Category Archives: Sermons

Sirviendo y Fe Lucas 7: 1-10 First St John 28 de de mayo de, el año 2016

[for the audio of this sermon click on the above icon]

Hacemos nuestro comienzo en el Nombre de Dios el Padre y en el nombre de Dios el Hijo y en el nombre de Dios el Espíritu Santo. Amén.

La observación del Memorial Day se trata de aquellos que han servido en el ejército de los Estados Unidos y que han muerto como resultado de ese servicio. Yo tenía ancestros que lucharon en la Guerra Civil. Una volvieron a casa después de sufrir una lesión grave, vivió unos cuantos años más, pero su vida se acorta definitivamente por heridas en el servicio militar, por lo tanto, alguien que debe ser recordado y honrado en el Memorial Day.

el más alto honor militar de Estados Unidos es la Medalla de Honor del Congreso. No es un requisito, pero la medalla de honor se presenta generalmente después de su muerte, que es el destinatario murió como resultado de la acción que tomaron para adjudicarse la medalla de honor. Según Wikipedia la medalla de honor ha sido concedido a 3.471 miembros de nuestras fuerzas armadas. “La primera medalla del Ejército de honor fue otorgado a Jacob Parrott privada durante la Guerra Civil Americana por su papel en la gran locomotora Chase. El primer receptor afroamericano fue William Harvey Carney que, a pesar de recibir un disparo en la cara, los hombros, los brazos y las piernas, se negó a que la bandera americana toque el suelo. La única medalla del recipiente del honor de la mujer es Maria Edwards Walker, un cirujano de la guerra civil. “Del número otorgan sólo hay 76 beneficiarios que viven.

La medalla de honor se otorga a cualquier miembro de las fuerzas armadas que posea dicha cualificación. El siguiente nivel son las cruces de servicios; la Cruz de Servicio Distinguido del Ejército, la Cruz de la Marina de la Armada, los Marines y los Guardacostas, la Cruz de la Fuerza Aérea. Es interesante cómo nuestros segundos más altos honores militares son cruces. La tasa póstumo por los cruces no es tan alta como la medalla de honor, pero sigue siendo significativamente más alta. Qué apropiado es que para muchos que se sacrificaron para rescatar a menudo o proteger a los demás, que deben concederse una cruz, el símbolo del sacrificio de Jesús para todos nosotros.

Una misión particular en Afganistán a principios de la Guerra contra el Terror resultó en unas pocas personas están concediendo la Cruz de la Marina. Probablemente más que nunca en la historia militar de las Fuerzas Especiales de los Estados Unidos, se requiere que todas las ramas de las fuerzas armadas para tener una unidad de fuerzas especiales, se han utilizado en la Guerra del Terror para rescatar a las personas civiles y militares, y para llevar a cabo también encubierta de EE.UU. operaciones y para ayudar a los países de acogida en diversas operaciones militares. Hay una oración de las fuerzas especiales que se cita en el libro de Teniente Coronel Oliver North American Heroes “en operaciones especiales”. La oración es: “Dios Todopoderoso, que eres el autor de la Libertad y el campeón de los oprimidos, escucha nuestra oración. Nosotros, los hombres de las fuerzas especiales, reconocemos nuestra dependencia de Ti en la preservación de la libertad humana. Ven con nosotros a medida que tratamos de defender a los indefensos y para liberar a los esclavos. Recordemos siempre que nuestro país, que tiene como lema “In God We Trust”, espera que vamos a absolver a nosotros mismos con honor, que es posible que nunca una vergüenza para nuestra fe, nuestras familias, o nuestros semejantes. Concédenos la sabiduría de tu mente, el valor de tu corazón, la fuerza de tu brazo y la protección de tu mano. Es por Ti lo que hacemos y batalla a Ti pertenece la corona del vencedor. Porque tuyo es el reino, el poder y la gloria para siempre. AMÉN”

En una de las primeras acciones en Afganistán, Navy SEAL contramaestre Neal Roberts, era parte de una unidad que se insertará en helicóptero en una zona de la parte superior de la montaña conocida como Takur Ghar para participar talibanes. Durante la aproximación del helicóptero fue alcanzado por el fuego de tierra, fluidos del motor comenzó a verter sobre el interior del helicóptero. Suboficial Roberts perdió pie y salió por la parte trasera del helicóptero: “. … Sus colegas lo vieron caer unos diez pies para el afloramiento de nieve a continuación” A medida que el Chinook ruedas lejos de la montaña, el resto del equipo vio impotente Roberts cayó bajo fuego enemigo. El último que vimos de él, estaba respondiendo al fuego con su arma automática del pelotón, atacando a una fuerza superior y va todo solo … ”

“Un avión no tripulado fue enviado a observar y enviado de nuevo video de suboficial Roberts luchando contra el enemigo durante casi una hora, primero con su arma automática y luego su arma hasta que se gasta toda su munición y granadas. Finalmente fue invadido y matado, convirtiéndose en el primer SEAL de la Armada a morir en la guerra contra el terrorismo … ”

He interactuado con mucha seguridad pública militares y también civiles. Se dan cuenta de que ellos no trabajan un 9-5, puñetazo en / potencia sin trabajo. Ellos han visto y tuvo que hacer frente a situaciones de la vida y la muerte y actos inhumanos cometidos veces contra las personas. La muerte es una realidad para la mayoría de ellos ya diferencia de la mayoría de la gente, son muy conscientes de su propia mortalidad. Con demasiada frecuencia, su actitud hacia Dios, es a menudo, como la mayoría de la gente hoy en día, piensan que están haciendo buenas obras y que van a perforar su boleto al cielo. Muchos, aunque a querer saber acerca de Dios, he tenido muchos encuentros que eleva con los militares y de seguridad pública. A menudo quieren saber cómo Dios puede permitir este tipo de violencia y lesiones. Esto me ha dado la oportunidad de hablar con ellos sobre el pecado. Dios nos dio libre albedrío, lo que significa que somos libres de pecado y lo hacemos, con bastante frecuencia. Para aquellos que no son cristianos que están muertos en sus pecados, ellos no saben que no sea el pecado nada. Ellos pueden negociar con Dios y tratar de hacer las obras piensan que va a ganar su camino. Mi respuesta es que no podemos hacer un trato con Dios. Proporcionó una manera, Jesús! Eso es una gran cosa. Demasiado a menudo veo gente forcejeo alrededor tratando de hacer su propio camino a Dios y saben en su corazón que no funciona. Tenemos que estar en relación con Dios a través del bautismo y en Jesús. Todo lo demás es nuestras propias obras y termina en un fracaso en el intento de llegar hasta Dios. Pero no hay ningún misterio en ello, Jesús, el Hijo de Dios, nos dijo muy claramente: “Yo soy el camino la verdad y la vida, nadie viene al Padre, sino por mí.” Nuestra manera de Dios es obvio, es no una lucha para salvarse. Al ser almacenada podría ser una lucha, pero en Jesús se nos ayuda a través de nuestras luchas y ayudó a mantener nuestra fe por medio de su gracia, que estamos viviendo en Su voluntad.

