Saturday, December 31, 2005

Today Our New Year's Eve Daily Bread Acts 3***** & John 1:14

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena's Journalin' , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.

Acts 3:1-26
1One day at three o'clock in the afternoon, Peter and John were on their way into the Temple for prayer meeting. 2At the same time there was a man crippled from birth being carried up. Every day he was set down at the Temple gate, the one named Beautiful, to beg from those going into the Temple. 3When he saw Peter and John about to enter the Temple, he asked for a handout. 4Peter, with John at his side, looked him straight in the eye and said, "Look here." 5He looked up, expecting to get something from them.
6Peter said, "I don't have a nickel to my name, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!" 7He grabbed him by the right hand and pulled him up. In an instant his feet and ankles became firm. 8He jumped to his feet and walked.The man went into the Temple with them, walking back and forth, dancing and praising God. 9Everybody there saw him walking around and praising God. 10They recognized him as the one who sat begging at the Temple's Gate Beautiful and rubbed their eyes, astonished, scarcely believing what they were seeing.
11The man threw his arms around Peter and John, ecstatic. All the people ran up to where they were at Solomon's Porch to see it for themselves.
Turn to Face God
12When Peter saw he had a congregation, he addressed the people:"Oh, Israelites, why does this take you by such complete surprise, and why stare at us as if our power or piety made him walk? 13The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his Son Jesus. The very One that Pilate called innocent, you repudiated. 14You repudiated the Holy One, the Just One, and asked for a murderer in his place. 15You no sooner killed the Author of Life than God raised him from the dead--and we're the witnesses. 16Faith in Jesus' name put this man, whose condition you know so well, on his feet--yes, faith and nothing but faith put this man healed and whole right before your eyes.
17"And now, friends, I know you had no idea what you were doing when you killed Jesus, and neither did your leaders. 18But God, who through the preaching of all the prophets had said all along that his Messiah would be killed, knew exactly what you were doing and used it to fulfill his plans.
19"Now it's time to change your ways! Turn to face God so he can wipe away your sins, pour out showers of blessing to refresh you, 20and send you the Messiah he prepared for you, namely, Jesus. 21For the time being he must remain out of sight in heaven until everything is restored to order again just the way God, through the preaching of his holy prophets of old, said it would be. 22Moses, for instance, said, "Your God will raise up for you a prophet just like me from your family. Listen to every word he speaks to you. 23Every last living soul who refuses to listen to that prophet will be wiped out from the people.'
24"All the prophets from Samuel on down said the same thing, said most emphatically that these days would come. 25These prophets, along with the covenant God made with your ancestors, are your family tree. God's covenant-word to Abraham provides the text: "By your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.' 26But you are first in line: God, having raised up his Son, sent him to bless you as you turn, one by one, from your evil ways."
~Lena’s Journalin’~
Good New Year’s Eve morning to you!
As I read this today I felt the responses or reactions of the people Peter is preaching to. Tthere was a crowd, a congregation there that day, and as each one of us reads this today we are a part of that congregation also.
Hebrews 13 says, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. Remember Jesus is the Word of God that became flesh like us to show us a few Godly things about being here on earth. Peter points out how the message even Jesus preached was preempted by many other prophets of many other ages and time periods. Even today these same words can and will be confirmed in our own hearts.
One thing that stands out to me is where Peter is telling all of the crowds there that they were the ones who crucified Jesus! They may have felt puzzled at that. Some of them may not have even witnessed it. He also speaks to them/us about our sins.
Most people in the present day USA do not like to be “accused” of anything, let alone be told outright that they’ve made mistakes (sin) or that they are “guilty” of anything, especially murder, wouldn’t you think? Yet Peter knowing human nature and even the nature he himself lives with everyday in himself, boldly accuses us of such acts. Peter had a point to make and shaking people to their inner core can at times help them see a truth that needs to be uncovered for them. Man has to acknowledge his need for God.
Peter was saying that day, that the only thing worth having that day and this day is truth that comes from our Creator God. He could have collected an offering for the blind man, he could have gone home and scrounged up some natural money or some dough or something, but more useful than anything else would be for the man to experience the power and anointing of God. In that the man would find himself, find out what it is he himself has to give the world.
Conviction of sin is the only thing that will lead man to change. If man is comfy cozy as he is, not at all agitated with what is or what appears, he’ll just stay the same, never coming to know he needs a Savior ,that he has to have change, that he needs redeeming from Adam’s original sin and it’s continued lifelong curse. If man does not know this and in turn acknowledge that the price of his sin has been paid for them by Jesus.. If he does not get this, he’ll die after he lives out this earth life, he’ll die in that unredeemed state and he’ll be unredeemed and he’ll stay cursed and separated from God. He’ll die both a natural and a spiritual death and be forever lost.
One must know the cost and then they can appreciate the rpice that was paid for their unrighteousness. Peter was strong that day, because he’d seen by spiritual vision natural death and also spiritual death and its consequence. He gained this understanding by being with the Master, he gained it by spiritual eyesight. Peter as each of us should be, was desperate to help others to see this way, to know the cost, to know the price that was paid, because of the severity of eternal separation from God. Peter’s message was full of rescue. Peter was on a mission to take people out of the mouth of hell’s call, to rescue people from lies that would cause them to die unchanged. He preached this to them there, and the word is still being given to us today. The choice is still being given us today, the choice for change.
As this New Year dawns, I as Peter, want to ask you, if you’ve received the work of Jesus Chriat? Do you know who He is? Do you know what He did for you?
There are instant evidences of this knowledge.
Love is an instant evidence.
Joy is also evidence.
Peace is big, because when you’ve been rescued out of the torment of an appointment in hell, you realize there is no other peace.
Behaviors will change, because desire changes.
If a person holds on tight to old unredeemed life things, they have not received enough revelation of the cost, of the price to just let go of what doesn’t matter so much anymore.
Priorities change in Christ. What used to be so important takes on much less meaning to us. Getting to know Christ, worshiping and loving Him is first.
Telling others so that they too can become rescued is big time evidence of a redeemed person who knows it.
Desire to be in the house of God, to be committed to a local fellowship of Born Again alive and moving believers is evidence.
Worship of God, no matter how silly it seems to the world is evidence. We could worship so many other things and show joy in so many other activities ( ball games, concerts, washing our cars, working for more $ etc), but we choose to worship God. That is evidence of the redeemed.
Giving of money is huge! Huge. Money is the largest American god, security and trust blanket. If we give of money, we tell that god, we do not serve him any longer. We have money, but money does not have us. This is also evidence.
I beg you, confess your sin of not knowing and following after God, not acknowledging Jesus as Lord and Savior. Give it all up to and for Him.
Come to the house of the Lord, today (New Years Eve services, they are at 7-9 at Rock church tonight) or tomorrow where there’s church service. Tell someone there you have just received Him.’
Be the evidence!
Don’t just read about it, or be entertained by it’s invitations to you or in watching others live the life of a Christian.
Be the evidence- Today!
Do it for you
Be it for your family
Give it to the world!


