John 1:29). He and Father could have chosen a completely different introduction of God the Son to our world. They could have made it a celestial show of glory, but instead made it a humble birth in a lowly animal trough in a stable outside an inn in the village of Bethlehem. See (Phil 2:6-7) NLT for the details of the wrapping that was chosen for Jesus, when He took upon Himself the "likeness of a human being". Remember what God said in (Gen 1:26) "Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us". And we know that Adam and Eve were the first specimens of the new species created in the image of God, as perfect human beings. And of course they were deceived by our enemy Satan into disobeying God and allowing sin and death to enter creation, and it became a "fallen world". (Rom 5:12-21).

 

Why is this "wrapping" that Jesus chose to come to earth in so important to us? Because Jesus humbled Himself and became a human like us He knows every sort of emotion that we might experience. He was unjustly accused, and abandoned and betrayed by friends, scripture tells us that "He was tempted in everyway like us, and yet without sin". Because He was the one and only "God/Man" who was 100% God yet was also 100% man, so His death on the cross was the only adequate payment to settle the debt we all owed because of the inherited sin of our original parents, plus all the other sins we have committed in our lifetime (Rom 6:23). As Paul states so clearly in (Rom 3:9-26), Jesus who knew no sin became sin for us humans, so we could take on His righteousness. (2 Cor  5:17-21). This is the main point of the "good news" of the gospel of the Kingdom of God. This is why it is so important to understand the miracle of Christmas that Jesus became one of us, in order that He could give His life as a sacrifice on the cross on Mount Calvary some 2000 years ago, (no one killed Jesus). He freely gave up His Spirit, so that we who are sinners can be saved by placing our faith and trust in the finished work of the cross. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus Christ our Lord, Praise His wonderful Name!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                                             22.12/14                                                                                        

A Branch From David's Line

A BRANCH FROM DAVID'S LINE

 

In chapter 11 of the prophesy of Isaiah, in the NLT version it starts out "Out of the stump of David's family will grow a shoot—yes a new branch bearing fruit from the old root. And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord". This of course speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was also mentioned in (Is 9:2-7), where we find the familiar verse 6 "For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end". And of course Isaiah was also the one who told about a virgin conceiving in (Is 7:14) "All right then, the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child. She will give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel (which means God is with us)". NLT

 

Isaiah, in this chapter, not only talks about Jesus being a descendent of King David, but he also looks toward a yet future age that we refer to as the "Millennial Reign" of Christ, when He comes back to a renewed heaven and earth, and sets up His earthly reign from a natural rebuilt Jerusalem. Notice verse 9 in the NLT version, which reads "Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord". When we look around at the present condition of our world today, we can hardly believe that such a change will ever happen. But God's Word says it will happen, so as followers of Jesus today, we believe this will happen just as the Word says. But when we read (Rev 21:1-8) we see "the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband". The rest of this chapter describes what we have understood to be heaven, where we go when we die. This New Jerusalem will be the eternal abode for all born again children of God, and it will be located just above the rebuilt city of Jerusalem, from which King Jesus will rein His "Eternal Kingdom". Some songs and poems about a place called "heaven", where Jesus has gone to build custom made mansions for His children, have been very misleading. We need to stick with God's Word, and believe every word, and not some doctrines that are based on some man's theories!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                                12/12/14

 

called by name

CALLED BY NAME

 

How wonderful it is to be called by your personal name in a crowd of people I recently read of a school principle who determined to learn the names of the 600 students in her school. The year before she learned the names of 700 students in a different school she had been principal of that year. Just try to imagine what it would mean to a student to be recognized and addressed by their own name in a crowd of 600 students! In (Luke 19:1-10) Jesus was entering Jericho and a well know tax collector by the name of Zacchaeus, who was a short man, climbed up into a tree to be able to see Jesus as He passed by. When Jesus reached the spot where Zacchaeus was, He called him by name and said "Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today". After Zacchaeus had pledged to return 4 times as much as he had taken falsely from anyone for taxes. Then Jesus responded "Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost".

 

Jesus knows us all by name, and calls us to follow Him like He did to His 12 disciples by the Sea of Galilee. Not only does He know us by name, but He knows the plan our Creator had in mind for us before we were born! The Apostle Paul addresses this issue in (Phil 3:10-16), he says he knows he has not yet arrived, but "I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus is calling me. Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, God will make it clear to you. But we must hold on to the progress we have already made". NLT

 

As committed followers of Jesus today, we are members of the Church that Jesus has been in the process of building, as He said He would do as recorded in (Matt 16:18). This true Church is sometimes referred as the "Body of Christ" on earth today. And our main job is to represent the Kingdom of God as "Ambassadors" (2 Col 5:20-21), when you are caused to think you are not important because no one knows your name, just remember Jesus knows your name, and we can know Him as Lord and Savior. That's the most important thing to know for sure!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                             06/12/14                                                                                 

FOR SALE--"As Is"

FOR SALE—"AS IS"

 

We often see an article for sale with this sign attached, whether it is a used car or an old house. It usually means the present owner does not want to spend the necessary cost of repairing the item. What it really means is for "the buyer beware", it will probably cost more to repair it than it's worth. Aren't you glad our Creator doesn't feel that way about us when He calls us to come to Himself through His Son Jesus? He receives us "As Is" in our sin and darkness, knowing that His Holy Spirit has the power to clean us up from whatever condition we may be in. All He needs from us is a decision to believe by faith what Jesus did for us on the cross, and accept Him as Lord and Savior. Then Father does the rest by adopting us into His family and gives us the gift of His Holy Spirit to abide with us forever. This is the "Good News" of the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and is available to anyone who chooses to receive it.

 

As believers in Jesus, and committed followers of Him as members of the "Body of Christ" we have the privilege of sharing this good news with everyone we meet. All we need is to know Jesus as Savior through the "New Birth" experience, and a desire to share Him with others. Jesus tells us clearly in (John 14:6) "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me". And the Apostle Paul explains in (2 Cor 5:17) "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old is gone, a new life has begun". NLT Then if we read verse 18-21 we are told that "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ's ambassadors. God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, come back to God! For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Him". NLT

 

This is certainly good news, that God can take us "As Is", and make us into a completely new person by His marvelous grace. All by a simple choice on our part have you done that yet? and if not why not? God always leaves the choice up to us, so I would suggest you take Him at His Word!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                           01/12/14                                                                                    

 

 

 

The Bottom Line

THE BOTTOM LINE

 

This expression is usually used in reference to financial matters, regarding the value of your estate etc. But I believe it can equally well be used when we consider our "spiritual condition", how is our bottom line spiritually? We often think of our soul's condition when we think of spiritual things, you know the usual question pertains to "are you lost or saved", and what is your eternal destiny, heaven or hell? These are definitely important matters to consider, and make certain choices, which will decide where you will spend eternity. But I'm thinking of something quite different, in previous generations people used expressions like "the crucified life" or "the overcoming life". These terms are never used today to describe our life as a follower of Jesus, and I wonder why. In the book of Revelation we read about certain churches that Jesus told John to write to like (Rev 2:12-17), and notice in verse 17 "Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what He is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it".

