sachi Posted October 7, 2004 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 0 Topic Count: 4 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 162 Content Per Day: 0.02 Reputation: 0 Days Won: 0 Joined: 08/29/2004 Status: Offline Share Posted October 7, 2004 SHILOH 357: I appreciate the way you connect the creation and demarkation of the firmaments in Genesis with our being called out from the darkness into light . . . (and into the progressive process of our 'sanctification') - I am following another study on the Book of Job on this board and today in re- reading Job I got myself stuck on several chapters, one being Chapter 26 - where Job so eloquently states: "He (God) marks out the horizon on the face of the waters for a boundary between light and darkness." And in reading your study today my mind jumped to two passages one being the one in Colossians where Paul tells us that God "rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves". (i.e. the kingdom of light) In reflecting on that passage , it seemed to me that the more we enter into the life of Christ, the more separated, estranged, in a sense, we become from the world i.e. kingdom of darkness . . . and sometimes I find we are in some way , indeed, a marvel for those who do not know Jesus; but in another way we become an offense to them too - Paul in 2 Corinthians2 says that "we are to God the aroma of Christ ... ( that's just too beautiful and powerful for me to fathom) among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. TO the one we are the smell of death; to the other the fragrance of life." As a professional out there in the mix of things in a very secular,pluralistic, post-modern, almost anti-christian environment - I find that aspect of 'separation' that you talk about almost tangible - But I also find that aspect of empowerment by the Holy Spirit as equally as applicable and practice-able. Thanks -and Shalom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shiloh357 Posted October 7, 2004 Share Posted October 7, 2004 Also, if you see something good that I missed, please share!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shiloh357 Posted October 7, 2004 Share Posted October 7, 2004 In reflecting on that passage , it seemed to me that the more we enter into the life of Christ, the more separated, estranged, in a sense, we become from the world i.e. kingdom of darkness . . . and sometimes I find we are in some way , indeed, a marvel for those who do not know Jesus; but in another way we become an offense to them too - That is exactly right. The purpose of sanctification is to remove the obstacles that inhibit us from the being the vessels of God's Glory that He intends for us to be. I have seen so many people struggle to live a separated and sanctified life, because they misunderstand it to be be a list of rules. They think they are sanctified because they don't smoke, drink, or sleep around. They think sanctification is based upon the kinds of clothes they wear, or other such externalities. Instead of merely trying to avoid certain sins, and struggling day in and day out to create a particular form of behavior, their time would be better utilized by filling their life with Jesus. If people would just fill their heart and life with Jesus, and keep their eyes on Him, they would find that there is not a enough time to live in sin!! LOL I have found this true in my own life. It does'nt mean that you don't goof things up occasionally, but it is a far cry from me beating my own brains out, trying everyday to "reform" my behavior. It is a lot easier to just keep my eyes on Jesus. This verse is so applicable: Romans 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. The more we focus on Messiah, and are preoccupied with HIS affairs, there is less room there is in our lives for the flesh to manifest itself. You don't have to work yourself to death in order to live properly; it just becomes a natural product of who you are in Messiah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JesusisGod2 Posted October 7, 2004 Group: Royal Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 61 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 2,065 Content Per Day: 0.27 Reputation: 128 Days Won: 1 Joined: 05/29/2003 Status: Offline Birthday: 07/03/1958 Share Posted October 7, 2004 KMB, Neb, Called, Sachi, Angels, George, Trav, Kevin, and everyone else: If y'all have any questions, or need clarification on ANYTHING I have shared, please ask. You can PM me or just ask me on the thread. I want to enterain questions. Let's interact!! Also, if you see something good that I missed, please share!! Thanks again Shilo! No questions here, This is one of those studies where I just like to sit back and learn from the teacher and the others who are interacting. I am still digesting what is being taught. The Lords word is filled with such power and majesty at the same time love and gentleness. This study has really been opening my eyes to just how deep Gods word really is (Not that I had any doubts :oww: ). Thank you brother and be blessed, I know that I have been. In Jesus Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nebula Posted October 7, 2004 Group: Royal Member Followers: 10 Topic Count: 5,823 Topics Per Day: 0.75 Content Count: 45,870 Content Per Day: 5.94 Reputation: 1,897 Days