John 1:14 So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. F1 And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father.

Friday, December 30, 2005

Today Our Daily Bread Acts 2 & John 1:14

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.

Acts 2:1-47
The Holy Spirit Comes
1On the day of Pentecost, seven weeks after Jesus' resurrection, F6 the believers were meeting together in one place. 2Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them, and it filled the house where they were meeting. 3Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, F7 as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
5Godly Jews from many nations were living in Jerusalem at that time. 6When they heard this sound, they came running to see what it was all about, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.
7They were beside themselves with wonder. "How can this be?" they exclaimed. "These people are all from Galilee, 8and yet we hear them speaking the languages of the lands where we were born! 9Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, 10Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya toward Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), 11Cretans, and Arabians. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!" 12They stood there amazed and perplexed. "What can this mean?" they asked each other. 13But others in the crowd were mocking. "They're drunk, that's all!" they said.
Peter Preaches to a Crowd
14Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, "Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. 15Some of you are saying these people are drunk. It isn't true! It's much too early for that. People don't get drunk by nine o'clock in the morning. 16No, what you see this morning was predicted centuries ago by the prophet Joel:
17 'In the last days, God said, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.
18 In those days I will pour out my Spirit upon all my servants, men and women alike, and they will prophesy.
19 And I will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below— blood and fire and clouds of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon will turn bloodred, before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives.
21 And anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' F8
22"People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus of Nazareth by doing wonderful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. 23But you followed God's prearranged plan. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to the cross and murdered him. 24However, God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life again, for death could not keep him in its grip. 25King David said this about him:
'I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.
26 No wonder my heart is filled with joy, and my mouth shouts his praises! My body rests in hope.
27 For you will not leave my soul among the dead F9 or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.
28 You have shown me the way of life, and you will give me wonderful joy in your presence.' F10
29"Dear brothers, think about this! David wasn't referring to himself when he spoke these words I have quoted, for he died and was buried, and his tomb is still here among us. 30But he was a prophet, and he knew God had promised with an oath that one of David's own descendants would sit on David's throne as the Messiah. 31David was looking into the future and predicting the Messiah's resurrection. He was saying that the Messiah would not be left among the dead and that his body would not rot in the grave.
32"This prophecy was speaking of Jesus, whom God raised from the dead, and we all are witnesses of this. 33Now he sits on the throne of highest honor in heaven, at God's right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today. 34For David himself never ascended into heaven, yet he said,
'The LORD said to my Lord, Sit in honor at my right hand
35 until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.' F11
36So let it be clearly known by everyone in Israel that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified to be both Lord and Messiah!"
37Peter's words convicted them deeply, and they said to him and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?"
38Peter replied, "Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39This promise is to you and to your children, and even to the Gentiles F12 —all who have been called by the Lord our God." 40Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, "Save yourselves from this generation that has gone astray!"
41Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church—about three thousand in all. 42They joined with the other believers and devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, sharing in the Lord's Supper and in prayer.
The Believers Meet Together
43A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything they had. 45They sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with those in need. 46They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—47all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.
FOOTNOTES:F6: Greek When the day of Pentecost arrived. This annual celebration came 50 days after the Passover ceremonies. See Lev 23:16. F7: Or in other tongues. F8: Joel 2:28-32. F9: Greek in Hades; also in 2:31. F10: Ps 16:8-11. F11: Ps 110:1. F12: Greek to those far away.
~Lena’s Journalin’~
7 means perfection, completion.
Jesus said , “It is completed”
He prophesied that we’d all receive the work that he “completed”. He asked the disciples to wait and receive this part of the whole thing, Jesus paid for,
7 x 7 = 49, Jesus was with them for 40 days after the resurrection! THEN 9 days later, His Spirit came and offered Himself to man, as empowerment for the mission to accomplish! WOW. That really was not that long of a wait, now was it? He’d thoroughly prepared them to meet the part of God that had dwelled inside of Him and now was going to be offered to them as well.
Do you remember another 49 in the NT? It was where Jesus told us that we have to forgive others, as many times as needed. We needed to forgive them completely. Loose them and let them go free of our unforgivness or bitterness which we hold them captive to, or want to make them responsible to.
I just saw something here. I saw that inside of the crowd there were those who were impressed with the act of God that was happening in the church, being sen by those in the world, and there was another section that was not impressed at all and would not be impressed. They made up excuses for the act of God, they explained it away. Which are we? Those who disregard His work or those who with joy receive and accept it? Do we explain the works of God in the churches and among Christians we know as just ordinary abuses and craziness? I can tell you, the naturally born persons that we are want to explain God away and disregard the things of God as natural fleuks of life. We need to be oh so careful of that kind of thinking, it works against God and faith in God. It is our mature adult responsibility to embrace the things of God., to take responsibility to believe God, to receive His promises that he gave us even when we did not ask for them. We are responsible to join ourselves to a body of believers as a family. It is our decisions and the exercise of our freewill’s to devote ourselves to the things of God or not. At the age of even 20, I believe in the good ol’ USA, there will be no excuse whatsoever to now get to know Jesus. We need to often take our thoughts towards eternity and even judgment with Christ. He paid for us to have free access to all of this, all of His empowerment, all of His will, purpose and participation in His eternal plans for the earth. He will ask us, what did you do with the death and resurrection of My Son? We will have no excuses. Not one.he will ask us why we did not become a functioning part of a Christian body of believers where we lived, we wil have no excuse. We won’t be able to say, “we don’t like people”, or “people hurt us”. He gave us tools to combat these things, empowerment by his spirit to do these things and to build relationships and bring change He told us the two greatest commandments are to Love God with everything, AND to love people. There is now and ever will be no excuse. Let’s remove them now, let’s trust God now, Let’s receive Him and His co-mission. Let’s go as he said, with the empowerment of His mighty awesome sprit. The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead and gave us new life! Let’s eliminate the excuses and go ALL the WAY with God! It’s almost a New Year. Why do we get new days, weeks and years? To have another chance to make that decision and press on in the ones we’ve made.