En el mismo sentido, un centurión romano no es fácil de convencer a su variedad de jardín. Tenía un enorme poder y la autoridad. Desde luego, podría haber sido EE.UU. fuerzas especiales de hoy. Un centurión romano podía prácticamente actúan como él lo considera necesario, en su mayor parte era de confianza para hacer lo que era necesario y su palabra tendría mucha más influencia que otros. El centurión en esta lectura habría sido clasificado como un “temeroso de Dios”, alguien que no era judía, pero reconoció que el Dios de Israel como el supremo Creador, sustentador del universo. El nombre hebreo era yirei Hashem. Ellos no se convirtieron, por diversas razones, pero reconocieron el monoteísmo del Dios judío. Un romano no llegó al nivel de centurión al involucrarse con charlatanes. Sin duda un punto importante de esta perícopa era mostrar que el poder y la autoridad de Jesús fue reconocido fuera de los círculos judíos y fue un precursor del resto del mundo que reconoce a Jesús como Dios como sus discípulos / apóstoles salieron en el mundo. El centurión vio a Jesús como quien tiene autoridad como lo hizo el romano. Si era la voluntad de Jesús para tener algo hecho Jesús solo tenía que dar la palabra. Crisóstomo escribe: “… la razón por la que no le había traído en [su casa] era en sí mismo un signo de su gran fe, que es mucho mayor que el que se deja al paciente a través del techo. Debido a que el centurión sabía con certeza que incluso un simple comando fue suficiente para elevar el criado, pensó que no era necesario traerlo “Crisóstomo también señala:”. Si bien en ocasiones anteriores [Jesús] había respondido a los deseos de los suplicantes, en este caso, en lugar brota de forma activa hacia ella. “Obviamente los líderes judíos en Cafarnaum vio también su autoridad, que parecía tener ningún problema con Jesús intervenir en nombre del centurión. Para aquellos que tratan con el mundo real de la vida y la muerte, que no necesariamente conocen a Cristo como Salvador, estoy seguro que el centurión tendría su preocupación por que ese nivel de compromiso, pero por lo general saben lo real, su vida a menudo depende de ello. A menudo, a medida que avanzan en la vida son guiados por Dios para conocer la verdadera salvación, de nuevo por fin ver la autenticidad. Honramos a aquellos que han hecho un sacrificio por nosotros, que continuamente mantienen nuestro Salvador Jesús en nuestro corazón y en nuestras oraciones, como aquel que hizo el máximo sacrificio por los que son suyos para conseguir la vida eterna en la resurrección. “Nadie tiene mayor amor que este, que alguien da su vida por sus amigos.” (Juan 15:13)

La paz de Dios que sobrepasa todo entendimiento, guardará vuestros corazones y vuestros pensamientos en Cristo Jesús. Amin y Shalom

Serving and Faith Luke 7: 1-10 First St Johns May 29, 2016

[for the audio of this sermon click on above icon]

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The observance of Memorial Day is about those who have served in the United States military and have died as a result of that service. I had ancestors who fought in the Civil War. One returned home after suffering serious injury, he lived a few more years, but his life was definitely shortened by wounds in military service, therefore someone who should be remembered and honored on Memorial Day.

The United States’ highest military honor is the Congressional Medal of Honor. It’s not a requirement, but the Medal of Honor is usually presented posthumously, that is the recipient died as a result of the action they took to be awarded the Medal of Honor. According to Wikipedia the Medal of Honor has been awarded to 3,471 members of our military. “The first Army Medal of Honor was awarded to Private Jacob Parrott during the American Civil War for his role in the Great Locomotive Chase. The first African American recipient was William Harvey Carney who, despite being shot in the face, shoulders, arms, and legs, refused to let the American flag touch the ground. The only woman Medal of Honor recipient is Mary Edwards Walker, a Civil War surgeon.[1]” Of the number awarded there are only 76 living recipients.

The Medal of Honor is awarded to any member of the military who is so qualified. The next level are the service crosses; the Distinguished Service Cross for the Army, the Navy Cross for Navy, Marines and Coast Guard, the Air Force Cross. Interesting how our second highest military honors are crosses. The posthumous rate for the crosses is not as high as the Medal of Honor, but is still significantly high. How appropriate is it that for many who sacrificed themselves to often rescue or protect others, that they should be awarded a cross, the symbol of Jesus’ sacrifice for all of us.

One particular mission in Afghanistan early in the War on Terror resulted in a few people being awarded the Navy Cross. Probably more than any time in the military history of the United States Special Forces, all branches of the military are required to have a Special Forces unit, have been utilized in the War of Terror to rescue civilian and military persons and to also perform covert U.S. operations and  to assist host countries in various military operations. There is a Special Forces prayer that is quoted in Lt Col Oliver North’s book “American Heroes in Special Operations”. The prayer is: “Almighty God, Who art the Author of Liberty and the champion of the oppressed, hear our prayer. We, the men of Special Forces, acknowledge our dependence upon Thee in the preservation of Human freedom. Go with us as we seek to defend the defenseless and to free the enslaved. May we ever remember that our nation, whose motto is “In God We Trust”, expects that we shall acquit ourselves with honor, that we may never bring shame upon our faith, our families, or our fellow men. Grant us wisdom from Thy mind, courage from Thine heart, strength from Thine arm and protection by Thine hand. It is for Thee that we do battle and to Thee belongs the victor’s crown. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. AMEN”[2]

