DICTATORSHIP of ROUTINE

DICTATORSHIP of ROUTINE

I recently read an old sermon by A W Tozer, in which he used the above expression, and stated that he thought it was the church's greatest enemy! As I thought about it I found myself agreeing with him, and would like to borrow some of his information from that sermon for the main content of this article. Brother Tozer has been graduated to glory for many years now, so I have no way to ask his permission, but feel sure he would not object! We are all creatures of habit, and feel comfortable doing things like we have done them before. This helps us to develop our technique, or routine, and can be a real asset to us if we are a tradesman or professional person who can benefit by being experienced in what we do. However for the average person, doing the same thing over and over has certain dangers. Our "routine" soon develops into what we could call a "ROTE", or in other words the ability to do something without thinking about what we are doing, or why we are doing it. I'm sure we can all relate to this scenario----you are in church and the leader says we will now sing hymn # 245, it's a familiar piece you have known for years and probably sang it hundreds of times, so you just sing it by "rote", not thinking about the message, or what the author had in mind when he penned those words many years before. That is what we mean by doing things by rote.

The next stage after rote is "RUT". This is when you know exactly what will happen next, so you never expect anything different. I'm sure we have all been there and done that. This can be especially damaging to personal relationships, such as marriage. If we let our response to the other person become completely predictable, then we could say you are in a rut. It can be a very deadly thing in church services, and if we are not careful it can happen even to the churches that seem to be the most "alive".

The third and final stage is "ROT". This starts out as "dry rot", like in a piece of wood that can be rotten and not show it, but soon develops into full blown rot, that can be seen by all! So our routine can become so familiar it develops into a "rote", which if allowed to persist becomes a "rut", and this in turn becomes "rot". Let's beware of this danger in all areas of our lives as we relate to other people! Remember we who claim the name of Christ, should show forth to the world around us the character of Christ! Paul calls this the "fruit of the Spirit" in (Gal 5:22-23), and allowing "routine" in our lives to digress through "rote", to "rut", to "rot", will certainly not be in line with the Holy Spirit of God who indwells us!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer

UNDERSTANDING PROPHETIC SCRIPTURES

UNDERSTANDING PROPHETIC SCRIPTURES.

Many people are interested in the study of what the Bible has to say about future events. There is much confusion because of the many different, and often completely opposite interpretations, of the same scriptures. How can this be? Because not everyone uses a "Face Value" approach to understanding scripture. Following is a definition of face value by Robert Van Kampen. "Any given scripture passage must be understood at face value,in its most natural, normal, customary sense, making allowances for obvious figures of speech, taking the passage in its proper context, and taking into consideration all other passages of scripture dealing with the same issue. When in doubt as to the meaning of a particular word or phrase, let scripture interpret scripture! Look for the common denominator that harmonizes all the passages dealing with a particular issue, not just those that prove your presupposition at the expense of rejecting those that don't. Once a common denominator is found, then we have truth, that truth stands in judgment of us; never do we stand in judgment of it!"

This summary is based on the following five principles.
 1/ Seek to discover the author's intended meaning.--- Each and every passage of scripture has only one meaning, although it may have more than one possible application.
 2/ Recognize the importance of context.---Only when you know and understand the context in which a text is written, will you know how the writer intended the passage to be understood.
 3/ Whenever possible, let scripture interpret scripture.---Always interpret difficult passages in light of clear passages, since there are no contradictions in scripture.
 4/ Determine the Literal reference of figures of speech.---A figure of speech will normally employ a comparison, a substitution, or an amplification, in order to bring more clarification.
5/ Look for near/far implications and applications in prophetic passages. ---For example in (2 Samuel 7:8-16) this prophetic message to David applied to both Solomon (near), and Christ (far).

Since understanding this face value approach to scripture, I realized that many of the teachings I had received, believed, and in turn taught to others were not correct. For example the teaching that Jesus could return at "any moment" is completely contrary to scriptures that state clearly He will remain in heaven beside Father God "until" certain things are completed on earth. (Ps 110:1), (Acts 3:19-21). As far as to just when the Father will decide to send Jesus back to receive His bride, no one knows, but we do know that the church as we know it is no where near ready to be raptured! It must go through a period of purification to become the spotless bride that Jesus will come for. I believe this purification can best come through the time know as the "great tribulation" at the hands of the Antichrist! The best scenario describing His return is found in (Matt 24:4-44), which lines up with
(2 Thess 2:1-12), and of course with the book of Revelation. The answer of Jesus to the questions asked by His disciples in verse 3, are clearly answered in the balance of the chapter. Remember all of chapter 24 takes place during the final 7 years of life on planet earth, as we have  known it. This period is known as "Daniel's seventieth week". (Dan 9:24-27) and gives us a time line to follow in our study of end times. This period of time will start with the Antichrist signing a covenant with Israel for 7 years of peace, which he will break at the mid point. Then the time of "great tribulation" will begin for the church and for Israel. This will be the "Wrath of Satan" through his Antichrist, and will last until Jesus cuts short this time of persecution by His appearance (Matt 24:21-22) in order to save His "elect". This will be what is known as the rapture, which will end the "great tribulation", and clear the way for the outpouring of the 7 bowls of God's Wrath" (Rev 15:5-8). This wrath of God will be poured out on the ungodly who are left after the elect are removed, and is known in the OT as the "Day of the Lord". This is only a very brief outline of the end time scenario, that has come into view for me once I started to apply a "face value" approach to some of these familiar scriptures that I had always been told meant something very different!
Sincerely submitted.
Dave Jamer

 

Who Am I

WHO AM I ?