Let's allow the WORD of God to be made flesh among us, who we are individually as people, allow it to become who we are, made One with God's word as jesus so greatly demonstrated for us. His word can become human in us also, if we allow it to be so. We either believe and live it or we don't and live it! Can the world see His glory in us? Yes they can, but that is totally up to us.
John 1:14 So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. F1 And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.

Acts 1:1-26
The Promise of the Holy Spirit
1Dear Theophilus: In my first book F1 I told you about everything Jesus began to do and teach 2until the day he ascended to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions from the Holy Spirit. 3During the forty days after his crucifixion, he appeared to the apostles from time to time and proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. On these occasions he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.
4In one of these meetings as he was eating a meal with them, he told them, "Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you what he promised. Remember, I have told you about this before. 5John baptized with F2 water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."
The Ascension of Jesus
6When the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, "Lord, are you going to free Israel now and restore our kingdom?"
7"The Father sets those dates," he replied, "and they are not for you to know. 8But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
9It was not long after he said this that he was taken up into the sky while they were watching, and he disappeared into a cloud. 10As they were straining their eyes to see him, two white-robed men suddenly stood there among them. 11They said, "Men of Galilee, why are you standing here staring at the sky? Jesus has been taken away from you into heaven. And someday, just as you saw him go, he will return!"
Matthias Replaces Judas
12The apostles were at the Mount of Olives when this happened, so they walked the half mile F3 back to Jerusalem. 13Then they went to the upstairs room of the house where they were staying. Here is the list of those who were present:
Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (the Zealot), and Judas (son of James).
14They all met together continually for prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.
15During this time, on a day when about 120 believers F4 were present, Peter stood up and addressed them as follows:
16"Brothers, it was necessary for the Scriptures to be fulfilled concerning Judas, who guided the Temple police to arrest Jesus. This was predicted long ago by the Holy Spirit, speaking through King David. 17Judas was one of us, chosen to share in the ministry with us."
18(Judas bought a field with the money he received for his treachery, and falling there, he burst open, spilling out his intestines. 19The news of his death spread rapidly among all the people of Jerusalem, and they gave the place the Aramaic name Akeldama, which means "Field of Blood.")
20Peter continued, "This was predicted in the book of Psalms, where it says, 'Let his home become desolate, with no one living in it.' And again, 'Let his position be given to someone else.' F5
21"So now we must choose another man to take Judas's place. It must be someone who has been with us all the time that we were with the Lord Jesus—22from the time he was baptized by John until the day he was taken from us into heaven. Whoever is chosen will join us as a witness of Jesus' resurrection."
23So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. 24Then they all prayed for the right man to be chosen. "O Lord," they said, "you know every heart. Show us which of these men you have chosen 25as an apostle to replace Judas the traitor in this ministry, for he has deserted us and gone where he belongs." 26Then they cast lots, and in this way Matthias was chosen and became an apostle with the other eleven.
FOOTNOTES:F1: The reference is to the book of Luke. F2: Or in; also in 1:5b. F3: Greek a Sabbath day's journey. F4: Greek brothers. F5: Pss 69:25; 109:8.
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
Luke wrote the book of Acts. If you’ve ever read through all 4 of the gospel accounts, you’ll see that Luke was a ladies man….:-) because he liked to give us all of the details, trying not to leave anything important out, and everything Jesus said and did was important to him. I hear told he was a physician. Even that vocation seems to match his personality of thoroughness. I also hear he was a scribe, an author. I feel privileged to read his accounts of his time with our Master and Lord.
Isn’t it so cool that after Jesus died and rose He spent 40 days teaching his disciples of all that happened and all they would be responsible to carry on? What Grace God gives us all as human beings. I just love the nature of the Lord. He is so awesome. His integrity is amazing. He makes sure to back up his words with living proof AND then he always explains it. I can just see then hanging on ecery word, as they experienced the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit f God, who raised Jesus up. There had to be such a presence of power. It had to so wet their appetite as they begun to see, that He was preparing them to release this God power in the earth in a magnitude that had never been known before, 400 years of man, and this would be the first time the earth experienced of His power on this level. The love of God inside of individuals for others around them, compassion that causes men to change who they are to become who He is, reproductions of Him, of His kingdom in the earth.
It says what he taught them was about the kingdom of God. That is what Jesus preached when He was here and when He left that is what He desired them to preach. Not Judaism, not law and letter, not more commands, not reproof of non-compliance with the priesthood of men, but Love, Joy, peace, patience….developed, manifested to the world!
This part is SO awesome, think about it. He was the first born again “man”, the first human being to be created in the spiritual realm, a man with God’s spirit alive and living and in action inside of Him in an earth suit. When resurrection life “hit” Him and yanked Him out of death, out of hell, out of the grave, the holy Spirit did just as God the father had done with Adam 4000 years prior, he breathed inside of man, the breath of lives- yes more than one life, a natural life AND a spiritual life. God infused Adam with His very nature. Sin took a hold of that nature and perverted everything about it, it began a process of death. Adam had to be redeemed, Adam had to die to this way of sin, Adam had to become resurrected to live both spiritually AND naturally again.
I believe Jesus was teaching this to them by revelation. He was saying to them, YOU MUST BE INFUSED with My Divine nature, My spirit life, My breath of lives again! You’ve got to receive the Holy Spirit to allow the life of God to be birthed in you and to activate kingdom li1ving. I’m going to breathe on you (plural), whoever will receive and reproduce me, these I’ll breathe on. You don’t want to miss this Divine opportunity……yet today, still given this opportunity, man refuse him, and as it was in Luke 1 they open the door to see who’s there, but give His born of God spirit no place. Think about it Luke 1 was about Jesus’ natural birth and the invitation for a person in the earth to allow Him to come through their body, then an offer to allow Him to be birthed inside of men, for men to house His spirit, now Acts 1 offers the same. Do you think Luke knew what he was correlating? Yes, he did. Today the same scenario is present.
Will you receive power from on High? The Holy breath of lives? Both of natural life, which can be used by God to bring God to earth, and spirit life which brings His power to change our world? Is there room in your life for Jesus to come do His will? Or should he be born rather outside with animals instead of humans, I mean God used a donkey to speak did he not? He did, but that was only because man refused to speak for Him.
There was a disciple named Judas, who refused Him, His will, his plans, His spirit. What is sad is Judas’ name means “praise” as in worshipful adoration, as ion reflection of God’s glory. Judas, as each one of us was called by God, for the praises of God to become evidenced through us. He was chosen, as each of us are, tio be a disciple, to be trained to change his world, our world, to be a natural man with God’s spirit inside of Him, breathed upon with lives again. But through disobedience and willful rebellion, the spirit of another came and entered him. The very spirit of past time, when there was a rebellion against god in heaven. BUT with the power of God now available man could have the strength to follow through and make the correct choices for righteousness. He tried for years on end, to do right, to be good, but there is none good but God. This is why man had o have God’s Spirit fresh inside of Him, the power that goes beyond human understanding, the power that comes from One who sees from on high. The power of one dependant on another. If and when we are not willing to receive of His spirit, we are saying we’re ok doing whatever without Him. Dear God help us to come to a place of dependency on You! Oh Lord Jesus, come. Stay, Live inside of us, Your (plural) body in the earth. Oh Lord, I DO NOT want Your place in me, the place reserved for You in me, to be given over to others as it was even inside of Judas’ heart. If not given over to God, what would we be given over to? Who would we be given over to/ man was created by God to be indwelled. If not God’s spirit, who’s? There NO ONE like You, Lord!