 

The letter is written to the "church", but the promise is given to certain individuals within in the church who "have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying". So in other words not everyone in the church really hears and understands what the Spirit is speaking. I expect this is true in every church today as well, so not all are "over comers", and will not receive the promises meant only for those who overcome. God is sovereign and can hand out promises to whomever he chooses. So if we want to be the recipients of His promises to the over comers, we better consider carefully what all is involved. Read (Matt 7:22-23) to see that not all who claim certain gifts will qualify in judgment day. I would suggest we read more from our hero's of past generations like Andrew Murray, Dwight Moody, A.B.Simpson etc. to see what they taught about holiness and sanctification. Their topics were often on living the victorious, dedicated life "In Christ". If it was possible then, it should still be possible today, because "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Heb 13:8), and we can do all things through Him. The "Bottom Line" for our spiritual life is simply "Jesus living His life through us daily". Give it a try and watch it work!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                        01/11/14                                                                                  

 

True Love

TRUE LOVE

 

In the daily devotional in ODB today Oct. 31, 2014, the author Bill Crowder called it "What Love Is", and he used a line that caught my attention "Real love has a lot to do with sacrifice". This word "love" in our English language can be used in a number of different ways with completely different meanings. For example we might say "I love pizza", or "I love my dog or cat", or "I love my new car", or we can say "I love God". This one little word can be used for all these different examples, but we are limited to this one word. The Greek language that most of our NT scriptures were written in had several different words for "love", for example [Agape] and [Eros]. These two words in Greek were both translated into English as love, although their meaning is quite different. Agape is used in (1 John 4:7-8) where we read "God is Agape". Every time John uses love in these verses the Greek word was always Agape.

 

The best example of "Self sacrificing" love is what we see in (John 3:16-17) or in (Rom 5:8) where our Creator God loved us so much that He allowed His own Son Jesus to become "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world"  (John 1:29). This is the type of love that we as followers of Jesus should be continually showing towards the other members of the "Body of Christ". If the world around us saw more of this type of "self sacrificing love" operating in our churches, I'm sure they would be more interested in knowing more about the Good News of the "Gospel of The Kingdom of God" that we are to represent! As part of the true Church that Jesus said He would build (Matt 16:18), we who are followers of Jesus and part of this true Church, often referred to as the "Body of Christ" have our work cut out for us.

 

How do you suppose we could improve our witness to the world around us, to show them more clearly the change of heart that happens to us when we are "born again" and become a child of our Father? I think we need to give this some serious thought, and do as Peter commands us in (1 Peter 3:15) in the NLT version "Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it". That doesn't sound too difficult does it? The main thing is to be showing sacrificial love to others in the Body of Christ that will cause others to notice, and ask you the question "why are you doing that"? Then tell them!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                  31/10/14                                                                               

Simple Truth About End Times

SIMPLE TRUTH ABOUT END TIMES

Our Creator knew we would be interested in knowing about what would happen in the future, so He had a Book written called the Bible which tells us all we need to know. He chose certain people from all walks of life, and had His Holy Spirit to inspire them to just use the words He wanted them to say, (2 Tim 3:16). He chose to use Hebrew and Greek as the languages to have His Word written in, so consequently most of us have to depend on translations to know and understand His Word. He chose special people like Moses to record the first 5 chapters, called Genesis which means "beginning", and certain men like Isaiah and Daniel to write what we refer to as "The Old Testament" (OT), and people like John and Paul to record part of "The New Testament" (NT). It seems He chose Daniel to write about what will happen just before life on this planet will come to an end.

 

Our tiny Planet called Earth was created to sustain life of all kinds, but especially "human" life, because He tells us in (Gen 1:26) "God said let us make human beings in our image, to be like us". (NLT) As we said it would appear that God chose Daniel to be the OT prophet to whom He revealed more information to about the "end times" of life on earth. Daniel was a young teenager when he was taken to Babylon from his home in Jerusalem. He was a faithful worshipper of his God while in Babylon, and won favor with King Nebuchadnezzar because of his God given wisdom. He was the only one who could tell the king what his strange dream meant. In chapter 9 he started a long prayer to God confessing the sins of his people, and in verses 20-27 we read about the angel Gabriel being sent from God to give Daniel the answer to his prayer. It concerned a period of 70 years, divided up into 7 years plus 62 years for a total of 69 that would pass and then a period of 7 years which we refer to as "Daniel's Seventieth Week" would come sometime later. And we know from reading (Matt 24:4-14) and certain sections of Revelation plus part of Paul's letters, what will happen during this important 7 year period. All signs point to this period of 7 years as being the final 7 years of life on our planet, and it starts when a certain man who pretends to be a "man of peace" signs a treaty with Israel for 7 years, but at the "mid-point" he will reveal his true identity as the "man of lawlessness" as Paul calls him in (2 Thess 2:1-12), or in other words The Antichrist. Only Father God knows when all this will happen, but He has warned us through His servant Daniel what to expect, and when it will happen. So look for the signing of this treaty in the future!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                              05/08/14                                                                                                            

Hands Off

HANDS OFF!

 

This article was prompted by the devotional in ODB today by Joe Stowell. He used Psalm 46 as his scriptural basis, (Psalm 46:10) "Be still and know that I am God". Joe says the word "Be still" in the Hebrew language means to "cease striving", which reminds me of a statement by Bob Mumford in his teaching in Agape Road. Bob claims that "striving" is the opposite of "abiding", which Jesus used in (John 15:1-17) to tell us what we must do in order to produce much fruit for the Kingdom of God. Joe used the example of "bobbing for apples", which I'm sure that most of us older folks have done. Your hands are tied behind your back, and you are expected to pick up an apple floating in a container filled with water. For anyone who has never tried it, let me tell you it's harder than you might think! We use our hands for so many different things, that you can't do if they are tied behind your back. Those of us who have 2 healthy hands take them for granted, and never consider what it be like to not have them.