In one of the first actions in Afghanistan, Navy SEAL Petty Officer Neal Roberts, was part of a unit to be inserted by helicopter into a mountain top area known as Takur Ghar to engage Taliban. During the approach the helicopter was hit by ground fire, engine fluids started pouring over the inside of the helicopter. Petty Officer Roberts lost his footing and went out the back of the helo: “…His buddies watched him fall about ten feet to the snowy outcropping below.” As the Chinook wheeled away from the mountain, the rest of the team watched helplessly as Roberts came under heavy enemy fire. The last they saw of him, was returning fire with his squad automatic weapon, attacking a superior force and going it all alone…”

“A drone was sent to observe and sent back video of Petty Officer Roberts fighting off the enemy for nearly an hour, first with his automatic weapon and then his sidearm until he expended all his ammunition and grenades. He was finally overrun and killed, becoming the first Navy SEAL to die in the war on terror …”[3]

I have interacted with a lot of military and also civilian public safety. They realize that they don’t work a 9-5, punch in/punch out job. They’ve seen and had to deal with situations of life and death and sometimes inhuman acts done against people. Death is a reality to most of them and unlike most people, they are very aware of their own mortality. Too often their attitude towards God, is often, like most people today, think that they’re doing good works and that will punch their ticket to heaven. Many though want to know about God, I’ve had many uplifting encounters with military and public safety people. Often they want to know how God can permit such violence and injury. This has given me the chance to talk to them about sin. God gave us free will, which means that we are free to sin and we do, quite often. For those who are not Christians they are dead in their sins, they don’t know anything other than sin. They might bargain with God and try to do works they think will earn their way. My answer is that we can’t make a bargain with God. He provided one way, Jesus! That’s a great thing. Too often I see people floundering around trying to make their own way to God and they know in their heart that it doesn’t work. We need to be in relation to God through baptism and in Jesus. Anything else is our own works and ends in failure in trying to reach up to God. But there is no mystery about it, Jesus, God the Son, told us very plainly: “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” Our way to God is obvious, it is not a struggle to be saved. Being saved might be a struggle, but in Jesus we are helped through our struggles and helped to maintain our faith through His grace, that we are living in His will.

In the same sense a Roman centurion is not your garden variety pushover. He had enormous power and authority. He certainly could have been U.S. special forces today. A Roman centurion could pretty much act as he felt necessary, for the most part was trusted to do what was necessary and his word would have much more influence than others. The centurion in this pericope would have been classified as a “God-fearer”, someone who was not Jewish, but who acknowledged the God of Israel as the supreme Creator, Sustainer of the universe. The Hebrew name was yirei Hashem[4]. They did not convert for various reasons, but they recognized the monotheism of the Jewish God. A Roman did not reach the level of centurion by getting involved with charlatans. Certainly an important point of this pericope was to show that Jesus’ power and authority was recognized outside of Jewish circles and was a precursor of the rest of the world recognizing Jesus as God as His disciples/apostles went out into the world. The centurion saw Jesus as having authority as the Roman did. If it was Jesus’ will to have something done Jesus had only to give the word. Chrysostom writes: “…the reason he had not brought him in [his house] was itself a sign of his great faith, even much greater than those who let the patient down through the roof. Because the centurion knew for certain that even a mere command was enough for raising the servant up, he thought it unnecessary to bring him.”[5] Chrysostom also notes: “While on previous occasions he [Jesus] had responded to the wish of supplicants, in this case he rather springs actively toward it.”[6] Obviously the Jewish leaders in Capernaum saw His authority also, they seemed to have no problem intervening with Jesus on behalf of the centurion. For those who deal with the very real world of life and death, they don’t necessarily know Christ as Savior, I’m sure the centurion would have reservations about making that level of commitment, but they usually know the real thing, their life often depends on it. Often as they go along in life they are led by God to know true salvation, again they finally see the authenticity. We honor those who have made a sacrifice for us, we continually hold our Savior Jesus in our heart and in our prayers as He who made the ultimate sacrifice for those who are His to have eternal life in the resurrection. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

The peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amin and Shalom

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Medal_of_Honor_recipients

[2] Lt Colonel Oliver North USMC (r) “American Heroes in Special Operations” p 8

[3] Lt Colonel Oliver North USMC (r) “American Heroes in Special Operations” pp 44-45

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God-fearer

[5] Chrysostom “The Gospel of Matthew Homily” quoted in “Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture Matthew 1-13” Manlio Simonetti p 161

[6] Ibid

Una pelea con Jesús Juan 8: 48-59 de mayo de 22 de, el año 2016 Primera Saint Johns

[for the audio of this click on the above icon]

Hacemos nuestro comienzo en el Nombre de Dios el Padre y en el nombre de Dios el Hijo y en el nombre de Dios el Espíritu Santo y todos los que conocen y son creaciones de, salvado por, sostenido por e inspirado por el todopoderoso eterno Dios-cabeza dijo, … AMEN !!

“¿No estamos razón al decir que eres un samaritano y que tienes un demonio?” Al menos para los chicos, hubo cosas que se podría decir en el patio, o donde sea, para el caso, que si estás buscando para comenzar una pelea que diría esto. Directo al grano, estos son palabras de lucha en Israel del primer siglo. Mismo tipo de principio en el patio, o en un vestuario o en un bar. Un poco en la misma línea con alguien que dice algo acerca de su novia / esposa, madre. Las personas que se enfrentaban a Jesús en este punto estaban buscando una pelea. Tenían a gente en su tiempo, como ahora, que no tenía nada mejor que hacer a continuación, salir y buscar peleas, y muchas de las personas que se enfrentaron a Jesús eran simplemente ese tipo de personas. Sólo estaban buscando una pelea y que vieron a Jesús entonces, de la misma manera que muchas personas lo ven hoy en día, una especie de bollo de crema, un rabino lo tanto, debe ser un Poindexter / intelectual, porque los agresores como objetivos blandos agradables y eso es lo que estas personas eran, matones y eso es lo que Jesús encontró tantas veces en su encarnación.

Ahora abusadores esperan que sus objetivos para prácticamente sólo la vuelta y correr, este tipo de mentalidad realmente no puede hacer frente a la realidad, no están a punto de entrar en una discusión profunda. Ellos son los que hoy en día que se sientan alrededor y fumar marihuana, beber demasiado alcohol, y sólo quiere diversión barata. Esa es una gran parte del mundo. No tenían idea de lo que estaban hablando, probablemente ni siquiera sabía que era realmente un samaritano, o un demonio para el caso. Pero samaritanos en ese momento eran, en opinión popular, la más despreciable, sucio, inferior, cualquier tipo de peyorativa que podría etiquetarlos con, que era el samaritano de la Judio.

