Articles

Sermon notes of James Jester

September 5, 2021

Scripture Reading: I Samuel 19:1-6

This message serves as a conclusion to the series, Psalms for Turbulent Times.

The First Epistle of Peter, A Living Hope

Peter’s opening greeting lets us know who he is writing to:

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.” (I Pet. 1:1-2)

The “strangers” here are those of the former northern house of Israel:

“The strangers scattered” — literally, “sojourners of the dispersion”; only in John 7:35 and James 1:1, in New Testament, and Psalm 147:2, “the outcasts of Israel” in the Septuagint; the designation peculiarly given to the Jews [Judeans] in their dispersed state throughout the world ever since the Babylonian captivity. These he, as the apostle of the circumcision, primarily addresses, but not in the limited temporal sense only; he regards their temporal condition as a shadow of their spiritual calling to be strangers and pilgrims on earth, looking for the heavenly Jerusalem as their home. (JFB commentary)

WAS AMERICA REALLY BORN IN REBELLION?

by Walter Giddings

August 29, 2021

Changing What Will Happen Tomorrow!

Greetings Kindred, Fellow Sheep, and Neighbors.  We are on a first name basis here.  My name is walter.  I am delighted to be with you.  Your presence here indicates your interest in changing what will happen tomorrow.  Our interest in changing what will happen tomorrow is unifying.  It is the basis of our Unity.  Every one of our Families forming our Neighborhoods has a vested interest in avoiding what does not work.  Every Family that forms our Neighborhoods has a vested interest in doing what does work!

The Head of each Family Household has a Dominion.  Each Head of House is a judge in his own court.  It is The Original Family Court.  The Magna Carta, or Great Charter, signed by King John, 1215, at sword point, provided no Englishman could be denied His Own Court!  What works for one may not work for another.  Each family’s assignment, in changing what will happen tomorrow, will be unique to that family.  For The Truth of what I say this Basic Maxim of English Law pleads my Cause:  a Man’s House is his Castle; even The King must knock to enter.

by Walter Giddings

Part 1:  BIRTH OF AMERICA; WAS AMERICA REALLY BORN IN REBELLION? Our interest in changing what will happen tomorrow is unifyng; it is the basis of our unity.unity.

Part 2:  JESUS LOVES VOLUNTEERS Who wants to volunteer to be a slave?

Part 3: AMERICAN COVENANT  Is the Framework of Our Nation a Covenant? Were The Articles of Confederation 1778 a Deed of Covenant?

Part 4:  THE REBELLION OF WE THE PEOPLE Did the unanimous ratification of The Constitution complete the formation of the “more perfect Union”?

Part 5:  ENEMIES  If “Perpetual Union” is the American Covenant, have We the People become covenant breakers and become an enemy of God?

Part 6:  SECESSION  Does secession break The American Covenant of Perpetual Union?

Part 7:  ENEMIES AGAIN! Pastor Dan Gayman once asked:  Did the Constitution fail us or did we fail the Constitution?  This message discusses the events of the Boston Tea Party and the subsequent actions of King George and the British Parliament to lie about and criminalize dissenters and compares that to what is happening to America today under the Biden regime.

Part 8:  ENEMIES AGAIN! PART 2 As secessions of the confederate states multiplied around the Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, the Congress of the Republic lost its quorum and the Republic ceased to function!

Copied from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore

August 21, 2021

Scripture Reading Romans 11:17, 18:

17) “And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakes of the root and fatness of the olive tree:

18) Boast not against the branches.  But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.”

These two verses are a portion of the mystery of God that is mentioned, seven verses later, that pertains to the grafting of the branch of the wild olive tree into the good olive tree:

Romans 11:25:  “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles [nations] be come in.”

There are five important questions that need to be answered correctly in order to understand the mystery of the verses in Romans chapter 11. 

Psalm 137 by Ewald Bash, “By the Babylonian Rivers”, KAS DZIEDAJA/CAPTIVITY, Latvian melody

Verse 1:

By the Ba-by-lon-ian ri-vers 
We sat down in grief and wept;
Hung our harps up-on the wil-low,
Mourned for Zi-on when we slept.

by Alan Breitenstein

August 15, 2021

Scripture Reading Isaiah 45:5-9

I have been wondering for some time why there seems to be absolutes only in math and little science. Why 2 people can take the same material and come up with differing opinions. Such as 2 doctors reading the same MRI, CATSCAN, or X-rays and come up with different opinions or why there are differing views as to Scripture verses. What keeps people from seeing the same views? Why do people fall for a fallacy as there being more than 2 genders and  cannot view that all races are not alike? How do we determine who is right and what determines to be right? Why do people hold on to a view or even a tradition that seems to others as being ridiculous or a lie? The Lord God guided me in finding answers to all these questions and more in this search.