John 1:14 So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. F1 And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Today Our Daily Bread 2 Cor 4 & John 1:14

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.


2 Cor 4:1-18
Treasure in Perishable Containers
1And so, since God in his mercy has given us this wonderful ministry, we never give up. 2We reject all shameful and underhanded methods. We do not try to trick anyone, and we do not distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know that.
3If the Good News we preach is veiled from anyone, it is a sign that they are perishing. 4Satan, the god of this evil world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe, so they are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News that is shining upon them. They don't understand the message we preach about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
5We don't go around preaching about ourselves; we preach Christ Jesus, the Lord. All we say about ourselves is that we are your servants because of what Jesus has done for us. 6For God, who said, "Let there be light in the darkness," has made us understand that this light is the brightness of the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
7But this precious treasure—this light and power that now shine within us—is held in perishable containers, that is, in our weak bodies. F10 So everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own.
8We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don't give up and quit. 9We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going. 10Through suffering, these bodies of ours constantly share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
11Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be obvious in our dying bodies. 12So we live in the face of death, but it has resulted in eternal life for you.
13But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, "I believed in God, and so I speak." F11 14We know that the same God who raised our Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself along with you. 15All of these things are for your benefit. And as God's grace brings more and more people to Christ, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.
16That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are F12 being renewed every day. 17For our present troubles are quite small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever! 18So we don't look at the troubles we can see right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.
FOOTNOTES:F10: Greek But we have this treasure in earthen vessels. F11: Ps 116:10. F12: Greek our inner being is.
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
The natural or the spiritual? Which one is important? To us? To God?
The natural man, or the spiritual man? Which is better, more important?
The answer would be both.
That’s like asking which leg do you like better or which ear would be better to keep the hearing in? The obvious answer would be, both.
The natural man was made by God for God. The only problem lies in who its Master is, who does the natural man follow after?Who does he serve, and why?
Does he follow after the desires of a natural man, and the nature of flesh, which is at odds with the Spirit of God? Or does he join in with the purposes of God and serve God’s purposes in his physical body, which was designed by God to carry him through life on this earth with a specific divinely outlined purpose?
God looks at man and sees such potential. He sees an answer to the curse placed upon the earth through willful disobedience and outright rebellion. He sees a freewill being who has been given armor for his territory and a mind to exercise responsive action. He sees the desires of His heart being able to be restored on purpose. He sees a treasure, a being made out of dust, who chooses to redeem the earth and all of inhabitants through obedient restorative actions taken each and every day- on purpose.
Yeah there are obstacles, there are elements, there are roadblocks, but love leads this man, love drives this man, loves takes this man above it all.
This man sees and knows his purpose comes from God. This man knows he came from God, was sent by God to the earth as an answer. He knows he lives in eternity with God and has an assignment for a time period here.
Because he knows and has tasted of the greatest love of all, he is willing to do whatever it takes to be the demonstration of the love he knows of in the earth.
He understands that he is only here, suffering elemental issues, for a very small time period, in eternal light, and so he seizes every opportunity and also creates some.
His faith in God causes him to see clearer than ever before, speak plainer and more boldly, it leads him to listen for further instruction and receive corrective words that will keep him on the pathway of life and complete the assignment given him by God to accomplish in this short time here.
He knows of the responsibility given him by God, who is his true Father.
He’s able to allow hurts to let go of him. He’s forgiving for the purposes of God to be loosed in his life. He won’t allow anything but God’s work to hold onto and keep a hold of him.
This responsibility is the weight he carries through life here.
It is his glory here. As he gains further dependency upon God his ability to respond to the voice of the Lord deepens. (he’s response- able).
He has no doubt about why he is here. He knows the creator who tells him and reminds him daily.
Natural death is just the “hourglass” that tells him how much longer he has for his mission here, his Co-mission here. Weakness, just reminds him of his dependency. He’s not ever alone, he’s sent by God to the world for this time, in the place God has caused him to live. The elements remind him of where he is right now and for what purpose. An eternal man, in a natural body, for a time……until.
Think on these things……………………………….


John 1:14 So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. F1 And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Today Our Daily Bread 2 Cor 3 & John 1:14

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.

2 Cor 3:1-18
1Are we beginning again to tell you how good we are? Some people need to bring letters of recommendation with them or ask you to write letters of recommendation for them. 2But the only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves! Your lives are a letter written in our F8 hearts, and everyone can read it and recognize our good work among you. 3Clearly, you are a letter from Christ prepared by us. It is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on stone, but on human hearts.
4We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. 5It is not that we think we can do anything of lasting value by ourselves. Our only power and success come from God. 6He is the one who has enabled us to represent his new covenant. This is a covenant, not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old way ends in death; in the new way, the Holy Spirit gives life.
The Glory of the New Covenant
7That old system of law etched in stone led to death, yet it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses' face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away. 8Shouldn't we expect far greater glory when the Holy Spirit is giving life? 9If the old covenant, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new covenant, which makes us right with God! 10In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new covenant. 11So if the old covenant, which has been set aside, was full of glory, then the new covenant, which remains forever, has far greater glory.
12Since this new covenant gives us such confidence, we can be very bold. 13We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory fading away. 14But the people's minds were hardened, and even to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, a veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ. 15Yes, even today when they read Moses' writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand.
16But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, then the veil is taken away. 17Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, he gives freedom. 18And all of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect F9 the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.
FOOTNOTES:F8: Some manuscripts read your. F9: Or so that we can see in a mirror.

