Ephesians 2:21-22 “Habitation”

by Walter Giddings

March 26, 2023

In our 1st Lesson on The Temple we ended with a question:  Is it “manifest” or evident that “the first tabernacle” is not “standing”? 

Hebrews 9:6-8:  "Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.  But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing."

Our question: Is it “manifest” that “the first tabernacle” is not “standing”?!  Did we answer by showing the destruction of every last Temple was fulfilled in A.D. 70.  Our last question is:  Is there no New Testament Temple?  ().  If there is a New Testament Temple, what and where is that building?

Hebrews 9:11   "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building."

What is this greater and more complete tabernacle?  And how can we say it is “not made with hands”?

by Pastor Jim Jester

March 19, 2023

SCRIPTURE READING: Isaiah 53:1-8

Every year on Good Friday, or Passover, Christians take time to meditate on Jesus’ sacrifice for us in a humiliating and torturous death by crucifixion. It’s a time to dwell on what our Lord suffered for us, in all its pain and intensity, without rushing straight ahead to the good news of resurrection and new life.

The seven last statements of Jesus Christ from the cross reveal much about our Savior’s personality. The first two words reveal his deity; the remaining five reveal his humanity. One of the ways Christians have traditionally meditated on the events of this day is by reading and reflecting on the seven last words of Jesus from the cross.

A person who anticipates being crucified does not prepare a speech for the occasion. Even less so Jesus, who had advised His disciples: ”But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak. For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.” (Matt. 10:19-20)

So let us spend some time at the foot of the cross and listen to the precious words and try to understand their meaning. Perhaps they will reveal God to us more than the longer speeches of Jesus, which involved some preparation, whereas the words on the cross were spontaneous expressions of himself.

by Pete Vollmer

March 12, 2024

Scripture Reading:  Psalm 127:3-5

Good scriptural advice for parents on raising their children.

Golden Calves and Modern Day Israelites

by Garry Maddux

March 5, 2023

Scripture Reading:  Exodus 32:1-4

Why were calves worshiped at Mt Sinai? Why are they worshiped in churches today?

• Golden calves represent a symbol of a god (catholic symbols)
• Golden calves can be seen as a visible god (Pictures of Christ)
• Golden calves are a substitute for God (The anti-Christ today)
• Golden calves are idols (Idols brought into churches)
• Golden calves were hated by God

Does God hate how most Israelites worship today?

“(Ross 2020) An important context is that the people who worshipped before the golden calf had personally and recently witnessed some of the greatest miracles God had ever performed. Yet, despite these awesome numerous miracles they had recently experienced, after forty days of Moses’ absence they doubted both the existence of God and Moses.

by Walter Giddings

February 26, 2023

Scripture:  Exodus 25:8

Greetings kindred and fellow sheep.  We are on a first name basis here.  My name is Walter.  I am your classmate in God’s Classroom.  The Holy Spirit whose name is Jesus Christ is our Teacher.  Our Saviour prophesied the Destruction of the Temple: 

Matthew 24:1-2

1  And Jesus went out and departed from the temple:   and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.

2 And Jesus said unto them,  See ye not all these things?  Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. 

What was the fulfillment of this Prophecy?  Within the years named Anno Domini (Latin for the year of our LORD), do we have a temple in Jerusalem?  What happened to the Temple after Jesus ascended?

Copied from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore

February 19, 2023

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 2:11-12

Dispensationalism is a very popular and widespread way of studying the Bible. But it only originated in the late 1500s with the pen of one of the Catholic Jesuits.  It was picked up two-and-a-half centuries later in the teachings of John Nelson Darby of the Plymouth Brethren in the United Kingdom and Ireland.  Then the doctrine was spread through the channels of:

• The writings and speeches of Darby and Americans James Inglis, James H. Brookes, Dwight L. Moody, Cyrus I. Scofield, Lewis Sperry Chafer, Harry A. Ironsides, Arno C. Gaebelein, J. R. Graves, Billy Graham, R. A. Torrey, Gary North, Pat Robertson, Renald Showers, D. J. Kennedy, R. C. Sproul, Arthur Pink, etc.
• A series of major prophecy conferences in the 1880s,
• The more than 100 Bible institutes founded in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century,
• Publication of the Scofield Reference Bible which was published in 1909.

Ezekiel

Sermon by Pastor Jim Jester

February 12, 2023

SCRIPTURE READING: Ezekiel 14:13-14

INTRODUCTION

If anyone believes that a nation is not held accountable for its corporate sin, let this passage of Scripture set him straight. A nation does sin, and that nation pays for the sin it commits. We really have not seen, as yet, the retribution God will place upon America for its disobedience. But there are many signs: extreme weather, cyber threats and hints of nuclear war.

The background to Ezekiel’s prophetic ministry is Judah’s apostasy following the death of the last good king, Josiah, in 609 B.C. From that time on Judah’s kings seemed to go out of their way to avoid righteousness, and the kingdom rapidly declined. Sounds like the present national administration in America, 2023, does it not?

Copied from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore

February 5, 2023

Scripture Reading:  Romans 1:16

The questions are: who is the “Jew” and who is the “Greek” mentioned in this verse of Scripture?  There are several possibilities that interpreters of the Bible have come up with:

• The Jews are really anyone who is a Jew (be it an Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Mizrahi, Ethiopian, Hassidic, conservative, orthodox, reformed, etc.) and the Greeks are all the rest of the people or Gentiles.  That means everyone who is alive, i.e. universalism.  NIV has translated “Gentile” instead of Greek for this verse.
• The Jews are really Judeans and the Greeks are the Greek speaking people; no blacks, Orientals, Pacific islanders or others are categorized in either group. 
• The Jews are really the House of Judah and the Greeks are the House of Israel.
• The Jews are really the Edomites or Idumeans and the Greeks are the people of Alexander the Great’s empire who spoke Greek.

The Bible can only be understood if the Holy Spirit reveals the correct interpretation to His chosen people.  Without the Holy Spirit, you can get all kinds of different views and ministries based on the Bible.  You can find almost any church that has the beliefs that any person may hold, no matter how much they are filled with heresies or weak doctrine.

“The LORD hath sought Him a man after his own heart.”

by Walter Giddings

January 29, 2023

Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 21:13, 17 

Does the way The Scriptures present David as a man of God “after His own heart” indicate to us The Author expects us to know what was in David’s heart?  Does anyone get the sense God expects us to know what was in David’s heart from The Scriptures we have shared? 

Classmates:  we covered part Two of this evidence [Jan. 1].  Part One was [Nov. 20].  After Part One Pastor Don said something that stuck with me.  David’s calling before he was anointed by Samuel was Shepherd.  The God of Israel is the Good Shepherd in Jesus Christ our LORD!  Both Jesus and David are Shepherds in Israel!!!

Jeremiah / Lamentations

Sermon by Pastor Jim Jester

January 22, 2023

SCRIPTURE READING: Lamentations 1:8, 10, 12

Will America be replaced by non-Adamic peoples? It’s happening!  We in America have rejected God’s commands just as Jerusalem did in Jeremiah’s day. America is fast becoming no longer the land of the covenant people, but rather the land of the heathen people.

The book of Jeremiah (as well as Lamentations) comes from one of the great prophets of the Old Testament. Sometimes known as the “weeping prophet,” he lived to witness the fall of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity. The book has outpourings of rage against sin and deep agony of soul; descriptions of personal and national crises, and beautiful affirmations of hope and deliverance. He was faithful to God, but the revival of his people’s faith did not come in his day. Instead, after forty years of ministry, he saw the people slaughtered and the Holy City destroyed. Much of his sorrow is expressed in the book of Lamentations.