I woke up quite early this morning, with the words of an old song going through my head. Part of the words were, "Who am I that a king would bleed and die for, who am I that He would pray, not my will, Thine Lord. The answer I may never know, why He ever loved me so, that to an old rugged cross He'd go, for who am I?" This got me thinking about who I really am! The government of Canada know all about me. They know my name, address, date and place of my birth, my income last year etc. But am I only a statistic on their records? Who am I really?

For the correct answer to this question, we only have to go to God's Word, where we read in (Ps 139:13-16) in the NLT "You (God) made all the delicate inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous--how well I know it. You watched me while I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed." The scientists have now discovered that every human being on planet earth has a very unique DNA, that makes us different from everybody else! We are all a "masterpiece", or one of a kind. (Eph 2:10) Is it really so marvelous that these intelligent scientists are just now finally discovering things that were known by God from the beginning? (Deut 29:29) He revealed them to certain of His servants like king David, and Paul the apostle. So all we have to do find out who we really are, is to read, and believe, the Word of God. Our Creator thought of everything we would ever need to know, and had it recorded in the Bible. Thanks to many faithful men and women over the years, this book has been translated into most known languages on our planet. The Bible is still the most widely distributed book in the history of the world, and continues to be the best seller from year to year. Every major religion of the world has their own "sacred book", but none can compare to our "Holy Bible", the Word of the Living God! (Heb 4:12-13) Hallelujah!!
Sincerely submitted.
Dave Jamer 

A SURE WORD

If we believers ever
needed a "sure word" it is now at the start of 2009! It
seems like the whole world is being shaken by forces that are beyond
our control, and every attempt by the so-called experts to assure us
everything will turn out okay fails, because they seem unsure
themselves. We read in (Heb 12:25-29) about a time coming when
God said "Once again I will shake not only the earth but the
heavens also". Could it be that we are now in the time spoken of
in this scripture? This passage goes on to say in verse 28 that the
Kingdom of God is "unshakable", that would seem to be our
only source of hope. The Bible has a lot to say about God's Kingdom
that came to earth over 2000 years with the King! His name is Jesus,
the King of kings, and the Lord of lords! He declared "I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except
through me" (John 14:6). If anyone has a sure word for us
in these uncertain times it is Jesus. He is the Living Word, "who
became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14).

The apostle Peter, in his
second letter speaks about a "more sure word of prophecy"
(2 Peter 1:19) KJV. This entire first chapter is very
interesting, where he gives us a good description of growing in faith
from verse 3 to 11. Then from verse 12 to the end of the chapter he
discusses the place of the scriptures in out lives, especially
prophecy. As we know, Jesus is the "Living Word of God",
and the Bible is the "Written Word of God"! They always
agree since the scriptures were written by men who "were moved
by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God" (2 Peter 1:21).
So in these uncertain times in which we live, it is very important
to know Jesus as Savior, and be familiar with the written Word of God.
Before Jesus left His disciples to return to heaven, He told them
about the Holy Spirit who would be sent by the Father to take the
place of Jesus on earth, until He comes back again. You can read
about this in John's gospel chapters 14, 15 and 16, where Jesus
outlines exactly what the Holy Spirit will do for people. In Acts
chapters 1 and 2 we can read about what He started to do when He came
on the Day of Pentecost, and He continues to do the same things today!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer

The Advent Season

For many centuries church tradition has set aside the four weeks leading up to Christmas Day as the "Advent Season".



A time to prepare for the second coming of Christ, by dwelling on the events that surrounded His first coming. According to scripture, God is continually coming to His people, to refresh them by His presence. As part of his second recorded sermon, Peter exhorts the people "Now repent of your sins and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and He will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. For He must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through His holy prophets." (Acts 3:19-21) Because of the teaching in church circles about an "any moment" return of Jesus, to rapture the church to heaven before the "great tribulation", that's the first thing they think of when God manifests His presence. According to Peter, His presence is meant to refresh us, for what is to come in the days ahead of us. Jesus must remain in heaven "until" the "restoration of all things" that the Lord promised through the prophets. Only the Father knows when the church has cleansed itself from "everything that can defile our body and spirit" (2 Cor 7:1). Jesus is coming back to earth for a bride who has made herself ready for her groom, Jesus Christ! The church is portrayed as the "new Jerusalem" in the book of Revelation (Rev 21:2, 9-10), which is the way God sees His redeemed people!


So this time of Advent every year, is a time for us to "cleanse" ourselves of anything that could defile us, and cause a separation between us and our Savior.