~Lena’s Journalin’~
Have you ever seen books entitled, “What Are We Here For?” and other leading titles that reflect man’s search for himself? This is man’s plight, to search for himself. The only thing is, man cannot find himself or his purpose without knowing where he came from and who his father is. Boy isn’t that a dilemma in present day USA? Many of us do not know our fathers, we may know their names, because they put their names on us, but we don’t know them, we don’t live with them, we don’t see them in action as fathers, right?
That makes it very hard to even be able to define “father”, thus it makes it somewhat hard for people to know where to find themselves and this to find THE FATHER GOD.
Yet inside of the deepest parts of every human being is the desire to know their fathers and to know themselves and “where they came from”.
There is only One Way to truth. There is only One Way to life, There is only One way to finding out anything about ourselves. Just as a vessel does not make itself, or design itself or name itself or decide on the use of itself, so man has a designer and a maker. This is God The Father and the Lord Jesus Christ is the only way to truly find and get to know God the Father.
One of the greatest designs of mankind is to show forth the glory of God.
In the beginning it was and still is the mandate upon all of mankind. To show forth the image of the Father in the earth. The glory is a reflection of the true image. The word glory actually means weight, mass. To me that speaks of importance and responsibility. Now let’s look at this word in this context.
opinion, judgment, view
opinion, estimate, whether good or bad concerning someone
in the NT always a good opinion concerning one, resulting in praise, honour, and glory
splendour, brightness
of the moon, sun, stars
magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace
majesty
a thing belonging to God
the kingly majesty which belongs to him as supreme ruler, majesty in the sense of the absolute perfection of the deity
a thing belonging to Christ
the kingly majesty of the Messiah
the absolutely perfect inward or personal excellency of Christ; the majesty
of the angels
as apparent in their exterior brightness
a most glorious condition, most exalted state
of that condition with God the Father in heaven to which Christ was raised after he had achieved his work on earth
the glorious condition of blessedness into which is appointed and promised that true Christians shall enter after their Saviour's return from heaven
How does God, our Father, look to anyone who knows we are called by His name? What reflection or representation do we portray of Him?
If we are His exact reflection, does He look good? Are we ambassadors of His image? We are, whether we desire to be, whether we try to be, or not. This is how we are designed; this is how we are made, to reflect- Him, His will, His desire, His purpose, His love, His grace, His mercy, His Son.
Whether we want to, care to or not, it is so.
The veil is the lie the enemy has fed into each of us, telling us that we don’t have to reflect and we have no responsibility to shine glory, we don’t “belong” to anyone and we have no responsibility to anyone. That is the veil that needs to be removed today.
God has been calling you to His purposes since you were created in your mother’s womb.
God THE FATHER is drawing you to His will, His purpose etc, so that you can find your true self, inside of Him, inside of his heart where you started off and where you belong.
Ever wonder if and who you “belong” to? Where you “came from”?
You came from God and are going to God and are on a journey here to know Him more and make Him known as much as is possible on this earth, before you don’t have any more chances, and the threat of true regret would try to show itself in the light of eternity.
Come home for Christmas, or New Years or whenever, but do it soon, or no matter what you do or where you move or how many jobs you take on, you’ll never find yourself apart from God and His will for you.


John 1:14 So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. F1 And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father.

Monday, December 26, 2005

Today Our Daily Bread 2 Cor 2 & John 1:14

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.

2 Corinthians 2:1-17
1 So I decided that my next visit to you would not be another one to make you sad. 2If I make you sad, who will make me glad? Only you can make me glad - particularly the person whom I made sad. 3I wrote you a letter for this reason: that when I came to you I would not be made sad by the people who should make me happy. I felt sure of all of you, that you would share my joy. 4When I wrote to you before, I was very troubled and unhappy in my heart, and I wrote with many tears. I did not write to make you sad, but to let you know how much I love you. Forgive the Sinner 5Someone there among you has caused sadness, not to me, but to all of you. I mean he caused sadness to all in some way. (I do not want to make it sound worse than it really is.) 6The punishment that most of you gave him is enough for him. 7But now you should forgive him and comfort him to keep him from having too much sadness and giving up completely. 8So I beg you to show that you love him. 9I wrote you to test you and to see if you obey in everything. 10If you forgive someone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven - if I had anything to forgive - I forgave it for you, as if Christ were with me. 11I did this so that Satan would not win anything from us, because we know very well what Satan's plans are. Paul's Concern in Troas 12When I came to Troas to preach the Good News of Christ, the Lord gave me a good opportunity there. 13But I had no peace, because I did not find my brother Titus. So I said good-bye to them at Troas and went to Macedonia. Victory Through Christ 14But thanks be to God, who always leads us in victory through Christ. God uses us to spread his knowledge everywhere like a sweet-smelling perfume. 15Our offering to God is this: We are the sweet smell of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are being lost. 16To those who are lost, we are the smell of death that brings death, but to those who are being saved, we are the smell of life that brings life. So who is able to do this work? 17We do not sell the word of God for a profit as many other people do. But in Christ we speak the truth before God, as messengers of God.

Copyright Statement: New Century VersionThe Holy Bible, New Century Version®.Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

~Lena’s Journalin’~
Do we, the being perfected church and body and bride of the Lord Jesus Christ ever offend? Do we ever bring sadness? Do we ever let people down? Yes, yes, yes, and we readily admit it as so, if we are walking in the trueness of love.
Love humbles itself, confessing its wrongs for the well being of others. If one stands up saying they are without any fault and does not confess wrong even to the point of just saying they apologize for bringing sadness and offense to the other, they are prideful and self exalting.
Pride places oneself above others making themselves appear higher and better than others, rather than allowing others to just notice that they may be “better” ( or rather stronger at this point). In pride is the very spirit of satan and this spirit has left a very strong and putrid scent and spots all over God’s bride, the church.
A humble person is an agreeable person. That person allows the Lord to justify them, to fight for them. They do not have to expend their energies explaining everything. They give their energies over to love and its Divine expression. The argument is gone, fades away in the importance of love expressed. A lover readily confesses even the faint possibility of fault, even if the fault was caused only inside of the mind of the one faulted on.
This just means love extends itself to vulnerability, confessing a “wrong” may be merely that the other party felt wronged. Humility will actually agree with the one they feel threatened by, with the one they feel at odds with, with the one they feel is accusing them, for the mere act of making peace and showing that the warring is not their place, but the battle is Christ’s responsibility as He cares for them, he will take on the care instead of them taking on the care.
Skipping to the last few verses- We give thanks to God by faith when we give our battles over into His caring hands. We show Him we trust Him, when we wil not stand up and rise up in our flesh and fight flesh and blood. The spiritual battle we fight is not one with and of flesh and blood, it is spiritual in nature. The word of God equips us with spiritual weapons, These weapons are unrecognizable to the natural man, Love, Joy Peace & patience are very powerful spiritual weapons in our hands. God gave us these weapons to win the battles. When we use them rightly, it shows Him we trust Him and are ready to allow Him to take and win our fights If we won’t allow Him to fight and we stand in that place, He’ll actually stand back and allow us to do it our way. Have it our way. Try and win it on our own without any of His help.
BUT God made a bride, redeemed and clothed in White with sweet smelling perfume on her. She did not overcome because she was so strong, so powerfully beautiful and on her own perfected. She won battles and waged wars through Christ who strengthened her. She overcame because of the finished work of the sacrifice Lamb and because of His blood shed for her and for the world she was created to tell about. She overcame because she was bold enough, and risked her own “reputation” to speak His words rather than hers, to testify of Him. She loved His reputation more than hers, but she did not defend it, she just lived it. She laid down her own life and made the choice to live His. She loved living His more than living hers. She did this till the very end of her time to do it and be it. She is the church, she is His chosen bride.


