Fri, Jan 2nd - 8:10AM

DINNER WITH JESUS CHRIST

Jhn 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.Eph 4:10He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. Eph4:11And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Perfecting: complete furnishing, equipping. Eph 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: See Eph 4:16-32. 2 Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 2Ti 3:17That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. Brothers and sisters, let us God’s family of priests continually give our fervent love and thank offerings to our High Priest, Saviour, Mediator, Jesus Christ God, the Son of God with power, and to God our Father who has given us His Son Jesus to be the propitiation for all of our sins and not ours only but for the whole world- all who believe in Him. Let us with patience, faithfully keep in remembrance that we can do nothing without Jesus, absolutely nothing:John 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the  same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. Psa 127:1 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the +++++ LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. Much love and peace to you holy brethren, let us with much patience go to our Lord Jesus’ table to dine fully in His Word to find strength, courage, comfort and peace in the knowledge of Him. We know that Jesus could have just refused Simon’s invitation or the dinner upon being +++++ disrespectfully received by Simon the Pharisee. We know that Jesus had miraculously fed to the full thousands with mere table scraps of food, so in no way was Simon the Pharisee doing him any favors by inviting him to dinner. Jesus could also have just accepted Simon the Pharisee’s disrespectful treatment in displeased silence. We know, dearly beloveds, that love and truth is the core standard that sets clear consistent and firm boundaries for healthy natural relationships and spiritual  relationships even more so. No healthy relationship whether natural or spiritual is  possible, not bound by love and truth to test its validity and worth. Some are afraid to test relationships out of fear of the risk of losing them, and/or fear of retaliation and in some cases even violence. Was Jesus angry, disgusted, disappointed, fed up with  Simon the Pharisee? We know Jesus as a man was certainly not pleased with how He or the woman had been treated. However, never ceasing to be God the Son and Shepherd in His intense passion for His people, He dared to risk- test His relationship with Simon out of love and truth when He meticulously peeled back and exposed  Simon’s shortcomings and disrespectful treatment of Him and the woman, in hopes that it would lead this spiritually blind man to repentance.  We find no evidence here that Simon the Pharisee gained any spiritual insight which would have led him to  apologize for his disrespectful behavior. Therefore, Jesus frankly rebukes self- righteousness and accepts only true repentance: Luk 7:47Wherefore I say unto  thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. 48And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.  Brothers and sisters some might ask why Jesus forgave only the woman, since earlier He had said in His parable that both sinners were pardoned, and doesn’t He contradict Himself here? No, Jesus never contradicts Himself nor scriptures since He is the Word of God Himself. The woman having heard the gospel believed it, and her frank worship showed her much love in having understood His message, the meaning of His death, and the Man/God in His Messianic mission who alone would grant forgiveness for even the greatest of sinners such as herself. Her love did not could not precede her  faith, but her frank worship is evidence of her love after she believed: Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. Even the free gift of faith and repentance is a work of the mercy of God: Rom 2:4;  Rom 12:3. Brothers and sisters, we do not have++ to belabor the issue with Simon the Pharisee, nor the danger of mere men EVEN++++ TODAY setting up humanistic doctrines as the standard for being forgiven of sins by God. All of the sects had fallen into the delusion that they had the power to set the++ standard for salvation or that it could be obtained through the false doctrines of mere men. Love and truth forever, serola +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sat, Dec 27th - 2:58AM

