Kingdom Ready

Introduction

One of the concepts that most Christians are aware of is the fact that after Jesus was crucified, he was dead – and in his tomb – for a period of time, before God resurrected him.

Most mainstream Christian churches assert that Jesus was in the tomb for parts of three days. The general tenets of that doctrine are as follows:

– Jesus died – and was placed in his tomb- shortly before sundown on a Friday;

– He was dead, and in the tomb, all day on a Saturday;

– Jesus came back to life – and emerged from his tomb – shortly after sunrise on a Sunday.

Introduction

The most recognizable symbol of modern-day Christianity is the cross. In essence, almost every Christian church – and most Christian-based organizations – display crosses on their buildings and in their literature, as part of identifying themselves as Christians. (Note that Catholic organizations often display crucifixes, rather than crosses. A crucifix is a cross which is depicted with the body of Jesus on it.)

Interestingly, the earliest Christians did not use the symbol of the cross at all, to identify themselves as Christians. In fact, the cross did not become widely used by Christians until the early 4th century – during the time of Emperor Constantine.

Introduction

This year, the festival of Hanukkah begins on the evening of December 16, after sundown. The events surrounding Hanukkah are quite inspiring; as they describe believers being delivered from oppression. In addition to that, some of the traditions about that festival are incredibly prophetic – especially about Jesus.

As a result, it appears useful to provide some background information about Hanukkah – about its history, about the events that it commemorates, and about its prophetic ramifications.

A History of Invasions

During the centuries throughout history, the land of Israel has been conquered by many different empires. Here is a brief timeline of some (not all) of the powers that took over Israel over the years:

Introduction

Throughout history, many cultures have had the concept of primogeniture. In essence, primogeniture is the custom of the oldest son in a family having greater inheritance rights than any of his siblings.

The primogeniture custom was used quite extensively in medieval Europe. In particular, the oldest son of a nobleman would inherit all of the land owned by the family. This was primarily done to avoid dividing up a noble’s estate – because large estates could defend themselves better than smaller ones. In addition, the oldest son of a king would inherit the kingship – and this is still generally done in European monarchies today.

A sermon recently preached in chapel at Atlanta Bible College based on Jesus’ call in Matthew 4:19 “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”

The question posed by the title, “Is YHWH’s servant, YHWH Himself?” should make you pause and think. But don’t struggle with it for too long though,Cheap Jerseys china because the question posed is nonsensical. It is impossible for a person to be their own servant, for a servant is “a person in the service of another.”[1] Yet for many Christians, the belief that YHWH’s servant, Jesus, is actually YHWH Himself, is surprisingly quite prevalent. However, this understanding of the relationship between God the Father and Jesus defies not only logic and language, but also Scripture. A much simpler solution is to be found within the Biblical text, coming from the lips of Jesus himself. In his prayer to the Father in John 17:3, Jesus says: “This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent–Jesus Christ.” Jesus is not YHWH, the Father and the only true God; he is YHWH’s anointed and appointed human agent, the Messiah.

This article is something that friend and brethren in the faith Jaco Van Zyl posted on his Facebook page about a month ago.  I told him then that I would post a copy of it here and well now a month later, I’m finally getting around to making it happen.  Plus I haven’t posted an article here on the KR blog in something like f-o-r-e-v-e-r.  I guess I’ll just be the random once-in-a-while KR contributor! :)  Hope everyone enjoys this as much as I did!  It is from Andrew Perriman’s website www.postost.net (where he has link backs to earlier articles, and contextual web verses, among other things).

Jesus is God or Jesus is Lord?

(Article by Denny Burk and orginally found at his blog.)

The head of Venezuela’s presidential guard was with Hugo Chávez during his final moments. His report on Chávez’s last words paints a picture of a man desperately clinging to life. According to this report, Chávez said:

I don’t want to die. Please don’t let me die.

As a rule, I’m no fan of socialist dictators—particularly those of Chávez’s ilk. But this strikes me as one of the saddest things I’ve ever read. I grieve to think about what the horror of his final moments must have been like. Death is no respecter of persons—not even of billionaire Presidents who command a cult-like following among their countrymen. Not even of you. As the old hymn has it, “Time like an ever-flowing stream bears all its sons away.” None of us will escape this great equalizer.

“And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.  And they shall dwell secure for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.  And he shall be their peace.” Micah 5:4

Recently, I attended my first (of a series) of classes for a Christian teen counseling certification course. As I walked into the room I was greeted by a small group of individuals who had already been attending the course, all of them ladies, & all of them just about old enough to be my Mom. Nothing wrong with moms… or my mom’s age group, I’m just trying to paint a scene for you. I’m honored that God would call me to take part in something like this with this group of people who all seem way more gifted, wise & entertaining than I am. So after we introduced ourselves we got into one of our topic videos for the night and what else would be more comfortable to discuss with these “golden girls” than… … “The Power of Sex”!