In Numbers 19, God gives instructions to Moses about the ashes of the red heifer.Moses is told that the heifer must meet several specifications.First, it to be perfect in that there is no spot or blemish to be found in it.Second, it must not have more than two hairs of any color.Thirdly, it must not have ever had a yoke upon her neck.
Finally, the heifer was to be taken outside of the camp and slaughtered with a knife and its body burned to ashes before the high priest on cedar wood.It was then to be mixed with hyssop, scarlet, and running water to be stored in a stone pot for the purpose of purification; most importantly the purification of the temple, its implements, and priests.
The significance of the red heifer is important today as that before the third temple can be rebuilt as prophesied in Scripture and the priesthood restored, the ashes of the red heifer must be reestablished for the purification of the temple, its implements, and priests.
This is where some disagreement arises.The disagreement is as to whether simply raising another red heifer that meets the specifications is sufficient while others believe that the original ashes from the ninth red heifer from Moses must first be found and added to the new before it is acceptable.
This is exciting as that Jewish tradition teaches that upon the establishment of the tenth red heifer, the Messiah will come!
In response to some of your questions, I just added a new category called "Writings". The first paper I placed in it is called "Three Views of the Rapture" that I wrote in 2005. It deals with the three views in regards to the timing of the Rapture of the Church.
I was reviewing this with my class today. These are the ten stages of a Jewish wedding and their significance to the Church.
1. Betrothal - This often took place when the couple was still yet children. The agreement was made between the parents. Application: The Bible says that we are betrothed to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2).
2. Visit with the Father of the Bride - Once the groom was ready for marriage, he would leave his father's home and go and visit with the bride's father to express his intentions and request permission. Application: Jesus left his Father's home to visit with us and express his intentions (Matthew 11:28).
3. It was at this time that a dowry or a purchase price was agreed to. Application: Jesus paid the purchase price for us (1 Corinthians 6:20).
4. The groom would then return to his father's house and begin making preparations for when his bride arrived. Application: Jesus has returned to the Father were he is currently making preparations for our arrival (John 14:2-3).
5. In the meantime, the bride never knew the date of the grooms arrival and was therefore required to live in anticipation. Application: We do not know the day nor the hour of Christ's return, so we much be ready (Matthew 25:13).
6. On the appointed day, the groom would go and get his bride and bring her to his father's house for the wedding ceremony. Application: Jesus will return for us in the Rapture and we will be taken to the Father's house for the ceremony (Matthew 25:13).
7. The marriage would then be consummated. Application: As the marriage was consummated and the proof of virginity presented, so too, we will experience the Judgment Seat of Christ at which time our faithfulness will be presented (2 Corinthians 5:10).
8. The wedding feast would begin. Application: At that time, we will sit down to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9).
9. The bride stayed in her bridal chamber for seven days. Application: The Church will be hidden away for seven years while the Tribulation is taking place on Earth (Revelation 3:10).
10. She would then be allowed to come out of the bridal chamber. Application: After seven years, the Church will come out of her bridal chamber and appear with Christ at the Second Coming (Revelation 19:7).
There are many more references than those given. Look them up for yourself. I know that you'll be blessed.
There are two different New testament text families comprising about 5,400 manuscripts. They are the Textus Receptus and the Alexandrian texts. The Alexandrian texts were written by Origen and Eusebius who were both gnostics and heretics. These texts represent only ~3% of the total 5,400. They do not agree with each other, are totally mutilated and have been corrected thousands of times. On the other hand, the Textus Receptus comprises ~97% of all manuscripts and 90% of those agree so strongly that they form their own unique text - the Textus Receptus. The KJV is the only Translation done exclusively from the Textus Receptus in the last 400 years. Just something to think about.
These are my notes from my message at our Valentine's Day Banquet here at Calvary Chapel Lima.
Illustration: I was told as a young man before getting married that if I wanted to have a happy marriage, I had a choice to make.I could choose to be right or I could choice to be happy.To this day, I am a happy, happy man.
The Institution of Marriage
Cf. Genesis 2:18-24
The Fall
The Temptation(3:1-13)
Curse on the Serpent (vv.14-15)
Curse on the Woman (v.16)
Curse on the Man (vv.17-19)
Notice in v.17a “because you listened to your wife”.
In other words, “Adam, you chose to listen to your wife instead of to me.”
Notice in v.16b “your desire shall be for your husband, but he will rule over you.”