John 1:14 So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. F1 And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father.

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Today Our Merry Christmas Daily Bread 2 Cor 1 & John 1:14

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Merry Christmas 2 U !!!
2 Cor 1
Greetings from Paul
1This letter is from Paul, appointed by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our dear brother Timothy. We are writing to God's church in Corinth and to all the Christians throughout Greece. F1
2May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you his grace and peace.
God Offers Comfort to All
3All praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source F2 of every mercy and the God who comforts us. 4He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 5You can be sure that the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. 6So when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your benefit and salvation! For when God comforts us, it is so that we, in turn, can be an encouragement to you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. 7We are confident that as you share in suffering, you will also share God's comfort.
8I think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, F3 about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and completely overwhelmed, and we thought we would never live through it. 9In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we learned not to rely on ourselves, but on God who can raise the dead. 10And he did deliver us from mortal danger. And we are confident that he will continue to deliver us. 11He will rescue us because you are helping by praying for us. As a result, many will give thanks to God because so many people's prayers for our safety have been answered.
Paul's Change of Plans
12We can say with confidence and a clear conscience that we have been honest F4 and sincere in all our dealings. We have depended on God's grace, not on our own earthly wisdom. That is how we have acted toward everyone, and especially toward you. 13My letters have been straightforward, and there is nothing written between the lines and nothing you can't understand. I hope someday you will fully understand us, 14even if you don't fully understand us now. Then on the day when our Lord Jesus comes back again, you will be proud of us in the same way we are proud of you.
15Since I was so sure of your understanding and trust, I wanted to give you a double blessing. 16I wanted to stop and see you on my way to Macedonia and again on my return trip. Then you could send me on my way to Judea.
17You may be asking why I changed my plan. Hadn't I made up my mind yet? Or am I like people of the world who say yes when they really mean no? 18As surely as God is true, I am not that sort of person. My yes means yes 19because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, never wavers between yes and no. He is the one whom Timothy, Silas, F5 and I preached to you, and he is the divine Yes—God's affirmation. 20For all of God's promises have been fulfilled in him. That is why we say "Amen" when we give glory to God through Christ. 21It is God who gives us, along with you, the ability to stand firm for Christ. F6 He has commissioned us, 22and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment of everything he will give us.
23Now I call upon God as my witness that I am telling the truth. The reason I didn't return to Corinth was to spare you from a severe rebuke. 24But that does not mean we want to tell you exactly how to put your faith into practice. F7 We want to work together with you so you will be full of joy as you stand firm in your faith.
FOOTNOTES:F1: Greek Achaia, the southern region of the Greek peninsula. F2: Greek the Father. F3: Greek brothers. F4: Some manuscripts read holy. F5: Greek Silvanus. F6: Or who has identified us and you as genuine Christians. F7: Greek want to lord it over your faith.

~Lena’s Journalin’~
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all of those celebrative expressions to you.
The point today, is to celebrate- Jesus Christ inside of you!
Notice all month we’ve had the repetitive verse- “and the word of God became human and dwelled among us here where we could see Him with our own eyes. He was the fullness in demonstration of the unconditional love of God, which never, ever fails. He came so that we could see His glory, the glory of a heavenly Father’s great influence and image portrayed inside of an earthly human body…(Lena paraphrase)
How did God get inside of a human?
It was a planned act, and it was by invitation only. Mary was a human, who was invited by a messenger of God to have God live inside of her. She could accept or decline. She believed God, trusted God and accepted. Then she received His word and conceived His word and that word became her flesh and blood, a flesh and bone body alive inside of her humanness.
Do you not realize or think that Christ Jesus is not being invited into any and all of our lives today?
The name Jesus, denotes a Savior, and the name Christ, denotes a Lord or Master. Both want to live inside of human beings.
They want to have a great amount of influence and to deposit the nature and image of God in us in earth. “How can that happen?”, Mary asked.
It happens by accepting the invitation of God to allow His Spirit to become one with our own human spirit.
If we will not allow this, we will be mere humans making it day to day on our own without the help of God Almighty Maker of heaven and earth.
If we do allow Christ to dwell inside of us and influence our nature, we will find a supernatural life being lived in a human body. This is God’s Divine design.
I beg of you, if you have not yet received God’s Holy Spirit, to indwell you enough to overflow you, taking your old nature over and giving you the new Divine Nature of the Almighty God (new DNA), you are just making it- barely, especially in the Christian life.
In order to be all God has created you to be, and in order to fulfill all God has called you to fulfill, I challenge you to be vulnerable to God, and be as Mary was and prayed, “Be it unto me in accordance with Thy word (and Thy will), Amen!
Receive ye the Holy Spirit breath of refreshing, of life, of rejuvenation, of direction, of God! Don’t hold back from God the giving up of your whole life over to His use. Be brave, Trust God, say- “Be it unto me……”


John 1:14 So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. F1 And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father.