 

Our natural tendency is to keep our "hands on" any given situation that might come up, so me can control the outcome to our advantage. But the scriptures tell us to do the opposite, and to take our "Hand Off" the situation and trust the outcome to God. This can make us feel very vulnerable, unless of course we believe verse 1 of this Psalm "God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble", or verse 7 which assures us "The Lord of heaven's armies is here among us, The God of Israel is our fortress". We can always depend on our faithful God who declares in (Heb 13:5-6) "Don't love money, be satisfied with what you have. For God said I will never leave you. I will never abandon you. So you can say with confidence the Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear, what can mere people do to me?" Joe finishes up with "In the midst of trouble, we can rest in God's care". Then he prays "Lord, forgive me for always wanting to manage my own affairs. Teach me to trust in Your wise and timely intervention and to keep my hands out of Your way". I believe this to be good advice for all of us to tend to think our way is the best way to handle certain situations, until we enquire of the Lord for His advice. We all have a "Flesh Nature" even after we are "born again" and realize that our old sinful nature that we inherited from our original parents Adam and Eve died with Jesus on the cross. Paul tells us how to deal with this flesh nature in (Gal 5:16-21)!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                            03/11/14

 

Our Natural Life vs. Our Spiritual Life

OUR NATURAL LIFE vs. OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE

 

We humans live our life journey on two different levels at the same time. We all began our "natural life" with the miracle of "conception" in the womb of our mother, which starts us on our journey of life on Planet Earth. But then at some point when we are old enough to reason and understand things, we can "choose" to place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ the Son of God our Creator, at which time Jesus becomes our Lord and Savior from the sinful life style we all inherited from our original parents Adam and Eve. This experience is called being "born again" by the Spirit of God, and Jesus explains this miracle to a certain man named Nicodemus in (John 3:1-8), which prepares us for life with Jesus when we die, and we call this our "spiritual life". We have no choice in our natural life, but we do in our spiritual life. When we hear the good news of the Gospel of the Kingdom, and realize what Jesus did for us on the cross be being our "sin bearer", and make a choice to accept Him as our Lord and Savior a second "miracle" happens to us and we become a "new creation". See (2 Cor 5:17-21) where the Apostle Paul explains what it means to be "In Christ", this is when we take on our "spiritual life" that prepares us for life in eternity with Jesus. 

 

So at this stage on our journey we start living our lives on 2 different levels, we are still natural but now have supernatural power from the Holy Spirit who now indwells us. The moment we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior Father "adopts" us into His eternal family, and gives us the gift of His Holy Spirit. From that point on we are "followers of Jesus" and our lives should be "transformed" more and more into the likeness of Jesus. But even though the old sinful lifestyle we inherited from Adam died with Jesus on the cross, we still have our "natural life" we were born with. And Paul calls this our "flesh nature" in (Gal 5:16-21) he explains our responsibility of not yielding to this "flesh nature", but instead let the Holy Spirit guide us into a life that reflects His character as "the fruit of the Spirit" as listed by Paul in verses 22-26. This is the only way to live a life that will please our Heavenly Father, and it is available to any born again follower of Jesus. God always leaves the choice in these matters of behavior up to us, but He has given us the Holy Spirit to empower us to make the right choices. So we have no excuse for continuing to allow our flesh nature to lead us into sin of any sort, when all we have to do when we face temptations of any type is simply to trust the Holy Spirit to guide us into victory in Jesus!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                               05/08/14                                                                                                                                         

The Timing of The Rapture

THE TIMING of THE RAPTURE

 

Ever since I started to read the Bible back in the early 60's, I have never understood the timing of the rapture. I know for sure that Jesus is going to come back to earth some day for His Church (Acts 1: 6-11), but only the Father knows when that will be according to Jesus in (Matt 24:36). Paul explains clearly how it will happen in (1 Thess 4:15-18) but there has been much speculation about when it will happen. I easily figured out it had to be "pre-millennial", He has to be here on earth in order to reign for 1000 years. But then I was faced with deciding was it "Pre", "Mid", or "Post" regarding the time of the "Great Tribulation". I chose the "pre-tribulation" position at the time because I didn't like to consider suffering under the rule of that terrible "beast of Rev 13". I believed that doctrine, and taught it to others for some 30 years, before I knew there was another position called "The Pre-wrath Rapture" position. Once I understood that position toward the timing of the rapture, I never looked back.

 

I was introduced to this new position of the timing of the rapture by reading "The Sign" by Robert Van Kampen, written and published first in 1992 after spending 8 years and some 9000 hours of studying the scriptures pertaining to this subject. I consider this book was a gift from God to me from a brother in the Lord from Oklahoma USA, who was in SJ at the time as a representative from Martyrs for Christ organization who were having a conference in SJ and he stayed with us for a week. His name is Ray Thorne who just happened to have his copy of the book with him. He asked me if I had ever heard of the book, and of course I hadn't, so he let me look it over for that week and when he left graciously gave it to me as a gift. If happens to be a revised copy dated 1999, and I received it on Feb 20/2001, and it has answered my many questions about not only the rapture, but the whole end times scenario. It especially covers how God is going to deal with His "chosen people" the Jews in these end times. Something my previous teaching on the rapture never mentioned, it seemed all they were interested in was getting to heaven before the tribulation started. I now am sure the tribulation will start at the mid-point of the 7 year period mentioned in (Dan 9:24-27), when this world ruler will reveal himself as being the Antichrist and will immediately start the tribulation with the church. At some point in this tribulation God will shorten this time (Matt 24:21-22) by sending Jesus for the rapture, and then the angels to pour out God's Wrath!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                                   15/10/14

A Sure Foundation

A SURE FOUNDATION

 

The devotional from ODB (Our Daily Bread) today Oct 19, 2014 prompted me to put together this article. The author used the scripture where Jesus had just finished what we call "the sermon on the mount", based on chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew's Gospel. Then to finish this chapter with (Matt 7:26-29) He told the story of two men, one who He called "Wise" built his house on bedrock, while the other man He called "Foolish", because he built his house on sand. Then when the storms came against their houses, the one built on the bedrock stood firm, while the other one collapsed because of the unsound foundation. Verses 28-29 finish this chapter with "When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at His teaching, for He taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religion". (NLT)

 

Moses was a man who had a good relationship with God and often had intimate discussions with Him as recorded in (Exod 33:12-23); Moses wanted to see "God's glorious presence", but God said "no one may see me and live". But because of His favor toward Moses He agreed to a way that Moses could see His glorious presence but not His face. The plan included Moses being placed in a crevice in the "Rock", which represented Jesus and God passed by placing His hand over Moses until He was safely past and only then could Moses see His back. So whenever we read about Moses meeting with God "face to face" it must have been with Jesus, the only member of the Godhead with a body. In the NT scriptures we read about His birth, ministry, death, and resurrection. And scriptures (John 1:1-14) and (Heb 1:1-4) confirm that Jesus and Father God are one and the same Devine person. So it is perfectly clear that God's Son Jesus Christ is the one and only "safe foundation" to build our lives on!

