JESUS, THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE

Some people have mistakenly interpreted this passage to say that Peter was the foundation on which Christ would build His Church. However, that would violate many scriptures that refer to Jesus as the “chief cornerstone.”

Ephesians 2:20 does mention the apostles as being part of the foundation stones of Christ’s church, but it doesn’t single Peter out above any of the other apostles, This same scripture once again mentions Jesus as the “chief cornerstone.”

There are two different Greek words used for “Peter” and “rock” respectively in verse 18. The word used for “Peter” means “rock” but signifies a piece of rock like a pebble. In contrast, the word translated as “rock” signifies a massive rock which certainly refers to Jesus, the “chief cornerstone.” Some have suggested that the foundation rock referred to was confession that Peter made saying that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt. 16:16). Although it is true that, to enter God’s kingdom, we do have to confess that Jesus is Lord (Rom. 10:9-10), in light of the Old Testament prophecies and New Testament references to Jesus being the “chief cornerstone,” this passage of scripture must be referring directly to Jesus as the “rock” upon which He will build His church.

One of the greatest differences between the New Testament believer and the Old Testament believer is the fact that New Testament saints are the temple of God. God Himself actually indwells us. God does not dwell in a building made by man’s hands. He now lives in the hearts of those who make Jesus their Lord (Rom. 10:9). The cornerstone of our lives in God must be an ever-increasing revelation of His Son. If we had a real understanding of the reality of Christ in us (Col. 1:27), it would drastically change our attitudes, emotions, and actions.

Written by: Andrew Wommack

What Changed?

Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.

—Matthew 21:5

Jesus put a damper on His own party. On Sunday, He entered Jerusalem as the triumphant king, welcomed into the city by throngs of worshipers shouting, “Hosanna!” and honoring Him by waving palm branches. The healer of the sick and the giver of great wisdom had come, and the masses adored Him.

What went wrong that week? What changed the “Hosannas” to “Crucify Him”? It started to go bad when Jesus told the people what they didn’t want to hear. Look at what He did. He threw the moneychangers out of the temple area (Matt. 21:12). He taught that tax collectors and prostitutes could enter the kingdom of heaven before the religious (Matt. 21:31). He told the people to pay taxes (Matt. 22:21). Then He pronounced a series of woes against the religious leaders: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees” (Matt. 23:13-31).

But this is Jesus. The righteous One. The only perfect Man. God in the flesh. He was not in town for a popularity contest. His task was to proclaim the truth and provide salvation. And it cost Him His life.

Think about Jesus’ up-and-down week in Jerusalem. Then praise Him for His perfection and His love—love that took Him all the way to the cross.  — Dave Branon

Jesus, Thou art my righteousness, For all my sins were Thine; Thy death hath bought of God my peace, Thy life hath made Him mine.  —Anon.

The nail-pierced hands of Jesus

reveal the love-filled heart of God.

The Greatest Birthday

 ’Glory to God in the highest
And on earth peace good will toward men’

Born unto a virgin was God’s only begotten Son
Emmanuel (God with us) is the title of The One
Mary’s father was of Judah, the linage of a king
Mary’s mother was a Levite, from Aaron’s priestly string
The world beheld a brilliant star a shining in the east
The sign of Christ, The King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and High Priest

‘Glory to God in the highest
And on earth peace good will toward men‘

Shepherds in the field keeping watch over their flock at night
The angel of the Lord appeared and gave them such a fright
‘Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy’
For unto you is born this day, a Saviour, Christ the Lord
The Babe is wrapped in swaddling clothes, a lying in the hay
Heavenly host gave praise to God on the greatest birthday!

‘Glory to God in the highest
And on earth peace good will toward men’

(Luke 1: 5-36,2: 6-14,3: 23-38)

HOW TO EXPERIENCE ETERNAL LIFE TODAY

In order to fully understand what eternal life is, it is helpful to understand what it is not. Eternal life is not living forever. Everyone lives forever in either heaven or hell. Also, eternal life is not living forever in the blessings of heaven as opposed to being tormented in hell.

John 3:36 and 5:24 show that eternal life is a present tense possession of the believer.

Here, Jesus defines eternal life as knowing God the Father and Jesus Christ.

As we have already discussed, the word “know” is speaking of intimacy instead of mere intellectual knowledge. Therefore, eternal life is having an intimate, personal relationship with God the Father and Jesus the Son.