Won: 83 Joined: 03/22/2003 Status: Offline Birthday: 11/19/1970 Share Posted October 7, 2004 Instead of merely trying to avoid certain sins, and struggling day in and day out to create a particular form of behavior, their time would be better utilized by filling their life with Jesus. If people would just fill their heart and life with Jesus, and keep their eyes on Him, they would find that there is not a enough time to live in sin!! LOL Yeah - or put another way (as I have heard it): If we spent more time doing the "do's" of the Bible, we wouldn't have time to do the "don'ts"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shiloh357 Posted October 7, 2004 Share Posted October 7, 2004 Instead of merely trying to avoid certain sins, and struggling day in and day out to create a particular form of behavior, their time would be better utilized by filling their life with Jesus. If people would just fill their heart and life with Jesus, and keep their eyes on Him, they would find that there is not a enough time to live in sin!! LOL Yeah - or put another way (as I have heard it): If we spent more time doing the "do's" of the Bible, we wouldn't have time to do the "don'ts"! AMEN!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shiloh357 Posted October 8, 2004 Share Posted October 8, 2004 Shalom everyone!! Ready for Day Three? Gen 1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. Gen 1:10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. Gen 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. Gen 1:12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. Gen 1:13 And the evening and the morning were the third day. Tonight I thought I would discuss two things from these verses: 1. God is the source of all life 2. Fruit bearing God is the source of all life It is interesting to note, as many of you probably have already noticed, God begins the creation of vegitation, espcially edible vegitation, before He creates the process of Photosynthesis. The sun is the catalyst for Photosynthesis, but is not created until later. I believe that God is teaching us an important lession here. He is the sole source of all life. Not only of all physcial life, but also He is sole source of our salvation. Salvation is totally a work of God. He will not stand for less than recieving ALL of the Glory for what He has done. When we look back at the Exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt, we see first that they were hopelessly bound to Pharoah as His slaves. They had neither the morale or the military power to free themselves from this bondage. God sent the plagues as a demonstration against the gods of Egypt that He was the sole God in the universe, and it became painfully clear to Pharoah, "You WILL let My people go!!!" The children of Israel could do not one thing to save themselves. All they could do was stand by and watch God fight for them in Egypt and fight for them again at the Red Sea. Exo 14:13 And Moses said unto the people: 'Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will work for you to-day; for whereas ye have seen the Egyptians to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. Salvation is Yeshua alone. The very Name Yeshua means salvation. Yeshua is a shortened version of the Name Yehoshua (Joshua) which means "Salvation is of the Lord." Eph 2:8,9 For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one shall boast. Salvation is the Work of God alone. In Genesis 15, God and Abraham cut a covenant. God had Abraham to kill five animals and split them in half, down the back. The halves of the animals would lay opposite each other on the ground and the blood would pool in the middle createing a "walkway" of blood. This was a common covenant ritual in Abraham's day, and it was also the most serious of all covenants that one could make. It was a blood covenant, and those who make THIS covenant are bound to it, upon pain of death!! God was using the most serious covenant on earth to make His point to Abraham as to how serious He was about keeping His promise. Ordinarily, both parties would walk between the halves and declare the blessings and curses of the covenants. God did something a bit different. God caused Abraham to fall into a deep sleep. Here is what happened AFTER Abraham went to sleep: Gen 15:12-21 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. And in the fourth generation they shall come hither again; for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full. And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces. In that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite. Notice the part that I bolded? It says that Abraham saw two things passing between the halves. A flaming torch and a burning furnace. I believe that it was the Yeshua and His Father walking together between the pieces. Now in Galatians Paul tells us, Gal 3:16,17 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of no effect. The "seed" being referred to in Genesis, was not just the children of Israel but Yeshua Himself. It was God the Father and God the Son walking together between those halves. The Abrahamic covenant had nothing to do with Abraham!! It was all of God's doing! That is why God put Abraham to sleep. God wanted to show that He was soley responsible for making His promises come to pass. Likewise the New Covenant is