 

In (John 14:6) we hear Jesus declaring "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me". This scripture is very clear that "Jesus is Truth" and therefore, if we want our life to be one that pleases Father God, it "must" be built on the only safe and solid foundation which is Jesus Christ. We are all sinners (Rom 3:23), so the first step to take is to believe what He did on the cross was for you, and personally receive Him as your Lord and Savior. Father then adopts you into His Eternal family as a child of God, and you are then assured of a place in heaven when you die. This is the only way according to God's Word the Bible!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                             20/10/14

Timely Words

 TIMELY WORDS

 

I was impressed by the devotional by this name in Our Daily Bread (ODB) on 13/10/14. We have probably all heard the old adage "Timing is everything", and I certainly believe it is true when it comes to knowing whether to speak or remain silent in certain situations. In (Prov 25:11-12) in the NLT version we read "Timely advice is lovely, like golden apples in a silver basket. To one who listens, valid criticism is like a gold earring or other jewelry". Some times it is wiser to remain silent than it is to speak what you had in mind to say to someone. In (Eccles 3:1-8) it tells us there is "a time for everything", and in verse 7 we read "A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak". (NLT) Knowing the right time to speak is beneficial for both the speaker as well as the hearer.

 

There is some good advice for us in (James 1:19-20) on this topic, "Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: you must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires". (NLT) This is good advice, and requires that we be under the control of the Holy Spirit at all times. Every born again child of God has been given the Holy Spirit as a free gift from the Father when He "adopts" us into His Family. This happens the moment we as lost sinners, place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior! Father knew we wouldn't be able to live a life that would please Him without the help of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit will always help us to use the right word at the right time, or perhaps keep silent if that is the best thing to do.

 

We should always have the other person's best interest at heart at all times. Read carefully (Col 3:1-17), which in the NLT version is headed up with "Living the New Life". Here Paul gives some very practical advice for us to follow as committed followers of Jesus. I especially like verses 12-15 "Since God chose you to be the holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all clothe yourselves with love, which binds all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And be thankful". That pretty well sums up what God expects of us as His children!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                    17/10/14                                                                                  

A New Paradigm

A NEW PARADIGM

 

I have been hearing much lately about the need for the church to have a "new paradigm". As I understand the term, it simply means a new way of seeing and understanding our role as the "Body of Christ" here and now on planet earth! We have operated for years under an old paradigm, and now must leave the old behind, in favor of the new. Something similar to the "New Covenant", which replaced the "Old Covenant". Our Bibles are clearly divided into these two parts that we call the Old Testament and the New Testament, with John the Baptist being the dividing line between them. (Matt 11:11) One thing that has helped to shape our old paradigm was the introduction by Dr Scofield of what he called the seven "dispensations" of history, instead of two! His teaching is known as "Dispensationalism", and has greatly affected the church in the last century. A more important thing that has shaped the old paradigm has been the church "structure" introduced by Constantine back in the fourth century. We see God's plan for church structure in the NT writings, especially the book of Acts, and Paul's letters. And a big part of the new paradigm for the church will simply be getting back to the original model set up by Jesus! There have been many restoration movements in the history of the church that have brought changes to doctrine, but not to this old structure of how we "do church"!

 

One big problem as I see it, is our understanding of heaven being our "goal". Everbody wants to get to heaven as soon as possible, to escape the wickedness in the world we are called to live in. That has never been God's intention for His children, in spite of what we have been told. Bob Mumford stated recently in a teaching given at Elim Bible Institute, "Heaven is not the goal!", the goal is found in (Rom 8:18-25), and in (Eph 4:11-13), and would seem to be that we are to become the "mature children", who can properly demonstrate to the world what God's Kingdom is all about! The world has never really seen that in the church, which has always been focused on getting to heaven and avoiding hell. The world around us needs to see Jesus in all His Fullness and Beauty! That's why God left us here on planet earth after He redeemed us, to be "shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people" (Phil 2:15)!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                      20/03/12                                                                   

The Ultimate Reunion

THE ULTIMATE REUNION

 

This topic was brought to my mind this morning by the devotional in ODB by Joe Stowell. He used (1 Thess 4:13-18) for his text, which is commonly referred to as "the rapture passage". Paul was addressing the question of what happens to those loved ones who had died "in the Lord", and if they would ever see them again? This is a clear explanation of what will happen at the return of Jesus to receive His "Church/Bride", and includes "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall ever be with the Lord". This will definitely not be "a secret quiet little affair" as some believe, but I expect will be quite "noisy"! And of course only Father God knows when this will occur (Matt 24:36), although many people have made predictions of when this rapture will happen, but they are all "false prophets" according to Jesus.

 

But we can be certain that it will happen in God's perfect time, until then Jesus will remain at His Father's side "until" certain things happen, See

(Ps 110:1) or (Acts 3:19-21) for details. This should end all of those theories that Jesus might return "at any moment", these are definitely not true and are impossible according to scripture. But this will be what Joe calls "The Ultimate Reunion" with family or friends who knew Jesus as Lord and Savior, and have already passed on. This is our glorious hope if we have obeyed the advice given by Paul to Titus in (Titus 3:1-8), which is part of the "Gospel of the Kingdom" that must be preached to all nations and tribes and tongues before the "end of this age" (Matt 24:14), which are the words of Jesus.

 

Most everyone has at least a few people who you know had a relationship with Jesus before they died, and are now enjoying His presence in heaven. This is the "Ultimate Reunion" you can look forward to if you have that same relationship with Jesus here and now in this life. If you are not sure where you stand with Jesus, I would suggest you read (John 14:6) and then (Eph 2:1-10) where Paul explains clearly how we can be sure of this relationship with God. This is how we can be sure of having this "ultimate reunion" with those who have gone on before us!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                       27/09/14                                                                                     

The Lion of The Tribe of Judah

THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH

 

The fifth chapter of the book of Revelation is dedicated entirely to a discussion of this person who is none other than Jesus Christ in His resurrected heavenly body. We have many pictures in various passages of scripture of Jesus the Son of God, starting with Him as the lowly babe in the manger in Bethlehem, then as described by John the Baptist in (John 1:29) as the "Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world", plus many others. In this case it is given by John as he is weeping because no one is found worthy to open the scroll in the hand of God, then in (Rev 5:5) we read "But one of the twenty four elders said to me, stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David's throne, has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals". As I understand scripture, Jesus is the only member of the Godhead that we refer to as the Trinity, who actually has a body. When we read about Moses speaking to God "face to face" on the mountain of God, it has to be Jesus he is talking to because of (Exod 33:17-23). The "rock" that God mentions that He would place Moses in would represent Jesus!   

