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Mid-week Manna

THE SCRIBES SAID HE WAS ‘BEELZEBUB,’ WHILE DEMONS ADDRESSED HIM, ‘JESUS, THOU SON OF GOD’

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
June 22, 2022

THE SCRIBES SAID HE WAS ‘BEELZEBUB,’ WHILE DEMONS ADDRESSED HIM, ‘JESUS, THOU SON OF GOD’

Indeed, “truth is stranger than fiction,” i.e., Bible truth, specifically, “the truth AS IT IS in Jesus” (Eph. 4:21). This alone satisfies the demands of “THE truth, the WHOLE truth, and NOTHING BUT the truth,” for, Christ alone is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

It is only His truth and enabling grace that can “free us” from slavery to the natural propensities and inherited weaknesses to sin, and deliverance from Satan’s power to seduce, tempt, deceive, confuse, vex, and annoy with his numberless schemes. See Matt. 8: 28-34; Mark 1:21-28.

In a jaw-dropping contradiction of role-reversals, as recorded in the New Testament, the SCRIBES ascribed the title, Beelzebub, “the Lord of dung,” a name given to Satan, the chief of the demonic world, to Jesus! See Matt. 10: 25; Mark 3:22; Luke 11: 15.

Who were the scribes in Christ’s day? “After Ezra’s time [Ezra 7] scribes assumed influential positions among the Jews as TEACHERS of God’s Word. By the time of the Maccabees (2nd cent. BC.) they were recognized as constituting an honored profession (1 Macc 7:12).

Some of the most famous scribes of Jewry, such as Hillel, Shammai, and Gamaliel I, lived at the time of Christ’s birth and shortly thereafter. They were PHARISEES and attempted to adapt the Law of Moses [the Ceremonial law] to the times in which they lived, but could not always agree, so different schools of thought developed.

The SUBTLE interpretations of the Pharisees were considered by many to be of EQUAL value with the Law of Moses, and Jesus BITTERLY DENOUNCED the sect’s HYPOCRISY and MISINTERPRETATION of Scriptures which LED THE PEOPLE [the Jewish nation] ASTRAY (Matt. 15:1, 3; 23:15, 23, 25, 27, 29, 33).

Some of the scribes in Christ’s day were influential members of the SANHEDRIN and shared in the responsibility for His death (Matt. 26: 57-59; cf. chs 16:21: 27:41). Later some of these men also turned against the APOSTLES and had a hand in their persecution (Acts 4:5; 6:12).”-SDA Bible Dictionary, Commentary Ref. Series, Vol. 8, 1960, art. “Scribe,”p. 966.

Indeed, Jesus Christ, the promised “Seed of a woman”(Gen. 3:15; Gal. 4:4, 5) “came to His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” John 1:1-3, 10-12

To be continued in the next MWM, God willing. NMF

Categories
Devotionals

THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST IS NOT THE ‘MISSING LINK’ BUT THE GOLDEN LINK THAT UNITES HUMANITY TO DIVINITY

October 1, 2020
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST IS NOT THE ‘MISSING LINK’ BUT THE GOLDEN LINK THAT UNITES HUMANITY TO DIVINITY

“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed in in the world, received up into glory.”

1 Tim. 3:16, KJV.

“It will be profitable to contemplate the DIVINE CONDESCENSION, the SACRIFICE, the SELF-DENIAL, the HUMILIATION, the RESISTANCE the Son of God encountered in doing His work for fallen men.

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Devotionals

HEBREWS CHAPTER ONE SUMMARIZED

September 8, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

HEBREWS CHAPTER ONE SUMMARIZED

In fourteen pithy verses of Hebrews chapter 1, Paul  introduce us to Christ’s DEITY as the Son of God. In chapter 2 Christ’s incarnate HUMANITY is  revealed to us as the Son of man.

“In the first chapter the apostle sets out to prove the deity of Christ, and successfully accomplishes his task. His purpose in writing the book requires him to establish beyond a doubt that Christ IS God. He intends to show that the CEREMONIES that had been instituted by Moses at the command of God [under the ceremonial law of the Mosaic dispensation of the Old Testament time] had been fulfilled and abolished by Christ [when type met antitype and the shadow met its substance].