According to John 3:16, this intimacy with God is what salvation is all about. Forgiveness of our sins is not the point of salvation: intimacy with the Father is. Of course, Jesus did die to purchase forgiveness for our sins because unforgiven sins block us from intimacy with God. Sin was an obstacle that stood between us and God. It had to be dealt with and it was. Anyone who views salvation as only forgiveness of their sins and stops there, is missing out on eternal life.

Salvation is intended to be the way to come back into harmony with God.

Instead, it is often presented as the way to escape the problems of this life and the judgment of hell later.

Most non-believers are so occupied with their “hell on earth” that they don’t really think or care about their eternal future. They are fed up with religion and are looking for something that will fill the emptiness inside.

Only intimate relationship (eternal life) with our Father can do that.

Written by:Andrew Wommack

“And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth” (Rev 19:6).

 The voice of mighty heavenly creatures (Rev. Rev. 6:1+; Rev. 10:3-4+) and the sound of the multitude of voices is like that of powerful thunder. The heavenly multitude which attended the song of the 144,000 redeemed from among Israel also was like loud thunder (Rev. Rev. 14:2+). The loudest electronic amplification system of any earthly praise will dwindle to insignificance in comparison to the thunderous praise from heaven at the accomplishment of God in His omnipotence!

Imagine the largest stadium in the world, filled to overflowing with a thundering crowd. Now multiply that by one thousand, ten thousand, even myriad of myriads (Rev. Rev. 5:11+)! Gather all the world’s instruments together with all the heavenly instruments—instruments and sounds and voices of unimaginable purity, power, and magnificence. On command, they all shout forth: ALLELUIA!

God is omnipotent, all-powerful: none of His purposes can be withheld or frustrated. “I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You” (Job Job 42:2). “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You” (Jer. Jer. 32:17). Jesus said, “With God all things are possible” (Mtt. Mat. 19:26b).

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or as His counselor has taught Him? With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge, and showed Him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust on the scales; look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing. (Isa. Isa. 40:12-15)

LOVE AND TRUST

Jesus could have healed this girl by His spoken word, but He did as He was requested to do. This illustrates how the Lord ministers to us according to our faith. Jesus ministered to him at the level where his faith was and didn’t rebuke his little faith (Jas. 1:5).

There is a human faith which is limited to believing only what we can perceive through our five senses. But the supernatural, God kind of faith goes beyond what we can see, taste, hear, smell, and feel. God’s kind of faith calls those things which be not as though they already were.

We exercise faith almost daily in such things as sitting on a chair and driving a car. But our faith is no better than the object in which it is placed. If I were to sit in a chair made of cardboard, I would go crashing to the ground. Regardless of how much faith I had, my faith would fall flat because the object of my faith was faulty. Hebrews 12:2, tells us that we are to be “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” We must transfer our faith from human self reliance and independence, to reliance upon, adherence to, and trust upon Jesus Christ in all areas of our lives. Faith, in its simplest definition, is to trust, to rely, and to depend upon the resource of another. God’s Word declares that the object of our faith, Jesus Christ, can never fail or disappoint us.

Love produces faith, or is what makes faith work. We naturally trust those who we know truly love us. A revelation of God’s unconditional love for us will make faith just naturally abound in us. Are you struggling with faith? You have a deficiency in understanding how much God loves you. Let Him reveal His love to you today.

What Changed?

Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.

—Matthew 21:5

Jesus put a damper on His own party. On Sunday, He entered Jerusalem as the triumphant king, welcomed into the city by throngs of worshipers shouting, “Hosanna!” and honoring Him by waving palm branches. The healer of the sick and the giver of great wisdom had come, and the masses adored Him.

What went wrong that week? What changed the “Hosannas” to “Crucify Him”? It started to go bad when Jesus told the people what they didn’t want to hear. Look at what He did. He threw the moneychangers out of the temple area (Matt. 21:12). He taught that tax collectors and prostitutes could enter the kingdom of heaven before the religious (Matt. 21:31). He told the people to pay taxes (Matt. 22:21). Then He pronounced a series of woes against the religious leaders: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees” (Matt. 23:13-31).

But this is Jesus. The righteous One. The only perfect Man. God in the flesh. He was not in town for a popularity contest. His task was to proclaim the truth and provide salvation. And it cost Him His life.