 

Then we have the description of Jesus given by John in (Rev 1:12-20), and then again in (Rev 19:12-16), so we have many pictures of Jesus to help us understand Him a little better. Actually it appears to me that Jesus will make 3 visits to our planet all together, first as "a baby King in Bethlehem", then second as our deliverer from the Antichrist at the rapture (1 Thess 4:15-18) although at that time He only comes in the clouds of glory, and we go up to meet Him, and then as "the King of kings and Lord of lords" in (Rev 19:12-16), when He comes to defeat His enemies at the "battle of Armageddon". The other pictures we have of Him are all heavenly scenes, and we will have to wait until we get there to see Him in person. But probably the most important picture we need to see Him as, is "The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world". What He accomplished for us on the cross is certainly the "very core" of the Gospel of The Kingdom. And that is the basis of our assurance of salvation that needs to be made known to the whole world. So as committed followers of Jesus we certainly have our work cut out for us. People need to know how very much God loves them just the way they are. He showed this by allowing His only begotten Son Jesus to die in our place on the cross as our "Redeemer". Jesus was the "perfect God/Man" who was qualified to settle the debt we all owed as lost sinners (Rom 6:23)!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                  23/09/14                                                                                

The Day of The Lord

THE DAY of THE LORD

 

This day is the real "Pivot point" of the whole end times scenario, on the same day that Jesus comes for His second visit to rapture His Church/Bride in the morning of that great day; once the Godly are taken away the Wrath of God on the wicked who remain will begin. Because of our wrong teaching about the end times, and especially about the rapture, many people don't know this truth. The "Day of The Lord" is described in graphic detail by 8 OT writers, and confirmed by 3 NT writers, Luke, Paul, and Peter. So I would say that we are without excuse of the importance of this day, if we are familiar at all with the Bible. God is certainly a God of "love and compassion", but He is also a God of "justice and judgment", and we can't separate these two qualities. And as the old saying goes "you can't have one without the other", although some people think He is like a big "Santa Clause" up in heaven somewhere, who will give us anything we desire! If you don't believe me, I suggest you read (Zeph 1:2-18; 3:11-20) and also (2 Peter 3:1-13), both of these passages are in God's Book.

 

The rapture of the Church will happen quickly see (1 Thess 4:13-18) for details. But the actual pouring out of God's wrath will take some time, possibly several months, but the decision to start this process begins this same day. Actually several chapters of Revelation cover this event, chapters 8-11 and 16 all speak about the "wrath of God". This is not to be confused with the "wrath of Satan" that we see when the Antichrist causes the "Great Tribulation" with the Church that is "Cut short" by the return of Jesus (Matt 24:21-22). I have found there is much confusion in this whole area, caused by so many books that have been written that are based on the false doctrine of the pretribulation rapture. If you are interested in learning more in detail about this subject, I would suggest you obtain a copy of "The Sign" by Robert Van Kampen that was first published in 1992 and then revised and republished in 1998. Copies are available from Abe Books Canada at a very reasonable price for a used book. I have a copy of the revised edition and have found it very helpful in understanding this whole topic of the "end times", which can be hard to keep straight in your mind!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                   29/08/14                                                                                                                                                                                                   

 

Simple Truth About The End Times

SIMPLE TRUTH ABOUT END TIMES

Our Creator knew we would be interested in knowing about what would happen in the future, so He had a Book written called the Bible which tells us all we need to know. He chose certain people from all walks of life, and had His Holy Spirit to inspire them to just use the words He wanted them to say, (2 Tim 3:16). He chose to use Hebrew and Greek as the languages to have His Word written in, so consequently most of us have to depend on translations to know and understand His Word. He chose special people like Moses to record the first 5 chapters, called Genesis which means "beginning", and certain men like Isaiah and Daniel to write what we refer to as "The Old Testament" (OT), and people like John and Paul to record part of "The New Testament" (NT). It seems He chose Daniel to write about what will happen just before life on this planet will come to an end.

 

Our tiny Planet called Earth was created to sustain life of all kinds, but especially "human" life, because He tells us in (Gen 1:26) "God said let us make human beings in our image, to be like us". (NLT) As we said it would appear that God chose Daniel to be the OT prophet to whom He revealed more information to about the "end times" of life on earth. Daniel was a young teenager when he was taken to Babylon from his home in Jerusalem. He was a faithful worshipper of his God while in Babylon, and won favor with King Nebuchadnezzar because of his God given wisdom. He was the only one who could tell the king what his strange dream meant. In chapter 9 he started a long prayer to God confessing the sins of his people, and in verses 20-27 we read about the angel Gabriel being sent from God to give Daniel the answer to his prayer. It concerned a period of 70 years, divided up into 7 years plus 62 years for a total of 69 that would pass and then a period of 7 years which we refer to as "Daniel's Seventieth Week" would come sometime later. And we know from reading (Matt 24:4-14) and certain sections of Revelation plus part of Paul's letters, what will happen during this important 7 year period. All signs point to this period of 7 years as being the final 7 years of life on our planet, and it starts when a certain man who pretends to be a "man of peace" signs a treaty with Israel for 7 years, but at the "mid-point" he will reveal his true identity as the "man of lawlessness" as Paul calls him in (2 Thess 2:1-12), or in other words The Antichrist. Only Father God knows when all this will happen, but He has warned us through His servant Daniel what to expect, and when it will happen. So look for the signing of this treaty in the future!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                          05/08/14                                                                                              

How Jesus used the OT scriptures

HOW JESUS USED THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES.

The very first example we see is when He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness soon after He was baptized by John in the river Jordon. Both Matthew and Luke record this event in chapter four of their gospel accounts. The accounts are nearly identical, so you can take your pick. Satan started each temptation with "If you are the Son of God?" which is a question to cause doubt. But Jesus answered each statement with the same answer "It is written", and then quoted a suitable scripture from the OT. Actually all that Jesus had as His "Bible" was the OT scrolls that He often quoted from. Another case would be later in the same chapter of Luke (Luke 4:14-30), where we see Him being rejected in His own home town where He had been brought up.