This means that the desire of the woman will be to rule over her husband.
Love vs. Submit
I find it interesting that the Bible never directly tells a man to submit to his wife, but instead repeatedly tells him to love her.
I also find it interesting that the Bible never directly tells the woman to love her husband, but instead repeatedly tell her to submit to him.
Why? – It all goes back to the Fall (the Garden of Eden).
The bottom line is that men have a hard time loving and women have a hard time submitting.
The interesting thing is that herein lies the key to a happy marriage!
If the husband would love his wife unconditionally, she would submit.
And if the wife would submit to her husband unconditionally, he would love her.
The problem today is that most couples are so worldly orientated that they must be deprogrammed.
In our society today, love is always conditional and “submit” is a dirty word.
And yet without both, one cannot be a Christian.
The Church and Christ
The marriage should be modeled after the relationship that Christ has with his Church.
A preacher can’t even read these verses without cringing today.
Cf. Eph. 5:22-33
Pearls of Wisdom
With all of this in mind, I just want to just give you guys some words of wisdom tonight.
My precious wife and I have been married for 23 years and I’ve learned a few things during that time that I can share with you.
Honesty
Always be totally honest with each other about the past, the present and the future.
Never ever lie to one another no matter how much it costs.
A relationship is built on honesty and trust.
Once that is broken, there is not much left.
Finances
In regards to money, always agree up front with how much each can spend without the others consent.
Money is the number one reason given for divorces.
Things Not to Do
1. Never Judge - You may think you know, but maybe you don’t.
Pro. 18:13 “He who gives an answer before he hears, It is folly and shame to him.”
2. Never Put-down each other.
3. Never refuse to forgive and forget.
The Bible says that love keeps no record of wrongs.
4. Never Criticize.
Criticism should be helpful and not hurtful.
Eph. 4:29 “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”
5. Never compare your mate to someone else.
6. Never purposefully cause a fight.
7. Never be blind and deaf to the needs of each other.
8. Never use sarcasm and jokes about your spouse.
Words are like bullets.
9. Never ignore each other.
10. Never fail to express appreciation for each other.
11. Never ignore the In-laws.
They are number three of the list of reasons for divorce!
12. Never over commit yourself to others at the expense of your family.
Keep your promises even if it hurts!
13. Never be unwilling to admit that we are wrong.
Jas 1:19 “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:”
14. Never go to bed angry.
Eph 4:26 “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:”
There is nothing wrong with being angry, but if left unaddressed it will become sin.
15. Never nag.
Pro. 21:19; 27:15-16a
Some Things to Do
1. Listen to each other
Jas 1:19 “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:”
God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason.
Defense Mechanisms to effective communication
1. Joking
2. Attacking
3. Pulling back
2. Respect each other
She is your queen and you are her king!
Men demand respect more than women.
A survey not many years ago found that the majority of men can live without love but not without respect.
3. Men, always be a gentleman. (Open the doors for her!)
4. Women, always be a lady. (Stand there until he does!)
5. Always talk to each other.
Read 1 Cor. 13:4-8a and place your name in the text every time you read the word "love".
I never cease to be amazed at the carnality that I see in the Church. It absolutely saddens me to no end. I see "so-called" Christians that I have personally ministered to for years and I must confess that, I truly doubt if they have really been born-again. I think that I know what Paul meant when he said to the Galatians, "I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain" Galatians 4:11.
In the end, I can only look at the fruit that I see in their lives. Of course, today that's not a very hard thing to do because you only have to take a quick glance at their Facebook and MySpace (if you feel spiritually secure enough to venture to the latter) accounts to see it for yourself. Truly, out of the mouth proceed the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Luke 6:45) and a man is known by the "Facebook" friends he keeps.
Jesus said in Matthew 12:33, "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit." The Bible makes it abundantly clear that good trees produce good fruit and bad trees produce bad fruit. It further emphatically says that it is impossible for good trees to produce bad fruit and for bad trees to produce good fruit (Matthew 7:18). And yet, these same self-proclaimed "good trees" are producing bad fruit. Oh, don't get me wrong, they are "good" and "moral" people by the worlds standards.
I must ask why and I must conclude in the end, that we have become such a worldly bunch. Many times, our chief aim is to walk like'em, talk like'em and indeed look like'em. Our sinful culture ensures absolute conformity. Anyone who is different will stand out and receive their justly deserved criticism. I am convinced and know that it is tool of Satan himself.