I found an article searching for what the minds of the world had to say on the question of where our thoughts come from. 

PSALM 137

Jim Jester

August 8, 2021

Scripture Reading: Psalm 9:1-16

“Psalm 9 and 10 are really one Psalm. In several ancient manuscripts and versions, they appear as a single composition. The acrostic structure, though incomplete, points to the same fact. Here we have a mixture of literary types: hymn, thanksgiving, and lament, dealing with both national and domestic [individual] enemies.” – Layman’s Bible Commentary, p. 36

This Psalm, that we know as Psalms 9 & 10, goes quite well with Psalm 137, which we are also covering.

1. Thanksgiving (Ps. 9:1-4)

2. Hymn of Praise (Ps. 9:5-16)

3. Judgment upon the Nations (Ps. 9:17-20)

4. Lament (Ps. 10:1-4)

5. David’s Prayer (Ps. 10:12-18)

Copied from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore

August 1, 2021

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 2:21-25

What do these verses mean?  What is Jeremiah saying to the kingdom of Judah?  Is it important to know today? 

God often pictures Israel as being planted as a noble vine or a goodly tree; a right seed.  Jeremiah then asks a disturbing question.  How did Israel change from a noble vine into a degenerate plant of a strange [or alien, or foreigner or adulterous] vine? 

Could Jeremiah, if he were alive today, ask the same question?  Is the House of Judah and the House of Israel turned into a degenerate plant of a strange vine or is it still a noble vine?   Is the kingdom likened to a well cultivated vine that has grown into a wild plant?  Is the kingdom likened to a filthy object that no amount of washing with soap can cleanse?  Is the kingdom likened to a woman who has left her husband for other men?  Is the kingdom likened to a person who has lusted after other strange women, like a camel in heat lusts for a mate?  Is the kingdom likened to the eagerness of a thirsty traveler who walks the desert searching for water till the sandals drop off his feet?  Could the same thing be said of the Israelite nations of today?  Are they being turned into a degenerate vine?

PSALM 141

by Jim Jester

July 25, 2021

Scripture Liturgy: Psalm 123: 1-4

This psalm is primarily a lament for the community of Israel, and was likely used in the temple as a liturgy. The first statement is in the first person singular and may have been sung by a priest. The remainder of the psalm is in the first person plural and was probably sung by the congregation.

“Unto Thee … have I lifted up mine eyes” (v. 1). Hard and bitter trial may come in one or more of many ways; but the text points to that of oppression, the cruel treatment of the weaker by the stronger. This may come to us in different forms than the psalmist: the IRS, unfair judges; or more personal problems, such as extreme medical issues and the seemingly endless suffering it brings. Where shall we turn? If there be no escape from it, as there often is not, we must find our refuge in God. When we have vainly looked around for help from man, “we lift up our eyes” to God, to Him that “dwelleth in the heavens.”

• We recognize the fact that He has power to deliver us.
• We believe that in His wisdom, He can interpose on our behalf.
• We are sure that our suffering is not a matter of indifference to His heart, and that our cry enters His ear.
• We must not be impatient, if the time or method of our choice should not prove to be His chosen time or method of deliverance.
• We do well to continue our prayer for relief “until He have pity upon us” and rescue us.
• Meanwhile we should: 1) let our trouble draw us nearer to divine fellowship with our Lord; 2) loosen our tie to this present world; and 3) enable us to give to those that witness our course, another illustration of the upholding grace of God. – Pulpit Commentary

CONDITIONAL DOMINION PART 2

by Walter Giddings

July 18, 2021

Greetings Kindred and fellow Sheep.  We are on a first name basis here.  My name is walter.  This Lesson comprises Scriptures that have puzzled me for a long time.  This Lesson is not possible without The First 7 Lessons!  The Subject is Twins by two different Fathers.  From Twins, Lessons 1 and 2, do we recall Two Interlopers into the ancient names of the stars :  Greek and Roman Mythology?  In Gemini the Greeks named the Twins Apollo and Hercules.  The Romans named them Castor and Pollux.  The Bible named them Abel and Cain.  The Roman names Castor and Pollux  identify the figurehead on the ship of Alexandria that carried Paul, his fellow prisoners, and Luke, the beloved physician, off the island of Malta.