 

Probably the best example of Jesus using the OT Scriptures would be (Luke 24:13-34) where He came upon the two men walking on the road to Emmaus. It was the same day that Jesus had arisen from the tomb He had spent the last three days in. They were discussing the events of the last few days in Jerusalem, and were very sad. Jesus joined them on their walk and asked questions, as if He didn't know what had happened. This opened the door for Him to remind them of what they should have known from their OT Scriptures. Jesus reminded them of the words of Moses and all the prophets, and then we read in verse 27 "Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself". Can you imagine what a Bible study that must have been? Some people avoid reading the OT Scriptures, because they think they are obsolete like the old covenant that was replaced by the New Covenant. But this is a misunderstanding of the Bible. The truth is that our Bible contains both the OT and the NT Scriptures, and we need both. Someone has said concerning the two "The New Testament is concealed in the Old Testament, while the Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament". In other words they are both the Word of God and we need both. It is true that some OT passages are hard to understand, but the same Spirit who inspired the authors of both (2 Tim 3:16) is available to anyone who has been "born again" by accepting Jesus by faith, and what He has accomplished for us on the cross, and receive Him as Lord and Savior. At that moment Father "adopts" you into His Eternal Family and gives you the gift of His Holy Spirit, as a seal of the transaction!!

Sincerely submitted

Dave Jamer                                22/08/14                                                                                                                   

 

Holding On

HOLDING ON

 

In a recent reading of (1 Tim 6) from the NLT version, my attention was drawn to part of verse 12 "---Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you----". This tells me what it is that we should be holding on to! We read in (1 John 5:11) that "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son", therefore it is really Jesus, the only begotten Son of God that we should be holding on to! Right? The first part of (1 Tim 6:12) tells us "Fight the good fight for the true faith", and then goes on to speak of holding on to eternal life. This tells me that holding on to eternal life these days will involve a fight! The Word of God tells us clearly that He will never leave us or forsake us, but it doesn't tell us we won't have to fight sometimes for our very life! We are called to live in a very wicked world, that is becoming more "Anti-Christian" all the time. Paul wrote to the church at Philippi that they should live as bright lights in a world "full of crooked and perverse people". (Phil 2:15) If that were true back in Paul's day, how much more so today, some twenty centuries later!

 

How important it is, even very critical, as followers of Jesus today, to stay real close to Him! You might be thinking how can I do that when He is heaven with the Father, and I'm here on this sin cursed earth? Remember the instructions He left with His disciples before His ascension, as recorded in the gospel of John in chapters 14, 15, and 16. He assured them it was going to be better for them for Him to go away because then He would send the Holy Spirit to indwell them. The promises He gave them are still valid for us, as His followers today. So if we are to be victorious in our faith battles, it is absolutely essential that we get to know the person of the Holy Spirit, and learn to hear His voice! Some people treat Him as some sort of power that they can receive and use, but this is very wrong, and often leads to "fanaticism"! The Holy Spirit is a person, and He must be honored as such. Not only is He a person like you or me, but He is part of the Trinity, and therefore a Divine Personality! Remember this world is not our home; we are just passing through on our way to our eternal home with Jesus our Redeemer! Let's hold on fast to eternal life, and heed the warning of (Heb 2:1-4) about the danger of "drifting away"!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                               Revised 18/07/14                                                                                                            

In Christ or In The Lord

 IN CHRIST or IN THE LORD?

The term "in Christ" is used 68 times in the NT and it is an "affirmational" truth according to Bob Mumford. While "in the Lord" is used 42 times in the NT, and is what he calls "aspirational" which requires some effort on our part, or in other words it is "behavioral" in nature. "In Christ" is a "gift" from God and is completely "by grace through faith", and not by any works of ours (Eph 2:8-10), so be well aware of this fact! While "in the Lord" can be understood from (Matt 7:21-23), where we see many people who call Jesus "Lord! Lord!" but Jesus will reply to them "I never knew you, get away from me you who break God's heart". (NLT) So I think these two scripture passages show clearly the difference between the separate meanings of these phrases. I have read the scriptures for many years, and have heard many sermons preached, but have never understood the difference between these two expressions until I saw Bob teaching this truth on You Tube yesterday. This only made me more aware of the fact that we can often think we understand what certain scripture passages mean, but miss the true meaning by a mile, so to speak. So we all need to read scripture more carefully, and listen to certain people who are proven "teachers" who have been "called" by God to that position in the "Body of Christ" like Bob Mumford has been.

 

One thing I have learned in my some 50 years of being involved in various denominational churches is how easily I can think I know the true meaning of a certain Bible truth, but have the wrong basic concept, based on incomplete teaching. I have no trouble believing that the complete Bible is God's Word from cover to cover, but I have often been led astray by believing certain church "doctrines" that I was taught as being based on Bible truth, only to find out they were based on some man's understanding of some scripture passage. This could very well have been only a theory based on his interpretation of a certain scripture passage taken out of context. This is often what happened with certain doctrines that perhaps sounded good to certain church leaders, and before long they were accepted by whole denominations. I have found this to be true in several cases, which has caused me to use extra caution about any so-called "new teaching". Several NT authors have warned us to beware of "many" false teachers that will show up in our "churches" in these later days. So I take it from that fact that we all need to be careful and know who we are listening to and following. It certainly pays to be extremely cautious!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                       27/04/13                                                                                                      

The Fellowship of the Unashamed

THE FELLOWSHIP of the UNASHAMED

 

I recently read a book by that name, published by the SKY family in PEI. I obtained it from their website <theskys.org>, and was so impressed by it, that I would encourage everyone to buy a copy for some friend, and read it for yourself before you give it away! That's how much I think of it, and believe everyone can benefit from it. It is not an ordinary type of book but is more an outline for a Bible study, 213 pages divided into 27 chapters, or a little less than 8 pages per chapter. It is more or less based on the 10 commandments of God that were expanded to 613 rules or regulations by the religious Jewish leaders at the time of Jesus. Religion has a way of doing that, to make it difficult for the average person to follow. Jesus came to earth to destroy "religion", and replace it with a "relationship" with our heavenly Father. This relationship is not difficult to establish, or maintain. It only requires a little faith, and obedience to what God has declared in His Word! Any child, who reaches the age of understanding simple truth that is explained to them, can start this relationship with Father God, through accepting His Son Jesus and what He did for us on the cross! It is not complicated, like some religious leaders have made it out to be.

 

One important truth I learned, after being part of the "church" for nearly 50 years, was the difference between the "moral law" (the 10 commandments), which Jesus came to fulfill, and the 613 "ceremonial laws" that He came to destroy! No one ever explained that to me through all these many years in church meetings. That is only one of many things that I received new illumination on. We are never too old to learn new things, providing we are open, and realize that we don't know everything! Sometimes a knowledge of "religion", and a feeling of wanting to "look good", and "be right", can prevent us from receiving more of God's truth. By the way these are 2 of the "7 giants" that Bob Mumford describes in his book called the "Agape Road".

That is another book that I have learned a lot from, and am still trying to apply these truths to my own life. Both of these books are good tools to have on hand, both to gain from yourself and to share with others. I find that books that are solidly based on scripture, can often help you understand scripture better, and help you grow in your spiritual walk!!