not between us and God. It is between God and Yeshua. Yeshua went to the cross and stood as our covenant representative before God just as He did for Abraham between those animals. We are saved because God accepted Yeshua's sacrifice of Himself on the cross. We can take no credit for our salvation. It is totally a work of God. Fruit bearing Notice in Genesis 1, the earth does not produce the fruit, it simply bears it. The fruit is created by God, and is borne by the trees and the herbs. The fruit we bear is God's. It is not ours. We are simply the means by which God displays Himself, and His character to the world. He makes the fruit, we bear it for Him as His witnesses. Take note also, that God caused the herbs and fruit-bearing trees to possess seeds that would in turn produce more fruit of like kind. When we submit to God, and allow Him to show Himself to the world, He is glorified and the fruit is reproduced when people recieve Yeshua as their Savior. As believers in Yeshua we are called to bear fruit. Joh 15:8 In this is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. What is the definition of fruit? It is those things we do which glorify God. Fruit that brings glory to God is that which revels His character and operations. The things we do that show the world who God is and how real He is in our lives. It is when we truly allow ourselves to be vessels of Living water that the world is thirsting for, when we allow the character of the fruit of His spirit to shine through us, it will reproduce itself in the world. When God is glorified, people start getting saved! When God, through Peter healed the lame man at the gate called Beautiful in Acts chapter 3, five thousand people were saved!! There are so many places in Acts, where people get saved when God is lifted up. As we walk in Love, preferring one another over oursleves, serving one another, blessing one another, looking out for each other's best interests, God is glorified, and the world will want in on it. When the world sees us as "Mishpacha HaElohim" (The Family of God) acting like family, and they get a clear picture of who Jesus really is, and see through us how much He loves them, they will fall all over each other tryng to get to the Savior. That is when more and more fruit will be reproduced to the Glory of God!! The command has been given: Mat 28:19,20 Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. We are to make disciples of the nations. We do not make disciples for ourselves (that is how cults get started), but rather we make disiples for Christ. We are to bear fruit that will bring in more disciples/followers of Messiah into Malkhut HaElohim, the Kingdom of God. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nebula Posted October 8, 2004 Group: Royal Member Followers: 10 Topic Count: 5,823 Topics Per Day: 0.75 Content Count: 45,870 Content Per Day: 5.94 Reputation: 1,897 Days Won: 83 Joined: 03/22/2003 Status: Offline Birthday: 11/19/1970 Share Posted October 8, 2004 Pretty neat! Anyway, I was wondering - Since "waters" are symbolic of people, is "the earth" or actually as the correct translation should be, "the land" symbolic of anything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orr v'emet Posted October 8, 2004 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 26 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 1,672 Content Per Day: 0.23 Reputation: 11 Days Won: 0 Joined: 05/12/2004 Status: Offline Share Posted October 8, 2004 Another beautifully written post Shiloh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachi Posted October 8, 2004 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 0 Topic Count: 4 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 162 Content Per Day: 0.02 Reputation: 0 Days Won: 0 Joined: 08/29/2004 Status: Offline Share Posted October 8, 2004 SHILOH This is a rich teaching - There is much here that needs to be 'digested' and assimilated - However, I just wanted to pause at some aspect of what you shared today because it resonates with something that has come through for me through another excellent study (on Job) on this board Salvation is the Work of God alone. ..... God caused Abraham to fall into a deep sleep. Here is what happened AFTER Abraham went to sleep:...... It says that Abraham saw two things passing ....I believe that it was the Yeshua and His Father walking together between the pieces.... It was God the Father and God the Son walking together between those halves. The Abrahamic covenant had nothing to do with Abraham!! It was all of God's doing! That is why God put Abraham to sleep. God wanted to show that He was soley responsible for making His promises come to pass. Likewise the New Covenant is not between us and God. It is between God and Yeshua. Yeshua went to the cross and stood as our covenant representative before God just as He did for Abraham between those animals. We are saved because God accepted Yeshua's sacrifice of Himself on the cross. We can take no credit for our salvation. It is totally a work of God. This in inself is a powerful meditation that could last a few days - Yes, there is nothing of ourselves to boast about We can just stand in awe and humble thanks for such a great salvation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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