Fri, Feb 13th - 2:28PM

DINNER WITH JESUS CHRIST

Brothers and sisters, as the Lord’s family of priests let us give abundant love and thank offerings to Jesus Christ our Saviour,Mediator, High Priest of the New Covenant, sent by the will and good pleasure of God our Father and His Witness God the Holy Ghost, for He is worthy of our worship and praise, even as God our Father is Worshipped.God declares in His word we can do nothing without Jesus and should not desire to do anything without his approval and blessings. Much love blessings and peace to you, holy brethren, in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who is with and in us to help us daily in our walk in, by, through and to Him. Let us regularly with patient persistence feed carefully on the Good News of the gospel to nourish, Jhn 6:63, grow in grace and strengthen our spirits, hearts, and minds continually. When Jesus declared:  Jhn 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Many who heard Him thought He had become unhinged and many departed from Him. We have some today that see His declaration as outrageous and impossible.  The simple eternal truth is that Jesus will not negotiate, bargain, cut a deal, accept excuses, or make any exceptions because those claiming to be His must believe all that the prophets and apostles have declared of Him without exception. There are always many faithful, however, we find that there are some who don’t believe Jesus is the High Priest of the New Covenant; Some don’t believe that His atonement gives eternal salvation as declared throughout scripture. Some don’t believe He is God the Son equal to the Father omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. Some don’t believe He is the Head of the church, believing in error He is stuck in heaven, and have put men in charge of His church, until He returns.  This is not addressing those who are ignorant or untaught in scripture, but those claiming to know and understand it: 2Ti 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. As we continue with the study of the woman and her costly ointment, we remember and understand that she lavished it on Him in true repentance as the real object of value, and therefore gave the best that she had to employ and express her utter gratitude for His offering of Himself to obtain eternal forgiveness for all that believe in Him. The off the chart wicked person doing horrifying things is the picture of evil we easily recognize, yet the evil person can appear so ordinary and deceptively none threatening. There is no way to move forward with this study without understanding that Jesus did not want to lose any of His disciples. Jesus knew Judas was a thief who would betray Him when He chose him as one of His disciples. Furthermore, Jesus didn’t pick His disciples randomly, He received all of them given to Him by God the Father. Matthew, Mark and Luke gave the time line of two days before  the Passover; however John’s rendering of this story takes place earlier and the setting is not in Simon the Pharisee’s house but in the house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus: Jhn 12:1Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.2There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. Again, it is the repentant Mary who in gratitude and faith fervently worships at Jesus’ feet. Some may find it surprising that all of them weren’t worshipping at the the feet of Jesus with her. We know from other scriptures that Mary had sat at Jesus feet intent and eager to receive His teachings. How can we claim to love Jesus and not also want to give Him our fervent worship and love offerings? Love and truth forever, serola

Tue, Feb 3rd - 8:53PM

DINNER WITH JESUS CHRIST

Brothers and sisters, much love and peace to you, the purchased of God our Father to be His very own possession through faith in Jesus Christ God the Son of God with power. Without Jesus we can do nothing. God our Father commands us to keep this in remembrance. This might offend some: Mat 11:6. However, those who love Jesus receive His truth with humble and grateful hearts out of love and trust in Him. Nope, no way we can do anything without Jesus whom God our Father through faith in His name, has set as the eternal life, and nourisher of His church, its eternal High Priest and Head of the body of Christ. Praise God that all believers come to know and understand our Lord over time through the teaching, study and consistent practicing of His word. God doesn’t expect His people to mature or ripen to maturity overnight. Again, holy people, we know  that Jesus is God’s Eternal Anointed One alone ordained to give and be the life nourisher and sustainer of His people-you, me, us- all who believe in Him: Luk 9:62Jhn 6:53Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Jhn 8:24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.The New Covenant of Jesus Christ is absolute, without error, explicit, exhaustive, exclusive, final, finished, free and eternally complete. One is either in Christ or out of Christ, there are no good bad guys, or bad good guys, no half dark and half-light, neutral persons, or saved sinners. Liberal theology will lie and say that there are special cases, exceptions, and other roads that allow people to be saved. Yet again, dearly beloveds, all who trust in Jesus can be confident/assured that over time as we patiently, regularly eat the spiritual food from God to learn, study and live Christ, He causes Him to enter and be used in every part of our spirits, hearts, and minds to sustain and properly nourish the body of Christ individually and as a whole to grow in grace. Jesus is the Word of God, the Word of eternal life: 1Jo 1:1.6:27  Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. God Has given Jesus as the only source of spiritual nourishment for His people. Jesus is the straight gate; the narrow way; the door to the sheepfold, Saints (G40 hagios) we know from the scriptures that all through Jesus’ earthly ministry He not only preached the absolute truth of scripture, He also warned against unrepentant-rejection of God’s truth that God the Father who cannot lie commanded Him to profess to the whole world. We fully understand why the woman with her ointment found the grace of faith in Christ that totally eluded the blind Pharisee Simon looking to his sect for righteousness.