Samaritanos son parte de la Escritura en algunos casos y siempre marcados con una connotación negativa, o se sienten de alguna manera son de bajo grado. Recordemos la mujer en el pozo. Samaritanos realmente no tienen el tipo de animosidad hacia los Judios que los Judios tenían hacia ellos. Por lo que la mujer en el pozo, Juan 4, se sorprendió de que Jesús sería incluso reconocer su existencia, y mucho menos hablar con ella o, horror !!, tocar Su agua con sus manos. Jesús, obviamente, no se sentía ese tipo de animosidad hacia ella, y ella se convirtió en uno de los primeros evangelistas de Jesús.

Estos chicos una pelea con Jesús y sentirse justificado porque, obviamente, Jesús no es uno de ellos, otro signo seguro de los agresores, y que no pueden tolerar a nadie que fuera tan obviamente diferente. Ya, al igual que el mundo de hoy. Habla un buen juego, no saben lo que están hablando, tratando de buscar pelea con el fin de quedar bien con su pequeña banda, pero no tiene la intención de quedar atrapados en cualquier tipo de discusión profunda / intelectual. No pueden funcionar en esa base y simplemente no van a.

Esta es la Trinidad, el día en que, si no está claro todavía, hacemos muy claro quién es Jesús. Jesús es Dios, Dios el Hijo. Él es uno de los tres del infinito, trascendente, inmutable, omnisciente, omnipresente, omnipotente, eterno cabeza de Dios, Padre, Hijo y Espíritu Santo. Todos ellos Dios, todos iguales e individual y todos en la unidad en la Trinidad, un solo Dios. No hay nada más poderoso del universo, entonces nuestro Dios Todopoderoso! Por eso, cuando Jesús está de pie delante de los bufones de la ciudad o cuando estamos leyendo sus palabras 2.000 años más tarde, el Creador de toda la creación nos dice lo que necesitamos saber. Si tratamos a él con condescendencia y sólo un poco de jugar alrededor de sus palabras, estamos jugando con fuego y movemos nosotros lejos de aquel que es todo poderoso, alejándose de relación con él y se mueve hacia el dar al mundo el mismo poder que él, el gran yO SOY, realmente tiene. Cuando confiamos en el poder del mundo ya sea en los negocios, educación, gobierno, entretenimiento, estamos confiando en algo que no sólo nos fallar, pero nos llevará a la destrucción. Usted puede hacer eso, pero es simplemente la vía rápida al infierno. Cuando, si no, el mundo se produce un error, se le dejará amargo, enojado, y perdido, por la conexión con el Dios verdadero.

Tendrá conversaciones con la gente en el sentido de que Jesús nunca dijo que era Dios. Eso no tiene sentido, es una negación completamente falso de lo que Jesús dijo. Para ese tipo de discusiones, este es uno de los pasajes que se puede hacer referencia a.

Los hombres que estaban a la mesa para negociar el Credo de Atanasio tuvieron que lidiar con la misma falsedad que nos ocupamos hoy. La diferencia es que ellos escribieron esto en el año 325 dC, la iglesia cristiana se había hecho más que ser la iglesia oficial del imperio, pero aún había un montón de gente alrededor de los que habían creído en todas las clases de diversos dioses / ídolos y había incluso todo tipo de personas que se llamaban a sí mismos “cristianos” que estaban por todo el mapa como para que Jesús era / es.

Había un montón de ideas excéntricos, incluso para los cristianos. Por ejemplo, no debería haber un gráfico en su boletín, que se encuentra en América, pero todo lo que dice es que Pater / Padre, Filius / Hijo y Spiritus Sanctus Espíritu / Santo, son / est, en el medio, Dios. Son no est, no la otra persona de la cabeza de Dios. Hay algunas personas por ahí hoy en día que tratan de hacer el caso que cada persona de la Trinidad es su propia trinidad individuo, por lo que es en un twelvinty, supongo.

En este punto, el 325 dC, algo que hablaba de en el desayuno Red de Hombres ayer, Constantino había reunificado el Imperio Romano y se hizo del cristianismo la religión oficial del imperio, esto era sobre todos los otros sistemas de creencias de la época y había una mucho. Constantino era un agradable, todo a bordo hombre cristiano? Ehh probablemente no, fue, finalmente bautizado, su estilo de vida no era la de la cristiana ejemplar. Muchos dirían que era una, incluso movimiento cínico pragmático de su parte para hacer que el imperio unificado en el cristianismo. Su madre, Helen, era una mujer devota cristiana y muchos afirmaría que lo mantiene en línea. El punto es, que, tal vez, pensando que podría hacer que el imperio más unificado, se encuentra con que hay todo tipo de sabores de los cristianos que son tan polémico entre sí como con otras creencias. Desde Constantino es, efectivamente, la cabeza de la iglesia del imperio, él decide que no quiere que el conflicto y obliga a los verdaderos cristianos de sentarse juntos y negociar los tenents de sus creencias con el fin de unificar los cristianos. Esa clase / sorta trabajaron para sus propósitos, pero lo más importante es que motivaba a los cristianos de ese tiempo para trabajar realmente a cabo lo que significa ser un cristiano era y, más concretamente, sobre la base de la Escritura, articular quién es Jesús, que Él es verdadero Dios junto con el padre y el Espíritu Santo. Se encuentra otro inserto que le da todo el Credo de Atanasio. Usted verá lo mucho que trataron de definir, lo finito tratar de definir el infinito, el único Dios, Padre, Hijo y Espíritu Santo.

La razón por la que tenemos este pasaje para el Domingo de la Trinidad es, de nuevo, que apunta a uno de los muchos pasajes en los que Jesús sí declara ser Dios. Mientras Él no directamente decir “bueno yo soy Dios y ustedes necesitan conseguir con ella”, él no hace mención de que al primer siglo Judios dicen, sin lugar a dudas, “escucho, soy Dios.”