DINNER WITH JESUS CHRIST

Brothers and sisters, let us the holy royal family of the holy priesthood of God under our Saviour, High Priest, Jesus Christ, joyously praise God our Father, God our Saviour the Son of God Jesus Christ, and God our Holy Spirit continually with lavish offerings of love, blessings, worship and peace offerings who has reconciled us, broken down the enmity and middle wall between us and made us one people in the only eternal One true God. Much love and peace to you, dearly beloveds. I give our God thanks for your fellowship in the study of scripture and for the blessings of our mutual prayers to God helping us one another early and often. Let us keep in mind this eternal truth WE KNOW THAT WE CAN DO NOTHING WITHOUT JESUS. Jesus is the appointed eternal Saviour, the life of the church, the nourisher and sustainer of the church. Without Jesus we know there is ABSOLUTELY no church, no covenant, no life, no power no nothing whatsoever. Let us thank God for the multitude of faithful guarding/guiding servant officers gifted by the Holy Ghost through faith in Christ by the will of God our Father to the church. Let us love and very highly regard them for their work in building up and watching over the body of Christ out of love, faith, and trust in God: 1Th 5:12 And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; 13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves. Beseech: to request, entreat, beg, beseech. Then there are servant officers who do not preach the gospel and lightly regard the scriptures if any. These are proud spiritual poisoners claiming to know God yet preaching another Jesus, another gospel, another spirit, mixed with the doctrines of mere men and even devils. Their sheep are spiritually poisoned, damaged, wizened, deformed, starved, easily open to predators, and get in all kinds of trouble, some even spread the spiritual poison to others. Some of the sheep run away in desperation seeking spiritual nourishment elsewhere. We know, holy brethren, that Lord Jesus sends to many of these wayward ministers’ countless righteous servant officers, brothers, sisters, even secular persons giving warnings after warnings to reprove, admonish, and turn them to the truth of scripture which some proudly and stubbornly resist. Ultimately, Lord Jesus Christ Himself will directly confront them. There will be dire consequences, and a loss and closure of some of these ministries as in the past for anyone who stubbornly refuses correction from Lord Jesus: Rom 2:11 For there is no respect of persons with God. Heb 10:29 - Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?30 - For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31- It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Brothers and sisters, we know that God has only one true eternal unchanging gospel and that God has no alternative gospel, no plan b’s, no mixtures of the gospel of any sort. Therefore, let us stay spiritually well fed nourished and nurtured in the true eternal Word of God; AND LET YOU, ME, US PRACTICE WHAT WE PREACH AS GOD COMMANDS. Brethren, as we sit at the Lord’s table, our Bread of life, let us always with patience often, freely eat and drink into Him as He commands and urges His people, to find comfort, peace, and knowledge of Him, the Holy Ghost standing by to minister as well to us in the presence of God our Father. Some might see Lord Jesus as cold, emotionally distant, passive in relationship to His people. However, we see the truth clearly though the context of scripture His careful intense fully attentive, intimate engagement with all of His people-you, me, us, and in this particular story of this woman His deep relationship with each of the persons involved. After Jesus unfavorable contrasts and compares Simon the Pharisees treatment of Him with the woman whom Simon distains as a great sinner, we feel the intense heat of Jesus’ concluding words to Simon. Luk 7:47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. Look, saints (G40 hagios) after a person repents and turns to God, we know there is going to be someone like Simon the Pharisee who remembers our sins and judges us for them as though we were still unsaved, even rejected by God. Sometimes it can even be our own guilty consciences, not understanding in seeing our sins as too great for God to forgive: Luk 18:27. We have to note too, that even though God through faith in Jesus Christ completely forgives us, sometimes there are still consequences for our sins on earth. For instance, a person may become a believer in Jail but he or she is still going to have to complete their sentence mandated by law etc. We are not done with this verse, brothers and sisters. Let us look into it again next time, Lord willing. I love you, pray for me I am praying for you dearly beloveds. Love and truth forever, serola

Mon, Dec 22nd - 12:26PM

DINNER WITH JESUS CHRIST

Brothers and sisters, much love, peace and blessings to you in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, God the Son of God with power, without whom we can do nothing, absolutely nothing. Neither can any of us grow to maturity apart from His Word. He is the only spiritual food given to the body of Christ, by the will of God our Father that can nourish His church to perfection. We need to keep this in the forefront of all of our works in thankfulness and the assurance of His power working through us.The word perfection, dearly beloveds, can trigger people to be fearful, anxious, because attaining perfection seems impossible for anyone to ever accomplish, 2Ti 1:7 ; 1Jo 4:18. This is true for people, but nothing is impossible for God. By perfection meaning, Rom 12:2, our understanding of God’s will is complete being taught-fed the scriptures over time leading you, me, us, to full spiritual growth, stability in the faith with the evidence of living it consistently out of love and trust in God, by the power of the Holy Ghost given through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, 2Ti 3:17; Eph 4:13. The poorly spiritually fed body, a body spiritually poisoned due to being fed spiritual slops and not the whole gospel message is a body open to predators to take advantage of. We have much evidence of the damage done to the body of Christ even today due to ignorance of God’s word. God commands us to preach Jesus not ourselves. We know that God forbids you, me, us to impose or mix our personal particular desires, views, preferences, or insert our purposes or secular programs on the gospel message. When we mix anything with God’s word, it is perverted and not accepted by Him at all. God commands us to glorify Himself not ourselves: Isa 42:8 I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. Brethren, I know some might accuse me of being judgmental, but I am not. God commands us all to speak the truth in love, by His authority and power: 2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Understand, holy brethren, we know that God’s judgment over His house, you, me, us without exception has already began: 1Pe 4:17For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? Evidently, according to scripture some believers will get a full reward, some will get a partial reward, and some will get no reward and a spanking. However, we can never lose our inheritance, it’s the free gift of God to every believer not a work. NO CHRISTIAN WILL EVER APPEAR BEFORE THE GREAT WHITE THRONE OF GOD. 2Jo 1:8. We don’t have to choose to lose any of our reward. Let us get our full reward in sharing and living the Word out of love and trust in God. Luk 7:46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. No doubt, brothers and sisters, Jesus knew how this woman got her ointment, yet He accepted it, let her use it up on Himself because He understood that she had burned her bridges. This ointment that could be used to entice a customer, or to sell when business was slow, she used up in its entirety on Jesus.  For her there would be no turning back, no further need for such ointment, no wavering between the present and the past, no road left to turn back on, no chance of being what she had been, or doing what she had been doing. She would never need this kind of ointment ever again, because all she needed or wanted was Jesus, and He was much more than enough for her. BURNING BRIDGES/TRUE REPENTANCE: Burning bridges, saints (G40 hagios) has often meant in a negative sense: but we see it can be a positive: BURN ONE'S BRIDGES definition: Also, burn one's boats. Commit oneself to an irreversible course. To destroy all possible ways of going back to a situation. It implies making a decision or taking an action that cannot be undone, often leading to a commitment that prevents any possibility of returning to a previous state. This idiom is commonly used to describe situations where someone has made a final decision, such as quitting a job or ending a relationship, leaving no options for retreat. We can understand the meaning of true repentance, as not being just lip service, but a final commitment towards God and away from the world: Rom 2:4. Love and truth forever, serola        