Friday, December 23, 2005

Today Our Daily Bread Jude

Jude
Greetings from Jude
1This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. I am writing to all who are called to live in the love of God the Father and the care of Jesus Christ.
2May you receive more and more of God's mercy, peace, and love.
The Danger of False Teachers
3Dearly loved friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the truth of the Good News. F1 God gave this unchanging truth once for all time to his holy people. 4I say this because some godless people have wormed their way in among you, saying that God's forgiveness allows us to live immoral lives. The fate of such people was determined long ago, for they have turned against our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5I must remind you—and you know it well—that even though the Lord F2 rescued the whole nation of Israel from Egypt, he later destroyed every one of those who did not remain faithful. 6And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the day of judgment. 7And don't forget the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with sexual immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and are a warning of the eternal fire that will punish all who are evil.
8Yet these false teachers, who claim authority from their dreams, live immoral lives, defy authority, and scoff at the power of the glorious ones. F3 9But even Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels, did not dare accuse Satan of blasphemy, but simply said, "The Lord rebuke you." (This took place when Michael was arguing with Satan about Moses' body.) 10But these people mock and curse the things they do not understand. Like animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them, and they bring about their own destruction. 11How terrible it will be for them! For they follow the evil example of Cain, who killed his brother. Like Balaam, they will do anything for money. And like Korah, they will perish because of their rebellion.
12When these people join you in fellowship meals celebrating the love of the Lord, they are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you. F4 They are shameless in the way they care only about themselves. They are like clouds blowing over dry land without giving rain, promising much but producing nothing. They are like trees without fruit at harvesttime. They are not only dead but doubly dead, for they have been pulled out by the roots. 13They are like wild waves of the sea, churning up the dirty foam of their shameful deeds. They are wandering stars, heading for everlasting gloom and darkness.
14Now Enoch, who lived seven generations after Adam, prophesied about these people. He said,
"Look, the Lord is coming with thousands of his holy ones.
15 He will bring the people of the world to judgment. He will convict the ungodly of all the evil things they have done in rebellion and of all the insults that godless sinners have spoken against him." F5
16These people are grumblers and complainers, doing whatever evil they feel like. They are loudmouthed braggarts, and they flatter others to get favors in return.
A Call to Remain Faithful
17But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ told you, 18that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to enjoy themselves in every evil way imaginable. 19Now they are here, and they are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They live by natural instinct because they do not have God's Spirit living in them.
20But you, dear friends, must continue to build your lives on the foundation of your holy faith. And continue to pray as you are directed by the Holy Spirit. F6 21Live in such a way that God's love can bless you as you wait for the eternal life that our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy is going to give you. 22Show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. 23Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. There are still others to whom you need to show mercy, but be careful that you aren't contaminated by their sins. F7
A Prayer of Praise
24And now, all glory to God, who is able to keep you from stumbling, and who will bring you into his glorious presence innocent of sin and with great joy. 25All glory to him, who alone is God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Yes, glory, majesty, power, and authority belong to him, in the beginning, now, and forevermore. Amen.

FOOTNOTES:F1: Greek to contend for the faith. F2: Some manuscripts read Jesus. F3: The glorious ones are probably evil angels. F4: Or they are contaminants among you, or they are stains. F5: The quotation comes from the Apocrypha: Enoch 1:9. F6: Greek Pray in the Holy Spirit. F7: Greek mercy, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh. ~Lena's Journalin'~
This scripture today is so precious. It is like an outline of purpose. Why do we get saved, why do we walk in faith, not wavering, why to we chose a pathway of life and stay on it? Jude seems to answer all of those questions here.
There is an Anti-Christ spirit in the earth that comes to anyone unknowing of its ploys and offers itself to anyone who will give 'er an ear to listen. It is the spirit of lies and there is no truth at all, anywhere, in it. It masks itself with sweetness, excuses, toleration, and most of all sympathy. We as soldiers and warriors in God's Mighty army must come to recognize and resist and then come against its plight. It only has death as its ultimate promise, in it there is no life. Yes, it may be alive right now and it may seem to be having a great and jolly time, it even bring a certain kind of comfort to the soul, but its end is utter destruction, utter turmoil, its destination is eternal fire.
As is so clearly written here, it is only one portion to "get saved", to be Born Again by God's spirit, but God has made each of us, has redeemed each one of us, and has purposed for each one of us to join His army and be victorious over our own personal enemies and then join in the fight against His. If we do not continue in the faith walk, we have only begun and then quit. God's work barely started and what He had planned in the earth, the assembly of His mighty faithful and true ones, does not come to pass.
Are you a defender of truth? Not your own personal opinion of truth, but truth? God's word of truth. This does not mean you argue and go on strike and picket and boycott (necessarily). It means you live it, you speak it in your own household, with your own circumstances, to your own enemies, first. See that is the true test, that we live truth at home, when all hell tries to break loose over us, in our personal relationships, in our workplaces, in our physical bodies and against our personal faith. Do you defend truth that way?
I'm gonna close today with this one thing.
Truth is found in the demonstration of obedience to God. What has God told you to do? Either through His word, through a church leader who brings the word to you and watches for your soul, or inside of your own spirit; words and ideas that line up with His words? What has He said or asked? Most of what He presents to us are not great ideas and schemes that we have the option to follow. It's not give and take or take and leave it advice. Can I tell you that the #1 enemy , the #1 symptom of an Anti-Christ spirit is disobedience and rebellion? If ever you feel yourself (your old uncovenantal, uncircumcised flesh nature) rise up against anything God is telling you, especially through human and imperfect people, you've got to rise up with the spirit of Christ that is inside of you and resist that rebellion to God! Rebellion was the initiator of Lucifer's fall (which is mentioned here) and any agreement with that spirit, takes us right outside of the blessing territory and into the cursing territory.
What has God said to you? Stop doing such and such and so and so? Have you, trusting the Christ in you that will strengthen you and will lead you to victory? Or did you listen to an enemy who came to you afterwods and said- "hath God said...ya know He's merciful and He REALLY did not MEAN that LITERALLY"? If you've listened to that voice of reason, rise up today and tell that small insignificant voice to leave, to stop speaking in your ear. Use the word of God as Jesus did, "It is written.....MY sheep hear and follow after My voice and the voice of a stranger they will NOT follow!" Amen
Repent, make a change, cause a turn around today! Join the heavenly host of truth and righteousness, stand for righteousness, fall for nothing and no one. Not sin, not lies, not darkness, not sickness (which many, many times is due to the curse of disobedience, the effect of no blessing of walking outside of His will). John 1:14
So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.
F1 And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Today Our Daily Bread Hebrews 9