Cualquier buen Judio parte del tiempo sería, sin más precisión, decir que él era un hijo de Abraham. Ok, está bien cristianos dicen que están en la línea espiritual de Abraham también. Jesús, sin embargo, dice seguro de Abraham es grande, pero Abraham fue sólo un hombre. De hecho, “Abraham vuestro padre se gozó de que había de ver mi día. Y lo vio y se alegró. “Ay, espera un minuto Abraham vivió cerca de dos mil años antes de Jesús, ¿cómo podría saber acerca de Abraham Jesús y ¿por qué Jesús se atreven a presumir a afirmar que Abraham se regocijó sobre los tiempos de Jesús? Sólo hay una manera que podría suceder y es que si Jesús hubiera estado allí con Abraham, le dijo a Abraham lo que iba a pasar y sabía que su reacción. El único ser que era capaz de hacer eso era …? ¡Dios! Pero para hacer más especial asegurarse de que los Judios que estaba hablando, sabía exactamente lo que estaba hablando Jesús dijo: “”. En verdad, en verdad os digo: Antes que Abraham fuese, yo soy “el Dr. Paul Arand da una buena explicación : “Pero, ¿qué significa que Dios diga” yO SOY “? A menudo esto se traduce como Señor. Y con razón. Él es el que gobierna, que es el que gobierna sobre todas las cosas. No hay nadie que sea como él. Pero ¿por qué hay otro como él? ¿Y por qué gobernar sobre todas las cosas? … Es porque él es un dios más poderoso que todos los demás? ”

“Aquí es donde tenemos que conectar los puntos de la narrativa. Por qué Dios es Señor? ¿Por qué es el “yo soy”? Porque él es el Creador! Aquí haríamos bien en recordar que en la Escritura, el título “Dios” no es una referencia a una deidad abstracta o un concepto filosófico de ser último ni nada de eso. Siempre tiene sus raíces en una narrativa. … Para decirlo sin rodeos si ha creado todo … eres Dios. “… Así que confesar que Jesús es Dios es confesar que él es el creador de todas las cosas. Y por eso Él gobierna todas las cosas “.

Usted tiene que entender lo que se dice entre Jesús y sus antagonistas en términos de siglo, Israel judío. No en el contexto del siglo 21 Inglés hablando estadounidenses. Las personas que Jesús estaba hablando sabía exactamente lo que estaba diciendo, la pena por blasfemia se lapidación y que es lo que empezaron a hacer, piedra Jesús. Jesús dejó perfectamente claro para ellos que Él estaba diciendo que Él es Dios, sin ninguna duda. Yo vivía antes de Abraham, Abraham sabe quién soy, y yo estoy llamando a mí mismo por el nombre que Dios le dijo a Moisés. ¡Yo soy Dios! Jesús es Dios, la Trinidad es la Trinidad, Padre, Hijo y Espíritu Santo. Creador, sustentador y salvador de toda la creación. En este Domingo de Trinidad volver a esos diarios, mirar a través del Evangelio de Juan, Jesús hace otras referencias como esta. Recuerda esas referencias, porque alguien va a venir a usted y le dirá que Jesús no es realmente Dios, ¿cómo va a responder a esa persona?

La paz de Dios que sobrepasa todo entendimiento, guardará vuestros corazones y vuestros pensamientos en Cristo Jesús. Amin y Shalom

Picking a Fight with Jesus John 8: 48-59 First St Johns

[for the audio version click the above link]

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who know and are creations of, saved by, sustained by and inspired by the all-powerful eternal God-head said, … AMEN!!

“Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” At least for the guys, there were things that you could say on the playground, or wherever for that matter, that if you were looking to pick a fight you would say this. Straight to the point, these are fighting words in first century Israel. Same kind of principle on the playground, or in a locker room or in a bar. Kind of in the same vein with someone saying something about your girlfriend/wife, mother. The people who were confronting Jesus at this point were looking for a fight. They had people in His time, as now, who had nothing better to do then go out and look for fights, and many of the people who confronted Jesus were just those kind of people. They were just looking for a fight and they saw Jesus then, the same way many people see Him today, sort of a cream puff, a Rabbi therefore He must be a Poindexter/intellectual, because bullies like nice soft targets and that’s what these people were, bullies and that is what Jesus encountered so many times in His incarnation.

Now bullies expect their targets to pretty much just turn and run, this kind of mentality really can’t cope with reality, they’re not about to get into a deep discussion. They are the ones who today who sit around and smoke marijuana, drink too much alcohol, and just want cheap amusement. That is a lot of the world. They had no idea what they were talking about, probably didn’t even know who a Samaritan really was, or a demon for that matter. But Samaritans at that time were, in popular opinion, the most contemptible, dirty, inferior, any kind of pejorative you could label them with, that was the Samaritan to the Jew.

Samaritans are part of Scripture in a few instances and always labeled with a negative connotation, or they feel themselves are somehow low-grade. Recall the woman at the well. Samaritans really did not have the kind of animosity towards the Jews that the Jews had toward them. So the woman at the well, John 4, was surprised that Jesus would even acknowledge her existence, let alone talk to her or, horrors!!, touch His water with her hands. Jesus, obviously, didn’t feel that kind of animosity toward her, and she became one of the earliest evangelists for Jesus.

These guys picking a fight with Jesus and they feel justified because obviously Jesus is not one of them, another sure sign of bullies, and they can’t tolerate anyone who would be so obviously different. Ya, much like the world today. Talks a good game, doesn’t know what they’re talking about, just trying to pick fights in order to look good with their little gang, but has no intention of getting caught up in any kind of deep/intellectual discussion. They can’t function at that basis and they’re just not going to.

This is Trinity Sunday, the day when, if it’s not clear yet, we make exceedingly clear just who Jesus is. Jesus is God, God the Son. He is one of three of the infinite, transcendent, immutable, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, eternal God head, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All of them God, all equal and individual and all in unity in the Godhead, one God. There is nothing more powerful in the universe, then our almighty God! So when Jesus is standing in front of the town buffoons or when we are reading His words 2,000 years later, the Creator of all creation is telling us what we need to know. If we treat Him patronizingly and just kind of play around His words, we are playing with fire and moving ourselves away from Him who is all powerful, moving away from relationship with Him and moving toward giving the world the same power that He, the Great I AM, really has. When we trust the world’s power be it in business, education, government, entertainment, we are trusting in something that will not only fail us, but will lead us to destruction. You can do that, but it’s simply the fast track to Hell. When, not if, the world fails you, it will leave you bitter, angry, and lost, out of connection with the real God.

You will have discussions with people to the effect that Jesus never said that He was God. That is nonsense, it is a completely disingenuous denial of what Jesus said. For those kinds of discussions, this is one of the passages that you can refer to.