 

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                             Revised 17/09/13                                                                                                                                                                              

The Rest of The Lord

THE REST OF THE LORD

 

In the book of Hebrews, chapter 4, we find a discussion about this subject and in verse 9 we read in the NLT version "So there is a special rest still waiting for the children of God". Then in the devotional booklet called ODB today the topic was "Tree of Rest", which caught my attention. Apparently the author lived near a farmer's field with one lone tree out in the center of the field, which had once been a pasture for his cattle. It seems that was a common practice when they cut down the trees to clear the land, they would often leave one large tree as a "shade tree" that would be a place of rest for the animals from the sun on a hot summer day. I can personally relate to that having been brought up on a farm, I can well remember seeing a group of cattle resting in the shade of an old tree of some kind.

 

The OT speaks of a remnant of Israelites whom God spared when the nation was sent into exile. This remnant preserved God's law and later rebuilt the temple (Ezra 9:9). The Apostle Paul referred to himself as part of the remnant of God (Rom 11:1-14). NLT He spared them to become God's messengers to the Gentiles (non-Jews). Praise God for His faithfulness to His original "chosen people", who will one day come to saving faith in Jesus Christ as their Messiah! At this present time their minds are veiled from the truth until the fullness of the Gentiles has come into the Body of Christ, and then as we read in (Rom 11:25-36) NLT that at the proper time God will redeem the remnant of Israel. This has always been part of His ultimate plan since before He created our time and space world.

 

How important it is that as followers of Jesus, we become familiar with the often difficult plan of our Great Creator, that He had recorded for us in the Bible so that it can be understood by true seekers after truth. Since we know that when "doubting Thomas" said he didn't know the way that Jesus said He was going, He replied "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me". (John 14:6) NLT Part of our responsibility as a follower of Jesus is to be a "Tree of Rest" to others who are also followers of Jesus.  How can we do that you might ask? I believe that God would expect us to speak "encouraging words" to those who might be discouraged with life for any one of many possible reasons. Often all that is needed is a listening ear so they can feel that you are really interested in them as a person, who is a real brother or sister to them in the Lord!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                 02/05/14                                                                                 

A New Paradigm

A NEW PARADIGM

 

I have been hearing much lately about the need for the church to have a "new paradigm". As I understand the term, it simply means a new way of seeing and understanding our role as the "Body of Christ" here and now on planet earth! We have operated for years under an old paradigm, and now must leave the old behind, in favor of the new. Something similar to the "New Covenant", which replaced the "Old Covenant". Our Bibles are clearly divided into these two parts that we call the Old Testament and the New Testament, with John the Baptist being the dividing line between them. (Matt 11:11) One thing that has helped to shape our old paradigm was the introduction by Dr Scofield of what he called the seven "dispensations" of history, instead of two! His teaching is known as "Dispensationalism", and has greatly affected the church in the last century. A more important thing that has shaped the old paradigm has been the church "structure" introduced by Constantine back in the fourth century. We see God's plan for church structure in the NT writings, especially the book of Acts, and Paul's letters. And a big part of the new paradigm for the church will simply be getting back to the original model set up by Jesus! There have been many restoration movements in the history of the church that have brought changes to doctrine, but not to this old structure of how we "do church"!

 

One big problem as I see it, is our understanding of heaven being our "goal". Everybody wants to get to heaven as soon as possible, to escape the wickedness in the world we are called to live in. That has never been God's intention for His children, in spite of what we have been told. Bob Mumford stated recently in a teaching given at Elim Bible Institute, "Heaven is not the goal!", the goal is found in (Rom 8:18-25), and in (Eph 4:11-13), and would seem to be that we are to become the "mature children", who can properly demonstrate to the world what God's Kingdom is all about! The world has never really seen that in the church, which has always been focused on getting to heaven and avoiding hell. The world around us needs to see Jesus in all His Fullness and Beauty! That's why God left us here on planet earth after He redeemed us, to be "shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people" (Phil 2:15)!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                        20/03/12                                                                          

The Careful Walk

THE CAREFUL WALK

 

This was the title of the devotional in ODB today, June 2, 2014 by Dave Branon. He based it on (Eph 5:15-21) which in the NLT version starts with the heading "Living by the Spirit's power". This passage from verse 15-21 gives us some wonderful advice from the Apostle Paul about how we should live our lives. Verse 15 starts with "So be careful how you live. Don't live like fools, but like those who are wise". And 16 carries on with "Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days". I don't think anybody would disagree with that statement that we are living in evil days in this 21^st century. We see the results of it every day on the evening news broadcasts. But Paul doesn't leave us there, but goes on in verse 17 to say "Don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do". This is probably where many people are today in their walk with the Lord!

 

Paul goes on in verse 18 to state one of the most important verses in all of scripture "Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead be filled with the Holy Spirit". The tense of the verb he uses for being filled in Greek is one that implies a "continuous action", in other words be continuously filled with the Spirit at all times. We hear a lot today about the need to receive the "Baptism with the Holy Spirit", once you are born again. And we know from (Acts 2:4) that the initial sign of being filled with the Spirit is to speak with tongues as He gives the ability. These tongues can be either "of men or of angels" (1 Cor 13:1), or in other words on the day of the original outpouring of the Spirit they were definitely "known tongues" of the 14 different nations listed in verses 7-11 of Acts chapter 2. Then in (1 Cor 14:2) we understand Paul explaining speaking in a "heavenly" tongue of angels, to communicate directly to our Father. So apparently there are 2 different types of tongues, one for communicating with people of a different nation, and the other a "prayer language" for use in communicating directly with God. Not everyone I have met in Pentecostal or Charismatic circles seem to understand this, and certain confusion has been the result. The fruit of this being constantly filled is given in verses 19-21. Notice that speaking in tongues is not mentioned, but things like "Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God". NKJV We certainly need the Holy Spirit infilling to do these last few things mentioned, especially "submission to others"!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                               03/06/14                                                                                                                                        

God's Lost Treasures

A CALL TO COMFORT OTHERS

 

When we read (2 Cor 1:3-11) we see the Apostle Paul offering some good advice on how to express comfort and encouragement to anyone going through a time of loss. When we know someone who has recently endured the loss of a loved one through death, or some other tragedy, this is a good passage to turn to. Bible scholar W. E. Vine, who wrote "Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words", says the Greek word that is translated as "comfort" in this passage means "A calling to one's side". Paul uses this word several times in this passage, for example in verse 7 we read "We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us". So in other words when we take time to share in another person's suffering, we can also share in the comfort we both will receive from God, as Paul expresses it so well in verse 4. "He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us".