Thu, Dec 11th - 3:34AM

DINNER WITH JESUS CHRIST

Brothers and sisters, we know we can do nothing without Jesus, absolutely nothing. We also know that the church can only be fed with the Word of God. God has ordained gifts, (1Co 12:28), to the people of God through whom He partners with to guard and guide the church to spiritual maturity in His Word. The spiritually healthy church with its many good works, never ceases to teach and preach the Word of God.Yet, some churches, have foolishly substituted various unbiblical doctrines or omitted/or added to the word of God. It is not a surprise that such churches, unless they repent, fade away into oblivion rapidly or slowly over the course of time. We see the skeletal remains of empty buildings in many cities, so called houses of worship, some small or great, that endured a long or short time that stand as a testimony that they had not fed the sheep, but instead poisoned and starved them with unbiblical doctrines. Their poisoned/starving sheep fled in the hopes of finding spiritual nourishment elsewhere. Jesus is not passive in His office as Head of the church. There can be no doubt, dearly beloveds, that before the failure of such churches was accomplished they chose to reject correction through some, or perhaps many sent by Him, who tried to correct and warn them. Some might feel threatened, or resent the idea of God’s discipline, for whatever reason. Mainly, I believe, dearly beloveds, is because they see it as punishment. God doesn’t punish His kids, but like every Father, He lovingly corrects them, (you, me, us). When we fail to or choose not to discipline ourselves, God ordains His loving help for us through various means to accomplish correction: From God directly, through conviction of the conscience by the Holy Ghost, through the God given authority of the guarding, guiding servant officers of the church, through His body by brothers and/or sisters, or the whole presbytery. The nature of church discipline is done in love, is not abusive, can be restorative/corrective, temporary or permanent removal from the body if warranted. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE DISCIPLINARY/CORRECTIVE HAND OF THE LORD AND HIS CHURCH: 1Ti 5:19-20. Heb 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof  all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Heb 12:11-12. We return back to Simon the Pharisee’s house. Our attention focused on him with Jesus. Initially Jesus told Simon a simple parable of two debtors, but Simon didn’t grasp that it was really about him and the woman who was a great sinner. He really couldn’t connect as seeing himself as a sinner. Jesus looks on the heart, he wasn’t impressed that Simon ranked in one of the top sects, had a comfortable life, and some measure of status amongst the Levites. We see the kindness of Jesus, He would honor the woman and, in His mercy, love and patience with this difficult proud man seek to remove his spiritual blindness. Jesus would not leave him ignorant. Jesus would present the naked truth to Simon the Pharisee with the loving rod of correction, even if it hurt his feelings: Luk 7:44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. BLIND PHARISEE: Mat 23:1-39 Jesus demanded that Simon look at the woman. Perhaps Simon had averted his gaze, not wanting to even look at this woman whom he regarded as a sinner, while refusing to acknowledge his own sinfulness. Lord Jesus had looked into Simon’s heart to see the distain for the woman- counting her as of no value. Jesus demanded that Simon see her, look at her, acknowledge her presence. How did Simon the Pharisee feel in being unfavorably compared and contrasted with a sinful woman, whom Jesus regarded as righteous?  Luk 7:45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.Simon had without saying it verbally shown his utter disrespect and contempt for Jesus. He invited Jesus into his home not showing the customary respect for a valued friend with a kiss, and water to wash his feet. Simon had Jesus sit for dinner more in the manner of giving an unimportant servant an obligatory meal as part payment for work done. However, the woman had not ceased to kiss Jesus’ dusty feet with kisses and washing them with her tears out of the deepest love, devotion, and worship. Brothers and sisters, how do we greet Lord Jesus is He worthy to give our consistent times of devotion and love, or someone we find it a chore to remember to give a nod of worship to after we have done so called more important things, or do we find it a delight to take time to personally love, honor, fellowship and cherish consistently the One, who gave Himself for us so that all who believe in Him will have forgiveness of all sins, and eternal life with Him? Jesus notices how you, me, us who claim we love Him treats Him consistently.

Thu, Dec 4th - 1:07AM