Hebrews 9
Old Rules about Worship
1Now in that first covenant between God and Israel, there were regulations for worship and a sacred tent here on earth. 2There were two rooms in this tent. In the first room were a lampstand, a table, and loaves of holy bread on the table. This was called the Holy Place. 3Then there was a curtain, and behind the curtain was the second room called the Most Holy Place. 4In that room were a gold incense altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered with gold on all sides. Inside the Ark were a gold jar containing some manna, Aaron's staff that sprouted leaves, and the stone tablets of the covenant with the Ten Commandments written on them. 5The glorious cherubim were above the Ark. Their wings were stretched out over the Ark's cover, the place of atonement. But we cannot explain all of these things now.
6When these things were all in place, the priests went in and out of the first room F38 regularly as they performed their religious duties. 7But only the high priest goes into the Most Holy Place, and only once a year, and always with blood, which he offers to God to cover his own sins and the sins the people have committed in ignorance. 8By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the Most Holy Place was not open to the people as long as the first room and the entire system it represents were still in use.
9This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them. 10For that old system deals only with food and drink and ritual washing—external regulations that are in effect only until their limitations can be corrected.
Christ Is the Perfect Sacrifice
11So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that great, perfect sanctuary in heaven, not made by human hands and not part of this created world. 12Once for all time he took blood into that Most Holy Place, but not the blood of goats and calves. He took his own blood, and with it he secured our salvation forever.
13Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people's bodies from ritual defilement. 14Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our hearts from deeds that lead to death so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. 15That is why he is the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, so that all who are invited can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.
16Now when someone dies and leaves a will, no one gets anything until it is proved that the person who wrote the will F39 is dead. F40 17The will goes into effect only after the death of the person who wrote it. While the person is still alive, no one can use the will to get any of the things promised to them.
18That is why blood was required under the first covenant as a proof of death. 19For after Moses had given the people all of God's laws, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, and sprinkled both the book of God's laws and all the people, using branches of hyssop bushes and scarlet wool. 20Then he said, "This blood confirms the covenant God has made with you." F41 21And in the same way, he sprinkled blood on the sacred tent and on everything used for worship. 22In fact, we can say that according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified by sprinkling with blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.
23That is why the earthly tent and everything in it—which were copies of things in heaven—had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals.
24For Christ has entered into heaven itself to appear now before God as our Advocate. F42 He did not go into the earthly place of worship, for that was merely a copy of the real Temple in heaven. 25Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the earthly high priest who enters the Most Holy Place year after year to offer the blood of an animal. 26If that had been necessary, he would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But no! He came once for all time, at the end of the age, to remove the power of sin forever by his sacrificial death for us.
27And just as it is destined that each person dies only once and after that comes judgment, 28so also Christ died only once as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again but not to deal with our sins again. This time he will bring salvation to all those who are eagerly waiting for him.
FOOTNOTES:F38: Greek first tent; also in 9:8. F39: Or covenant. F40: Or Now when someone makes a covenant, it is necessary to ratify it with the death of a sacrifice. F41: Exod 24:8. F42: Greek on our behalf. ~ Lena's Journalin'~
This "old" system was very good at bringing mankind to the realizations of the impossibility of approaching God with sin, which in it's very devilish nature separates people from God. It also beings forth the true understanding of the inability to stand before a pure and Holy God unchanged, unaltered, unspoken for. Upon approaching even natural kings, one must be properly introduced and well spoken of and for before approaching the presence of the king. The impossibilities of us approaching God do not diminish the mystery and desire to see and seek Him. This innate desire is God-made and encouraged. The awesome thing, is there IS a way to approach, without being killed as an imposter, etc. The WAY is Jesus. When we know Jesus and when we get the sacrifice of His life made for us to approach, we can take that holy gift before us to our King and recieve admittance and entry into His presence.
Most visitors or approachers to a High power, would in wisdom bring a gift, their gift would go before them, would reflect their motives, would show their worthiness. We have no worthiness without the shed blood sacrifice made by our Lord Jesus Christ. He loved us enough to go before us and shed His blood and offer us the free gift that we could not afford or pay for, the gift of eternal life and reconcilliation to the separation that was made between us and God. Jesus laid out the literal red carpet for us, to approach our Father, the One who loved us, created us and so desires us to want to come be with Him, live with Him, love with Him, rule with Him. His heart is overjoyed when we make the approach on that red pathway! This "red carpet" is in God's presence continuously. It is a permanant stain. That stain cannot, and will not be removed from that place. If we go there continuously we will find it's cleansing, healing and forgiving power. Don't stay away so long, the blood is speaking for you, today. Come and see what it says.
Blood is proof that death occurred.
In the OT animals were sacrificed for the sins of men, but they had to be killed again and again and again. It was only a temporary remedy for sin. When they were slain, the blood was drained out, all of it. The Hebrew people were not allowed to drink or eat the blood, though they ate the other "parts". There was something holy about the blood. It was life poured out for another.
What would you think or how would you feel, if you did something that required a life to be taken? Which life would be taken for your decisions made, choices taken? You had to end a life, you had to end one of the best lives among you. You find out you can sacrifice an animal rather than a man, but you tend sheep and the sheep give you their lives. You raise them, they are your career, they bring food on the table and clothes on your back. You have a special few you have reserved to show how beautifully you've raised your flock and these are the ones you reproduce to make your flock stronger, they are evidence of the wisdom you've exrecised and the value of your right decisions. You actually take these to contests with other Sheep Herders and compare them, sometimes this contest brings you rewards, more money to clothe your family or pay for the place where you live. You've poured your whole life into this livelyhood. But you are required to take a life, give a life, end a life because of some of the other wrong choices you or even your parents made. It's a lifelong debt that your family passed on to you, as a natural son you are required to pay it. How large is it's sum?
Your best is your firstborn Son, he's been raised to take over the herd, he's faithful in little and much, he makes a father proud. It is unthinkable to consider giving, taking or ending His life. He has his own children to raise also!
You find out you can scarifice a lamb, but it has to be the best of all, the one with the most potential. The amount is dependant on you. For one sin - one lamb, for 2 - 2...etc. You are still hesitant to offer this penalty price. You now know the menaing of sacrifice. You take your best, maybe it is chosen for you, you bring it in to the priest who takes it for you and does with it as he will according to the debt to be paid. Your heart aches, you see the potential gone, life given away, for choices you made, for choices your fathers made. The amount of sacrifice depends on the amount of wrong choices. You desire to govern your choices according to the true value of the sacrifice to be made, and your love for righteousness. You begin to hate what causes sacrifices to have to be made. You understand the shedding of blood and its value. without the best, without the giving, you and your household would be forever lost. You cry, because you are both sad and happy, happy and sad. The blood was poured out for you, was poured out for your fathers, was poured out for your children after you. It had to be done. You thank God it was not your firstborn son! In that light you are pleased to take the lamb, again and agian. You're thankful for the blood. You're thankful for the body... and this is why you COME.
Jesus rose from the dead, He made sure the work was finished and visibly gave witness of the finished work. Nothing now can keep anyone away from the Father and from Jesus, spiritually speaking. The only thing that can take us away from them are the decisions of the mind. That's it. It used to be that even if we decided with our minds we could not be saved and rectified to God, except through obedient sacrifices, offered continuously. Even then everything was so detailed it was almost impossible. Now it is possible, so don't hesitate- GO There-TODAY!