 

I recently read a line someone had written, "God comforts us so that we can comfort others". And this is certainly a true statement that we find repeated often in scripture, because our God is defined by the Apostle John in his first letter (1 John 4:8) as [Agape] the Greek word for "love". Actually there are two Greek words that are both translated into English as love. They are [Agape] and [Eros] and have a completely different meaning, [Agape] is the word used for God, but [Eros] is used for sensual or erotic love, the word that the world uses to express love. Sometimes the word used to express the true meaning of Eros is taken from it and is "erotic". It is much used today in our sinful society, and shows the weakness of English as a language compared to either Hebrew or Greek.

 

Our God wants to comfort us in any trouble we might find ourselves in at times, because He loves us with His unending unconditional Agape love. And this is the kind of love and concern for others that He gives us once we become part of His Eternal family when we place our faith and trust in His Son Jesus Christ. When anyone who does this is "born again" as Jesus told Nicodemus he must be in (John 3:1-8). At that moment Father God adopts them into His family, and they become citizens of heaven, and a member of the "the Holy city, the New Jerusalem" that John saw coming down from heaven to earth as recorded in (Rev 21:1-4), our eternal home!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                              26/05/14

GOD'S LOST TREASURE

 

I was inspired by the devotional in ODB today by Joe Stowell, May 29, 2014. When Jesus gathered His group of 12 disciples at the start of His ministry He simply called them "come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people". (Matt 4:19). Apparently He considered all people to be lost and needed to be found, in other words they represented "His Lost Treasures". We are all of infinite value to God because of His unconditional love for all of His creation, and therefore He declares in (2 Peter 3:9) that "He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance". The well known scripture (John 3:16) tells us the same thing, so we can be sure we are all precious treasures to Him. In fact the Apostle Paul refers to us as "God's Masterpiece" in (Eph 2:10), where he gives a good summary of the gospel in the first 10 verses of this chapter.

 

Men and women are all lost in the grip of sin that we all inherited from our first parents Adam and Eve. But thanks be to God who allowed His only begotten Son Jesus to die on that cruel Roman cross as our "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29). He became our one and only "Redeemer", who could satisfy our account registered in heaven, when we acknowledged our sin debt and repented of it and received Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Once we become a new creature in Christ (2 Cor 5:17), then we can help others find our mutual King Jesus, so they too can become one of Father's children, and a committed follower of Jesus. That is why you and I are left here on this earth after we are "born again" by God's Spirit. So that we can testify to others what a change Jesus can make in our lives.

 

Our common enemy Satan with his huge number of earth bound demons on earth, plus the "fallen angels" who followed Lucifer in his pride and rebellion that caused him to be caste out of heaven, and now are the "rulers and authorities" in "heavenly places" (Eph 3:10) NLT. These combined forces of demons and fallen angels, make up Satan's kingdom of darkness that is constantly at war with those of us who are part of God's Kingdom of light. This is what we refer to as "spiritual warfare", but what we must realize is that the "Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8), and Paul confirmed this in (Col 2:13-15). So really all that the devil is left with is his character as "the father of lies" (John 8:44), his only weapon against God's children is lies and deception!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                               29/05/14                                                                                     

D-DAY

D-DAY

 

Today June 6, 2014 is the 70^th anniversary of an important day in the WW2 when the soldiers of the Allied Forces invaded Normandy France, which proved to be the "start of the end" of the greatest World War to date. In which the Allied Forces of England, Canada and the US combined to defeat the army of Nazi Germany under Adolph Hitler. Some of you would be too young to remember this war, but I had 2 brothers and several uncles involved in various phases of the war, but not this particular battle. The term D-Day has come to represent certain important days in our lives, for example when Joshua became the leader of the Israelites after Moses died and was challenging the people about what gods they would worship when they entered the land that Almighty God had promised to give them, in (Josh 24:15) he said "But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord". And I expect that everyone reading this article have had their personal D-Day's in their lifetime.

 

For most of us the day of our birth into this world from our mother's womb would qualify as a D-Day. A day we all celebrate every year! Then there might be days of crisis of one sort or another, perhaps when a loved one dies, or some other day that stands out in your mind. For me personally this day would be Dec 8, 1999, the day I had my first stroke that drastically changed my lifestyle. I'm sure we can all remember such days in our lives that could be called a D-Day for us personally. But I believe that by far the greatest singular D-Day for anyone would have to be the day they choose to follow Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior! This is the one decision that determines where we will spend eternity when our life ends on Planet Earth. What could possibly be a more important day than that? And to realize that our Creator leaves that decision up to us personally is almost more than I can wrap my mind around. But He did create us all with a "free will" with which to make choices, when He could have created as "robots".

 

With that fact in mind, I need to ask you all a serious question, have you made this all important decision to place your faith and trust in what Jesus did for all of us humans on the Cross of Calvary. That is clearly the most important decision you will ever make, that decides whether you will spend eternity with Jesus and His Father with the Holy Spirit in the New Jerusalem that He has prepared for His children, see (Rev 21:1-8)!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                          07/06/14                                                                                         

Too Late

TOO LATE

 

This was the title of the ODB devotional for today, April 30, 2014 written by Dave Branon. He had spent some time as a university professor and every year he would warn his freshman students of the need to get all of their class assignments in on time. But invariably there would be some students who were always late getting them in. He would have to tell them "I'm sorry. It's too late, you have failed the class". And of course they would be out the cost of that class, and would have to repeat it just because they were "too late". According to (Matt 7:21-23) some people will stand before Jesus Christ who are not "true disciples" and will hear Him say "Not everyone who calls out to me Lord! Lord will enter the Kingdom of heaven, only those who actually do the will of my father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, Lord! Lord!  We prophesied in your name and performed many miracles in your name. But I will reply I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God's laws". NLT

 

In Hebrews chapter four we read about the "rest of God" that awaits us in this life, and we never know for sure how long this physical life we enjoy here on earth will last. So it would seem to be a wise move to look into receiving God's gift of "Eternal Life" that will never ever end, before it is "too late". It is one thing to be a freshman in college and be late for some written assignments, and have to repeat a class; but it is definitely entirely a different matter to be late for God's time to accept His gift of eternal life before it is forever "too late". It would seem that not everyone is concerned about this matter, either because they don't know what God tells us in His Word the Bible, or if they do know they either don't believe He is serious, or else they are just plain foolish. I'm not sure because only God knows people's hearts, but we do know that (Heb 9: 27-28) tells us that "And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for Him". NLT God is perfectly honest and holy and always keeps the word of His New Covenant that He made with His "elect" people, who were never able to keep the Old Covenant that He made with the descendants of Abraham. The Old covenant was a "God to Man" covenant but the New Covenant is a "God to God" covenant which is

"Everlasting" and will never be broken, Hallelujah!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                      30/04/14