Think about Jesus’ up-and-down week in Jerusalem. Then praise Him for His perfection and His love—love that took Him all the way to the cross.  — Dave Branon

Jesus, Thou art my righteousness,
For all my sins were Thine;
Thy death hath bought of God my peace,
Thy life hath made Him mine.  —Anon.

The nail-pierced hands of Jesus

reveal the love-filled heart of God.

The New You

Luke 5:37-38 And no man puts new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.

 Jesus here in the Gospel of Luke talking about putting new wine into old wineskins, that it would not work. The new wine would cause the wine skin or bag to burst. In the context of this scripture, Jesus is speaking about a new day that was on the horizon for his Church. This would be when the Holy Spirit would be poured out from heaven and into the Church (believers) that is a good place to stand up and shout.!

  As he explained about the new wine causing the old wine skin to burst, he was comparing it to our old way of thinking. Or we could say our religious tradition. Which Jesus said made the Word of God of no effect. This is what happens to a believer if we try to understand the Bible with our old natural mind. It will cause us to get frustrated and discouraged.

  Jesus wants his bride to have the best wine all the time. Glory to God. So this New Year may it be a New Season for us to walk in the Spirit and receive the New wine daily. And be not drunk with the world, but be filled to overflowing with the wine from heaven.

Let Jesus fill our cup of blessing, and let us go and do likewise to the lost.

  So if you ever have a non-believer ask you if a Christian can drink wine? Just reply why sure, come visit with me and let me show you where that is in the Bible. And watch God confirm his word with signs following, by giving you creative ways to minister to the lost.

Keynote Text “Luke 5:17“

“And it happened on a certain day as he was teaching, that there were pharisees, and teachers of the law setting by who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.”

Jesus is the ultimate display of the Fathers Love to the world, therefore wherever he is, there is an Enviroment of Love for the Power of God to be manifested! What is this Enviroment like? Lets take a look in Luke 4:18-22

Luke 4:18-22.

“The Spirit of the Lord  is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son”?

In this Enviroment that day the Spirit of God and Jesus the Word of God were working together in perfect harmony in the body of our Lord. This is the second Adam walking in the same authority and Power that God had created the first Adam to walk in.On this day in time and history Jesus stepped into his divine destiny and plan that He and Father God had discussed before the foundation of the world. To reconcile mankind back into a perfect relationship with the Father, and to Destroy the works of the devil.

If we go on and read in Luke 4:31-37. In these verses we will see how a born again, Spirit filled believer will function in this Enviroment of Love. As Jesus was ministering in the Synagogue there was a man who had a unclean devil, and it was crying out to Jesus telling him who he was. Well God had already told Jesus the plan and he did not need any advice from the devil. In verse 36 of Luke we can see how Jesus operated in this Enviroment of Gods Perfect Love. He told the devil to shut up!, and to come out!

In verse 36 look what the people in the Synagogue said. “And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out”. As followers of Jesus when we operate as he did, we are to expect to see the same results because first. Jesus has delegated his Authority to us. Second the Father God has poured out the Holy Spirit upon us giving us the Power we need to, Thirdly walk in total Victory over the devil!

Love The Perfect Enviroment, this is the Enviroment of Heaven, this is the Enviroment of the Kingdom of God, this is where God intended for us to live forever, and through the Cross of his Son Jesus Christ we have the right to come back home!

Say Yes 2 Jesus Today!

Romans 10:9-10  

Written by: Robert Jackson

GOD’S MERCY IS A GIFT

Matthew 23:23 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”

MATTHEW 23:23

God’s mercy to the believer is revealed by God taking away the misery of sin’s consequences through the New Covenant of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Mercy is not something merited or earned, but a gift, as the apostle Paul states, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to HIS MERCY He saved us” (Ti. 3:5).

Paul speaks of the heavenly Father as “The Father of mercies.” The word father is used many times in scripture as an originator or as a source of something. For example, the devil is called the father of lies (Jn. 8:44), i.e. he is the author and originator of lying. Likewise, our heavenly Father is the author, originator, and source of all mercy. Each time that mankind cried out in faith, God’s mercy reached out and met their need.

God is said to be rich in mercy because of His great love wherewith he loved us (Eph. 2:4), and to have a throne called grace whereby we may come and obtain mercy. God wasn’t motivated to save us through pity or a sense of obligation as our Creator. He was motivated solely by love. God loves us.