Categories
Devotionals

THE SONSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST

August 30, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE SONSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST

“For to which of the angels did He [the Father] ever say: You are My Son, today I have begotten You? [Ps. 2:7]. And again: I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son?” .

Heb.1:4,5, NKJV

“You are My Son. Angels are never called sons of God INDIVIDUALLY, though they appear to be so called COLLECTIVELY. (Job 2:1). Nor are they begotten of God but CREATED [‘as ministering spirits,’ Heb. 1:7]. But not so Christ. He is God in His own right, not a created being [but God Creator Himself]. Apostle Paul speaks of God’s—-“Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David ACCORDING TO THE FLESH: and declared to be the Son of God WITH POWER, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” Rom. 1:3,4, KJV.  In his speech in Antioch Paul said:

“We declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers [the godly Patriarchs of ancient Israel], God hath FULFILLED  the same unto US their children, in that He hath raised up Jesus again: as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee.” Acts 13:32,33.”

“These Scriptures declare that the Son ‘WAS MADE’ of the seed of David ACCORDING TO THE FLESH,’—that is, ‘declared to be THE SON OF GOD with power.’ (Rom. 1:4). The reading is not that Christ BECAME the Son of God, or was MADE the Son of God, but declared TO BE the Son of God. He that was Son BECAME flesh [in the incarnation]. John 1:14. Jesus did not become GOD, for He was ALREADY God. He was simply declared TO BE the Son of God.”  Andreasen, The Book of Hebrews, pp. 64, 65.

There is a vital distinction and reason why Jesus is addressed as both “the Son of God,” and the “Son of man.” The former refers to His divinity as Deity; the latter refers to the flesh-and-blood human nature that He incarnated into four thousand years after the fall of Adam (and Eve) in Eden. O what an unparalleled sacrifice of condescension—-the Creator taking on the fallen nature of His creature!  Ponder upon these things.”
Bless all, NMF. 

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FMM

Elisha’s Three Successive Different Prayers of Faith

Friday Morning Manna

June 12, 2020
Nathaniel Fajardo

email:[email protected]

Elisha’s Three Successive Different Prayers of Faith

(Based on: 2 Kings 6: 8-33; as told in Prophets and Kings, ch.21)

Before Elijah, only the second man after Enoch (the seventh of the godly patriarchs from Adam), was translated, God hand-picked Elisha to succeed, continue and expand on Elijah’s prophetic and reformation ministry. Elisha’s father was an affluent yet God-fearing farmer whose household were among “the seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal during the time of well-nigh universal apostasy of Israel during the reign of king Ahab and queen Jezebel, his wicked and cruel heathen wife. See 1 Kings 19: 1-10, 11-20.

To underscore our focus today on faith versus fear, we cite the examples of two faith giants, Moses and Elijah, compared and contrasted to Christ’s temptations, who at their weakest moments, which were few were few and far in between yet momentous, allowed their faith to be temporarily overcome by fear. They yielded to the temptation to fear. Anytime and every time we yield t0 any temptation we sin against God. The following is quoted from Prophets and Kings:

Categories
Devotionals

THIS TIME, NO MORE TIME EXCUSES REMAIN

April 6, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THIS TIME, NO MORE TIME EXCUSES REMAIN. 

“Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast Thou made all men in vain? Ps. 89:47. “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Ps. 90:12, KJV.

God gives, and takes away but only for our benefit and His glory. This corona virus is taking away a lot but is also “giving back,” depending on how you view it spiritually.

Many who have pleaded the excuse that they “just had no time” in their madhouse daily routine to study God’s Word briefly, much less in depth, just saw “Mr. Excuse” walk out of the door, slammed it shut, leaving them inside their homes alone with a long-ignored VIP guest named “Mr. Time.”

Categories
Devotionals

GOOD ANGELS MORE POWERFUL THAN EVIL ONES: WE NEED NOT BE OVERCOME NOR OVERWHELMED WITH ANYTHING

January 29 2020

MID-WEEK MESSAGE FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

GOOD ANGELS MORE POWERFUL THAN EVIL ONES: WE NEED NOT BE OVERCOME NOR OVERWHELMED WITH ANYTHING. See Eph. 2:2.

“It is expressly stated that Satan [as the prince of the power of the air] works in the children of disobedience, not merely having access to their minds, but working through their influence, conscious or unconscious, to draw others to the same disobedience.