 Tit 1:2And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Then again, Jesus teaches no man, no servant can serve two masters: Mat 6:24; Luk 16:13. There are absolute and Irreversible good consequences for the believer in Christ and absolutely no good for those who unrepentantly reject Christ: Luk 12:5; Jhn 5:29. Most importantly we understand from scripture that God allows our faith to be tested and tried by temptation, even as He allowed His own sinless Son to be tempted, however the word of God is clear: Jas 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: While Satan is called the tempter for good reason, please feel free to read James 1, among many other scriptures that go into minute details showing that the root of or core reason why a person actually yields to temptation originates in one’s own lust for that which is forbidden. God doesn’t leave His people high dry and all by themselves in temptation: 1Co 10:13There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. See Heb 12. Jesus is intensively involved in the life of all believers, never passive. We know that God is merciful calling all men to Christ both the good and the bad and takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but calls all men to repentance in Christ. What we must comprehensively know and understand, dearly beloveds, is that God doesn’t throw His people or those claiming to be his people under the bus when they are tempted. He definitely steps in directly and or through His body the church to discipline/correct to restore, not punish. God’s people are kept from falling away by His Power: Jde 1:24Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, Those who reject God’s interventions are bastards and not sons at all. In understanding the mercy of God, and the nature of an impenitent heart we can get the correct understanding of Judas Iscariot as we go forward in the study. Let us keep in mind that Jesus is the life of not only the spiritual world, but the natural world as well and every creature in it. Every breath we draw is from Him who has given every man their allotted time to repent and believe in Him, before He withdraws His breath after which men die, and then the judgment. Love and truth forever, serola                      

Mon, Jan 19th - 11:23AM

DINNER WITH JESUS CHRIST

Holy people, we can do nothing without Jesus. Again, you, me, us can do nothing without Jesus. Neither can you, me, us grow to maturity without His word. We have to keep this in the forefront in love and trust in God- lest we sink into pride exalting ourselves and not our Creator. Thank God for the faithful servant officers of the church who watch over and feed the flock to grow to maturity. Everything that the church has come through Lord Jesus Christ for His glory and our good. Please, let us consistently pick up our Bibles to read, study, live and share it as God commands. Some read the Bible through once and then put it away thinking that is all that is required by God. It is no surprise that those who have little or no steady spiritual nourishment get into all kinds of difficulties, and make avoidable errors in doctrine. Reading the Bible through from beginning to end gives us a comprehensive understanding of the whole of both testaments within the New Covenant of Jesus Christ. While looking at the whole, we can also take time to look at individual books, characters, themes of scriptures, applying them to our lives out of faith and trust in God. Shamefully, we have dead churches in the past and right now gone or going to closure through failure to feed their flock, despite many warnings sent by God, they refuse to repent. Nobody witnesses in such churches, have any ministries, remain strangers to one another and have no understanding of or haven’t heard of the New Covenant of Jesus Christ, this is evidence and the fruit of false shepherds whom God condemns. Worse yet, their poor deceived flock having never heard the gospel, but just homilies or humanistic doctrines have not even been saved. Brothers and sisters, the momentum of the study of the woman and her ointment, bears us forward to go to the book of John keenly aware that our God never sees the relationship/fellowship with His people in any casual manner at all, but one that is always intensely personal and caring. We see Jesus the God Man up close and personal in both His humanity and as God the Son, faithful Shepherd of the flock of God. We know that God’s love and truth tests/measures the viability and value of our  relationship/fellowship with Him and one another through and within the supreme Standard of Christ: Jhn 5:23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.1Jo 2:23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.Jhn 14:6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.Jhn 6:44No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.Let us as God commands keep the woman and her ointment in memory who understood Jesus is our true and only treasure. While we can pray to God for things that we need, which He only grants if its according to His will, the mature Christian isn’t focused only on getting stuff from Lord Jesus. The mature Christian lives focused in all their doings on pleasing God daily in doing His will, and worshipping Him for who He is and what He has done for us in His eternal atonement for all who believe in Him. When we hear people talking all Wishy washy touchy feely warm and fuzzy teaching that there are many roads to God, or that obedience and faithfulness is not expected to be stable but to fluctuate depending on circumstances etc whether ignorantly or willfully we know from scripture that is a lie. However, the ignorant will receive the truth when they are taught it but the wicked never will. As we go forward, dearly beloveds, to the book of John we will look closer at the woman with her ointment, as well as one of the most terrifying and disgusting human beings in scripture JUDAS ISCARIOT. One of the many horrifying doctrinal errors that have resulted from misinterpretation of scripture about him is that a born-again believer can lose their salvation. Until next time, dearly beloveds, let us take comfort and have complete confidence/assurance in the eternal inerrant, authority, love and truth of all the promises of God through our indwelling Saviour, High Priest, Mediator Jesus Christ God the Son of God with power: Mat 28:20…I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.Jhn 10:28And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Heb 13:5…for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Rom 8:35-39. Love and truth forever, serola  