The men who sat down to hammer out the Athanasian Creed had to contend with the same disingenuousness that we deal with today. The difference is that they wrote this in 325 AD, the Christian church had only just become the official church of the empire, but there were still plenty of people around who believed in all sorts of different gods/idols and there were even all sorts of people who called themselves “Christians” who were all over the map as to who Jesus was/is.

There were a lot of oddball ideas even for Christians. For example there should be a chart in your bulletin, it’s in Latin, but all it says is that Pater/Father, Filius/Son and Spiritus Sanctus/Holy Spirit, are/est, in the middle, God. They are non-est, not the other person of the God head. There are some people out there today who try to make the case that each person of the Godhead is their own individual trinity, making it into a twelvinty, I guess.

At this point, 325 AD, something we talked about at the Men’s Network breakfast yesterday, Constantine had reunified the Roman Empire and had made Christianity the official religion of the empire, this was over all the other belief systems of the time and there were a lot. Was Constantine a nice, all-on board Christian man? Ehh probably not, he was, eventually baptized, his lifestyle was not that of the exemplar Christian. Many would say that it was a pragmatic, even cynical move on his part to make the empire unified in Christianity. His mother, Helen, was a devout Christian woman and many would claim that she kept him in line. Point is, that, perhaps, thinking he could make the empire more unified, he finds that there are all sorts of flavors of Christians who are just as contentious with each other as with other beliefs. Since Constantine is, effectively, the head of the empire’s church, he decides he doesn’t want the conflict and forces the real Christians to sit down together and hammer out the tenents of their beliefs in order to unify Christians. That kinda/sorta worked to his purposes, but more importantly it did motivate the Christians of that time to really work out what being a Christian was and more specifically, based on Scripture, articulate who Jesus is, that He is true God along with the Father and Holy Spirit. You will find another insert that gives you the entire Athanasian Creed. You will see how much they tried to define, the finite trying to define the infinite, the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The reason we have this passage for Trinity Sunday is to, again, point you to one of many passages where Jesus does declare Himself to be God. While He doesn’t straight out say “hey I’m God and you guys need to get with it”, He does make references that to first-century Jews say, without question, “listen, I’m God.”

Any good Jew of the time would, without qualification, say that he was a child of Abraham. Ok, that’s fine Christians would say that they are in the spiritual line of Abraham too. Jesus, however, says sure Abraham is great, but Abraham was only a man. In fact, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” Woe, wait a minute Abraham lived about two thousand years before Jesus, how could Abraham know about Jesus and why would Jesus dare to presume to claim that Abraham rejoiced about Jesus’ day? There’s only one way that could happen and that is if Jesus had been there with Abraham, told Abraham what was going to happen and knew his reaction. The only being that was capable of doing that was …? God! But to make extra special sure that the Jews He was talking to, knew exactly what He was talking about Jesus said: “”Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” Dr Paul Arand gives a good explanation: “But what does it mean for God to say ‘I AM’? Often this is translated as Lord. And rightly so. He is the one who rules, He is the one who rules over all things. There is none who is like him. But why is there none like him? And why does he rule over all things?… It is because he is a more powerful god than all the others?”

“Here is where we need to connect the dots of the narrative. Why is God Lord? Why is he the ‘I Am’? Because he is the Creator! Here we would do well to remember that in Scripture, the title ‘God’ is not a reference to an abstract deity or a philosophical concept of ultimate being or anything like that. It is always rooted in a narrative. … To put it bluntly if you created everything … you are God.’ … So to confess that Jesus is God is to confess that he is the Creator of all things. And for that reason He rules all things.”[1]

You have to understand what is being said between Jesus and His antagonists in terms of first century, Jewish Israel. Not in the context of 21st century English speaking Americans. The people Jesus was talking to knew exactly what He was saying, the penalty for blasphemy was stoning and that is what they started to do, stone Jesus. Jesus made it perfectly clear to them that He was saying He is God, without any doubt. I lived before Abraham, Abraham knows who I AM, and I am calling myself by the name that God told Moses. I AM God! Jesus is God, the Trinity is the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Creator, sustainer and savior of all creation. On this Trinity Sunday go back to those journals, look through John’s Gospel, Jesus makes other references like this. Remember those references, because someone will come to you and tell you that Jesus isn’t really God, how will you answer that person?

The peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amin and Shalom

[1] Dr Charles Arand   “Concordia Journal   Spring 2016 p 139

Our Power as Jesus’ disciples in the Holy Spirit Acts 2: 1-21 May 15, 2016 First St Johns

[for the audio of this, please click on the above icon]

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and those who pray come Holy Spirit, come, they said … AMEN!!!

Grace is the most important thing that separates Christianity from the other world religions. All other “religions” impose requirements that their believers must achieve to have, not the assurance of salvation, but the chance to be saved. Grace for a Christian is that God has done everything necessary for us to be saved. As long as we faithfully follow Christ, by being baptized, attending worship, taking His Body and Blood, hearing His preached Word from Scripture, you are saved, solely in Jesus and by what He has done for us. There is nothing we can ever do in order to “earn” grace, receive the free gift of salvation in Jesus.

Another thing that distinguishes Christianity from other world religions is that God, the one and true God, has actually been in the world. God Father and Son are now in heaven. Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father in glory as our great high priest to pray for us and intervene for us. But Jesus was very publicly in the world, all His major acts, His miracles and teachings, His crucifixion, His resurrection, His ascension, all events that were done in public for all to see. Again unlike the other major religions of the world.

God the Holy Spirit remains in the world, with those who have received salvation in Jesus: ESV 1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ESV 1 Corinthians 6:20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