Christians have got to come to the realization that God has indeed called us to be different. Jesus said in Luke 6:22-23, "Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. (23) "Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets." The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, "Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? (15) Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? (16) Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. (17) "Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE," says the Lord. "AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. (18) "And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty."
Peter says in 1 Peter 1:7, “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:”In other words, Peter is saying that trials can be purifying experiences for all of us.God often allows trials to come into our lives, not to break us, but to make us.
It’s been said that temptation is that which puts to the test. Trials sent by God do this. A test is never employed for the purpose of injury. Just as a weight is attached to a rope, not to break it, but to prove it. Pressure is applied to a boiler, not to burst it, but to certify its power of resistance.”
Notice that he says, “being much more precious than gold that perisheth.”The picture here is of an ancient goldsmith who puts his crude gold ore in a crucible, subjects it to intense heat, and thus liquefies the mass.The impurities rise to the surface and are skimmed off.When the metal-worker is able to see the reflection of his face clearly mirrored in the surface of the liquid, he takes it off the fire, for he knows that the contents are pure gold.It is with God and His child as well.He puts us in the crucible of Christian suffering, in which process sin is gradually put out of our lives, our faith is purified from the slag of unbelief that somehow mingles with it so often, and the result is the reflection of the face of Jesus Christ in the character of the Christian.This, above all, God the Father desires to see.Christlikeness is God’s ideal for His child.Christian suffering is one of the most potent means to that end.”
Notice that our faith is to be “tried by fire.”Charles Spurgeon once said, “Indeed, it is the honor of faith to be tried. Shall any man say, ‘I have faith, but I have never had to believe under difficulties’? Who knows whether thou hast any faith at all? Shall a man say, ‘I have great faith in God, but I have never had to use it in anything more than the ordinary affairs of life, where I could probably have done without it as well as with it’? Is this to the honor and praise of thy faith? Dost thou think that such a faith as this will bring any great glory to God, or bring to thee any great reward? If so, thou art mightily mistaken.”
I was just cleaning off some disk space and I found this message that I taught at Calvary Chapel San Antonio a few years ago. God bless Pastor Ron and the folks at CC San Antonio!
If there is anything that I've learned in years of studying the Bible, it's that none of us are perfect. We all still fall so desperately short of God's ideal for us. It's been said that God will allow us to come to Him just the way that we are, but He loves us too much to let us stay that way. Determined not to give up on us, He brings correction into our lives. II Timothy 3:16-17 says that all Scripture is "inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." From this verse we see that God has given us His Word for the purpose of reproving, correcting, training and equipping us.
Understanding all of that, and I don't know of one Christian that would deny it (at least not in my circles), why is it that we find it so hard to accept correction? I don't think any of us would say that we are perfect. Most of us readily admit that we are flawed to the bone. Don't believe me? Ask your family and friends to be honest with you. We all have our shortcomings, faults and blind spots. No sane person would deny that. All that said, why can we not handle correction?
As I look back over my years of ministry and all of the people that God has brought in and out of my life, it saddens me to remember all of those who simply could not be corrected. It didn't matter how I told them. I could be direct. I could beat around the bush for a little while. Take them to lunch. Try to break it gently, etc… It was all to no avail. In the end, the correction was rejected and the relationship lost. An old preacher friend of mine told me one time, "Son, you can pat them on the back ninety-nine times, but correct them one time and they'll hate you forever." Why is that? Proverbs 12:1 says, "Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid." That's some pretty strong language coming out of the Bible! Jeremiah 5:3 says, "O Lord, do not Your eyes look for truth? You have smitten them, but they did not weaken; You have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent."
In the end, I'm forced to conclude that we are simply an arrogant lot. Our American culture has convinced us that we have the right to be right. Proverbs 16:25 says, "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." The writer of Proverbs also wrote, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance…" Take that last verse to its conclusion and you arrive at the fact that those who do not and will not except correction do not fear God. How truly sad.
This was sent to me in the other day from one of my friends in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. It will really make you think where our nation is going.
OLD VERSION The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MODERN VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving. CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.' ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, We shall overcome. Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake. President Omama condemns the ant and blames President Bush, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper's plight. Nancy Posi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share. Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given to the grasshopper. The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ants food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again. The house is eventually abandoned and taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and once peaceful, neighborhood. The entire nation collapses bringing the rest of the free world with it.