Wed, Jan 14th - 3:54AM

DINNER WITH JESUS CHRIST

Brothers and sisters, we know that we can do nothing without Jesus, absolutely nothing. The Bible is clear; the church as a whole and individually cannot grow to maturity nor bear good fruit unto God without Jesus-through His gospel. Praise God our Father who has given believers through faith in Christ the right, authority and power to be taught it, live and share it with one another and the commission to gather souls unto Him by sharing the gospel in the world. Dearly beloveds, we know from scripture what Jesus declares explicitly to any and every one even the whole world that God is no respecter of persons: Mat 12:30He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. God the  Absolute Authority rules supreme over any and every doctrine of men and/or devils. God makes it clear there is no neutrality, no fence straddling, no substitutes, no plan b’s, no alternatives  NO compromise, NO negotiation, NO Exceptions to the gospel of Jesus Christ: Mat 15:9But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Mar 7:7Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.Lord Jesus knew who Simon the Pharisee was and had likened the Pharisees amongst other sects as vipers-spiritual poisoners. They gave themselves elite titles as experts, based on scholarships of alleged superior knowledge such as masters, and doctors which they used to exalt themselves and lord it over their disciples to exploit them financially as well as to mislead them spiritually.Jesus boiled down the results of their teachings amongst others: Mat 23:13But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Mat 23:15Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Jesus reveals the fatal flaw in all of the doctrines of the sects as well as the Levitical priesthood which had corrupted itself thoroughly at the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry. We know that this same fatal flaw remains today in all the humanistic doctrines of mere men, whether they be various religious movements, ideologies, denominations, institutions, organizations etc. is the lie that they can set the standard for salvation that adds to or takes away from the everlasting truth of the New Covenant of Jesus Christ understood within the whole context of both the Old and New Testaments. The scriptures warn against adding to or taking away from the truth of God’s word: Gal 1:8-9; 2Jo 1:10-11. Now we know God doesn’t condemn those who are ignorant not being taught scripture, for the righteous will repent when they are taught the truth, but the wicked never will.Therefore, we understand that these passages Gal 1:8-9; 2Jo 1:10-11, address those who have been taught the word of God, but choose to reject it impenitently, and they have no excuse from God: Rom 1:18-25; Some might think at least Simon the Pharisee had some love for God; doesn’t even a little bit of love count with God? Is not a little bit of love better than none with God? Brothers and sisters, we look to the scriptures for Jesus’ perspective on this matter: Mar 12:30And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. Mat 10:37He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.Luk 14:25And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, 26If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters,yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.We know that Jesus wasn’t hanging around with Simon the Pharisee to participate in the tenets of this sect, but continually teaching and bringing him the gospel message desiring that he would believe it and be converted. Jesus teaches us that even in companying with unbelievers- unspiritual persons, love and truth recognizes moral boundaries of appropriateness that if violated, should be challenged, addressed and corrected. After Jesus corrects Simon WITHOUT CONDEMNATION, did Simon repent or was he enraged, and embarrassed by being publicly corrected by Jesus in the sight of those present including the woman whom he saw as a great sinner? After Jesus justifies, protects, and commends the woman for her faith and said to her directly that she was forgiven, the thoughts of the disciples are revealed to us. Luk 7:49And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?  Despite Jesus telling them repeatedly His mission and who He is, and their observing His many miracles, raising the dead, healing the sick, walking on water, casting out devils, and feeding thousands with initially scraps of food, living sinlessly every minute amongst them, and teaching them the gospel daily it is astounding that they could have any doubts of His authority from God to forgive sins! If there is a definition of hardness of heart we can certainly find it here.Luk 7:50And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. This is the second time Jesus confirms to the woman that she is forgiven, and this second time He releases her to go in peace confident and commended for her faith in Him.Dearly beloveds let us remember this woman as Jesus commands and do even as this woman has done, let us cling in faith to our Lord and Saviour, the Pearl of great price, the greatest treasure in all eternity in which the riches of this earth is but mere trinkets and useless rubbish.Commendation to the woman correction to Simon the Pharisee.Some take aways, you, me us-all believers- we are not just a faceless number in the multitudes to Lord Jesus:Jhn 10:3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.Jhn 10:4And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.We are His eternal family: Mar 3:35For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.Heb 13:5….for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.Love and truth forever, serola 

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 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++