As we wait upon God, He will show us what things we need to repent of, and ask forgiveness for. This is what will bring the presence of God to our lives, and the time of refreshment that Peter spoke about! Once we get beyond the idea of an any moment rapture, and realize what God is up to, our lives will never be the same. Everyone who has studied church history will realize the church has never been ready to be raptured. Actually the church today has been so influenced by the world system, that it's difficult to tell the difference between church members and non-Christians, in their behavior and life style! What will it take to bring the church to the place of sanctification, and holiness before God? Perhaps only a time of intense persecution will do the job. Many parts of the world are already going through this type of persecution, and history proves that the church grows in number, and in quality, in these times! We in North America, know very little about real persecution, except what we read about he church in other lands. Let's use this Advent Season to prepare ourselves for the future!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer

BUT GOD

BUT
GOD

This
expression appears in several of Paul's letters. For example in (2
Cor 7:5-7), we see Paul in a very discouraged state. Actually
this great apostle states in verse 5 "When we arrived in
Macedonia there was no rest for us. We faced conflict from every
direction, with battles on the outside and fear on the inside".
Just imagine, this is Paul the apostle confessing to having fear! But
notice how he starts the next verse "But God, who encourages
those who are discouraged,-----". (NLT) Yes even great men like Paul
can become discouraged by times, "but God" always comes to
the rescue! In this case it was by the arrival of Titus with good
news about the church in Corinth.

Another
example of Paul using this expression is in (Eph 2:4), after
stating the sad condition of every one of us in verses 1-3, that we
were all born in sin, he begins verse 4 "But God is so rich in
mercy, and He loved us so much, that even though we were dead because
of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Jesus from the dead. (It
is only by God's grace that you have been saved!)" (NLT). In my
opinion, this second chapter of Paul's letter to the Ephesian church,
gives us a very clear picture of both the universal need of salvation, as well
as how to receive it!

Just
in these two uses of this expression "But God" by Paul, we
can see clearly that they apply to us all, at some time or other.
Certainly we were all born as sinners, and I expect that we have all
been discouraged a few times. We should be greatly encouraged to know
from God's Word that He is concerned about every one of us humans.
This supernatural [Agape] love of God is so far above and beyond any
sort of natural love that we can muster up, that we find it hard to
understand. In (John 3:16) where we read that God loved us "so
much that He gave His one and only Son", John used this Greek
word [Agape] to describe this supernatural love. Whether we can
really understand it or not, we can all take advantage of God's offer
of His supernatural [Agape] love. First we need to receive it, and
then we need to extend it to all those we come in contact with!

Sincerely
submitted.

Dave
Jamer

THERMOMETERS OR THERMOSTATS

THERMOMETERS
OR THERMOSTATS

We
all know the difference between a thermometer, which "records"
the temperature of the atmosphere around it, and a thermostat that
"controls" the temperature of the atmosphere around it,
instead of just adjusting to the existing temperature and simply
recording it. As followers of Jesus we can either act as one or the
other in the atmosphere in which we live! As followers of Jesus we
all live in a spiritual atmosphere that is completely surrounded by
the ungodly atmosphere of the world that is under the control of our
enemy Satan. Jesus said we are to be "in" the world, but
not "of" the world. He also said "You are the light of
the world--like a city on a hilltop that can't be hidden." (Matt
5:14) What do you think He meant by that statement?

I
believe Jesus meant that as His followers, we are to affect the world
around us by reflecting His light! (John 1:1-5) In this way our
lives should act as a thermostat that controls the spiritual
temperature of the atmosphere in the world we are called to live in!
How well do we function in that role? Sad to say, we often become
nothing more than a thermostat which simply records the existing
spiritual temperature of the world around us. "Do not be deceived evil
company corrupts good habits." (1 Cor 15:33) So we need
to be careful what type of people we hang out with. Are we affecting
them as a thermostat would, or are we just becoming a thermometer,
and simply registering the spiritual temperature of that particular
group?

Paul has some good advice for us in (Eph 5:6-14)! Then
he goes on in verses 15-21 to explain how we can receive the power to
live this sort of life. The key is his statement in verse 18 "Don't
be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be
filled with the Holy Spirit". The proper meaning in the Greek
for this expression is "be continually in the process of being
filled with the Holy Spirit"! Living a "Spirit filled life"
is not a once upon a time event, it requires a daily filling. Some
one once asked Dwight L  Moody why he was always talking about the need
of being filled with the Spirit, his reply was "because I leak"!
If we expect our lives to function in this world as thermostats, we
must realize our need of keeping ourselves full of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus told His disciples just before going to the cross, that He
would send the Holy Spirit to take His place on earth, when He went
back to heaven. You can read about this promise in the gospel of
John, chapters 14, 15, and 16. Then in (Acts 1:8, 2:1-4) we
see the fulfillment of this promise. Then in (Acts 2:38-39)
Peter tells us that this gift of the Holy Spirit is for us Gentiles,
as well as for the Jews he was speaking to that day. So let's
determine to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit, and become spiritual thermostats, and not just thermometers!

Sincerely
submitted.

Dave  Jamer