The Holy Spirit is part of us in order to guide us, in order to continually point us to Christ. On this day that we remember as the Day of Pentecost, we often refer to it as the birthday of the church of Jesus Christ, the place where His disciples grow and reach into the world. The word Pentecost is from Greek, “pentokoste hemera” meaning the fiftieth day, which is the fiftieth day after Passover. It was an ancient Jewish holiday known as the festival of weeks. It would certainly be reasonable to construe that the Godhead (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), jointly chose this day to, again, bring to public attention, a major move of God. On this holiday there would be Jews from all over the known world in Jerusalem to observe the holiday. As was read this morning; Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, Rome, Cretans, Arabians. As it is today, all these people continue to speak much different languages. We see in our first reading the reason why they spoke different languages. Then, as now, there were a bunch of smart guy people who decided they should put themselves at the same level as God. Just relatively recently the world had been destroyed because of the presumption of man. Now man would be separated from each other by language in order to keep them from conspiring together to try to do what Satan tried, to usurp or put themselves on an equal footing with God. Yes, I know, they could not possibly have achieved this end. But the point is that neither Led Zepplin in our time, or these ancient people could build a tower, or a stairway to heaven, but the arrogance of man will often bring quick and direct action from God. At some point God decides to let man just wallow in his sin and let it drag man down to death. Certainly God could have let them build the tower and then it would inevitably collapse, due to their ignorance, and kill many people. Mercifully God chose to save a lot of lives, but to also separate those sin-filled presumptuous people and hopefully keep them from collaborating on more presumptuous, arrogant acts that would also end up in physical or, worse, spiritual death, either way creating separation between God and man. The people continued to sin and act arrogantly. Certainly we see their acts when God Himself comes into the world to give them an opportunity to direct them from their evil, self-destructive ways. God the Son came into the world in order to proclaim as visibly as possible who He is and that He is the only way to life and eternal salvation in Him. As we know, people chose to reject that plea.

That does not mean that the Godhead retreated into heaven and left man to try to figure it out for themselves. Yea, we see a lot of attitude from people, but God continues to do whatever it takes to bring us to Him. And He always does all those things in a very public, very obvious way.

Jesus gives His disciples, then and now, such touching and compelling words of encouragement in our Gospel reading. He’s leaving them, He knows that, they don’t. “ESV John 14:25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. ESV John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

The Greek word that is used here for “Holy Spirit” is para,klhtoj( in older translations of the Bible you will see the Holy Spirit referred to as paraclete, the Greek means “helper, intercessor”. John is the only one who refers to the Holy Spirit in this way, it’s not used in the Book of Acts. In the same sentence Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit directly, pneu/ma to. a[gion( while we give it what seems a rather benign meaning, “spirit” the Greek word meaning blowing/breathing, and also wind. This may sound rather charming, it’s very much intended to be very powerful, in terms of the breath of life, yes, life giving. Tell me what the word “pneuma” says in English, here’s a hint, has to do with tools, … pneumatic tools. If you’ve ever used pneumatic tools, you know a compressor pumps hard to build up a lot of pressure so that the tool, that’s connected to the compressor, can perform various tasks, ever been near a jack-hammer working? We’re connected to the Holy Spirit.

The disciples don’t have a lot of context for what Jesus is telling them. They are probably thinking, “aren’t those nice, comforting words”, but at best have a vague idea of Who/What the Holy Spirit is, but on the Day of Pentecost, they would have a very powerful/lifegiving demonstration of Who the Holy Spirit is and just a slight idea of the kind of power the Holy Spirit is capable of.

Raniero Cantalamessa writes: “Origen informs us that the pagans of his day used to challenge Christians by saying: how can one man, who for good measure lived in an obscure township in Judea, fill the world with the perfume of the knowledge of God, as you Christians say, referring to 2 Corinthians 2:14? Origen’s answer was that Jesus can do this because he has consecrated a large number of disciples with the Holy Spirit and sent them through the world, and these devote themselves to saving the human race by living in purity and righteousness and by teaching the same doctrine as Jesus. Thanks to them, ‘the precious oil sprinkled on the head’ of the true Aaron, who is Christ, runs down ‘onto the collar of his robe’, referring to Psalm 133:2, that is, it spreads throughout the body of the Church and, through it, to the whole world.”

“We are those disciples sent throughout the world to spread the ‘sweet smell’ of Christ! To succeed, we too must ‘shatter’ the alabaster vessel of our human nature: we must mortify the works of the flesh, the old Adam which acts as an inner barrier to the rays of the Spirit…”[1]

We have mini-Pentecosts today! Ok, we don’t have 3,000 people being baptized at once. But in each baptism that is done here, we see the power of the Holy Spirit being demonstrated, that someone is being born again in Christ. When we accept someone into membership of the church as we do today, we add a new person to the Body of Christ, His church. It is the power of the Holy Spirit descending on that person, that person, having been indwelt by the Holy Spirit at baptism, is now a living example of the Holy Spirit. They are a container of the immense power of the Spirit, we all are as confirmed members of Christ’s church. As possessors of such power, the question becomes what do we do with that? How do we disciple those who are new in that power, so that both you and they will live that life of power in the world. We have too many cold and timid “Christians” today, we need to be renewed in the pneumous, the immense power of the Holy Spirit to stand as strong and equipped disciples who point the world to Jesus Christ.

The peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amin and Shalom

[1] Raniero Cantalamessa  The Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus p 18

Sólo la voluntad de Dios en el Nuevo Mundo de la Revelación resurrección 22: 1-6, 12-20 First St Johns 8 de mayo de, el año 2016

Hacemos nuestro comienzo en el Nombre de Dios el Padre y en el nombre de Dios el Hijo y en el nombre de Dios el Espíritu Santo y todos los que miran hacia adelante a la vida eterna, perfecta en la resurrección y el nuevo mundo dijo … AMEN !

No soy tan grande en la escatología, tiempos del final, nunca he comprendido realmente el punto. Cuando Dios decide dejar que el reloj se queda sin, que va a pasar, si estoy listo o no. Lo que hace fascinarme, y lo que se trata todo esto, como cristianos, es el mundo eterno, los nuevos cielos y la nueva tierra. Uno de mis profesores en el seminario Rev. Dr. Luis Brighton, es un conocido estudioso y experto en el Libro de la Revelación. Dr. Brighton es profesor emérito de la Concordia en San Luis, pero lo hizo con regularidad leccionarios sobre la Revelación y me tomó ventaja de tomar en su experiencia, en especial respecto a la resurrección. Entre el Dr. Randy Alcorn Brighton y, he llegado a una verdadera comprensión y apreciación de la resurrección que nunca tuve como laico. La resurrección es la realidad última.

Vivimos nuestra vida como pueblo de Cristo, bautizados en el nombre del Padre, Hijo y Espíritu Santo. Tomamos el Cuerpo y la Sangre de Jesús y salvos, sostiene y fortalece para vivir nuestras vidas nutrirse de su verdadero cuerpo y sangre. Estamos confirmado en su iglesia, el Cuerpo de Jesús. Estas son las cosas que el Espíritu Santo nos lleva a hacer en nuestra muy corta difícil, la vida, lleno de pecado en la tierra. Si morimos antes del regreso de Jesús nosotros, que somos en Jesús, irá al cielo, será la iglesia en espera de la resurrección prometida. Sé que hoy en día la palabra promesa se utiliza un poco demasiado flojo, promesas hechas pero fácilmente olvidado o una excusa rápida porque nuestra promesa es demasiado a menudo poco sincero y rápidamente hecho. Así que con Jesús debemos leer la palabra promesa como hierro revestidos / garantía de tubería de plomo.

Había Judios que creían en la resurrección como parte de la doctrina judía. Era una fuente básica de desacuerdo entre las dos escuelas principales de la época de Jesús, los fariseos, que creían en la resurrección y los saduceos que no lo hicieron. Los saduceos trataron de atrapar a Jesús haciendo un argumento falaz de una mujer que tuvo siete maridos “que estarían a su marido en la resurrección?” ¿En serio ?! Rechaza la resurrección, porque el estado civil de una persona en esta tierra? Si usted se presenta regularmente a Jesús que la gente va a escuchar un montón de argumentos tontos y no tengo ninguna duda de que este era uno de los muchos que Jesús oyó. Su respuesta dejó en claro que Dios tenía la intención nuestra resurrección desde el principio de los tiempos. Dios sabía que lo iban a rechazar y que tendríamos que ser retirado de la primera paraíso terrenal, de Eden. Sabemos que hay una vida perfecta para nosotros porque de la primera creación perfecta en el Edén. La respuesta de Jesús a los saduceos hace hincapié en lo que nuestra verdadera vida será: “ESV Mateo 22:31 Y en cuanto a la resurrección de los muertos, ¿no habéis leído lo que fue dicho por Dios: Mateo 22:32 NVI” Yo soy el Dios de Abraham, y el Dios de Isaac y el Dios de Jacob? Él no es Dios de muertos, sino de vivos “ESV Mateo 22:33 Y cuando la multitud lo oyó, se admiraban de su enseñanza.” Jesús les responde a un poco más de aspereza en la versión de Marcos de esta perícopa: “.” no es esta la razón por la que está equivocado, porque no saben ni las Escrituras ni el poder de Dios? … ESV Marcos 12:27 Él no es Dios de muertos, sino de vivos. Usted está muy equivocado. “” No es exactamente el oh tan delicada Jesús el mundo le gusta hacer él. Básicamente, “usted no sabe lo que está hablando, porque es obvio que no sabe Escritura.” Lucas tiene los escribas que encomiaba él: “. ESV Lucas 20:39 Entonces algunos de los escribas respondió:” Maestro, has hablado bien “” Dios no nos creó para hacer estallar simplemente fuera de la vida, él nos creó para que pudiéramos tener vida y vida más abundante . Para los que están en su voluntad, ha creado un mundo eterno, completamente de acuerdo con su ser el Dios de los vivos.

Jesús tomó esta referencia de Éxodo 3: 6, camino de vuelta al segundo libro de la Biblia. Esto es importante porque los saduceos creían que sólo el Pentateuco, los primeros cinco libros de la Biblia fueron los únicos válidos los libros de la Escritura. Jesús está haciendo más énfasis claro en una manera que no podía descartar que es todo acerca de la resurrección. Dios no nos crean para que nosotros simplemente pestañeamos de distancia. Él nos crea con el fin de vivir nuestra vida en Cristo que nos hace verdaderamente preparados para la vida eterna en un mundo nuevo que sólo se adaptará a las de Jesús, porque Él estará muy presente, fuente de la vida eterna. Como el Dr. Brighton escribe: “… cualquier tipo de vida física a su pueblo a vivir y experiencia en sus cuerpos resucitados, Dios ricamente entregar dicha terrena necesita como lo hizo con Adán y Eva en el primer paraíso antes de la caída.”

No interprete mal, el mundo no va a ser un gran jardín con nosotros sentados alrededor de comer fruta. Dios proveyó a Adán y Eva todo lo que pueda desear en su propio contexto. Eso es lo que hará por nosotros en nuestro propio contexto. Ha habido 5.000 años de historia de la humanidad y de la resurrección será la culminación e integrador de toda esa historia.

Entre Mateo y Apocalipsis hay 41 referencias a la resurrección.

Para aquellos que les gusta nos dicen lo injusto que estamos en decir que sólo aquellos en Jesús serán resucitados, se refieren a las palabras de Jesús a Juan: “No habrá más maldición; y el trono de Dios y del Cordero estará en ella, y sus siervos le adoraron “(Ap 22: 3). lo que se maldito? … ¡Todo! Sin hizo todo en la creación, la tuya, la mía, todos, desde Adán y Eva para ti y para mí. No somos “buena”, todo lo que son malditos, pero en Jesús somos salvos, somos justificados y justos. Dr. Brighton escribe: “La teología de la Encarnación misma sugiere que, como resultado de la actividad redentora de Cristo y de su propia resurrección corporal, los de Cristo en su resurrección se restaurará en el diseño original de Dios para el estado corporal de la humanidad y por lo tanto también la tierra actual ser restaurado a su estado original, divinamente concebido como el hogar para personas resucitadas de Dios. “lo siento, pero no puede haber una diversidad de opinión y de” estilo de vida “en el nuevo mundo. Sólo había la voluntad de Dios en Jesús a través del cual toda la creación llegó a existir en el mundo original. Sólo puede ser la voluntad de Dios en el mundo nuevo y resucitado. Seguro que hay un montón de otras “opiniones” y estilos de vida y la diversidad en este mundo. Pero no es así como la intención de Dios en su creación original y que sólo será lo que Dios quería en el mundo nuevo, resucitado restaurado.

Jesús promete John que escribe esa promesa a nosotros: “. He aquí, yo vengo pronto, y mi galardón conmigo conmigo, para recompensar a todos por lo que ha hecho” “Próximamente” en el contexto de la eternidad, incluso dos mil años después de la promesa hecha medios más o menos inmediato. En la eternidad, vamos a entender claramente cómo eran rápidas y tenues nuestras vidas cortas y cómo incluso dos mil años en la eternidad es “pronto”. Dios es un Dios justo, completamente santa, esperamos que a partir de él. El problema es que esperamos que él sea sólo de acuerdo a nuestro punto de vista, que es inevitablemente mal. Nosotros sólo somos sólo en Jesús. Si en el juicio final vamos a tener que responder por las cosas que falló en, pecamos. La diferencia entre aquellos de nosotros en Jesús y el resto de la humanidad es que nuestro Sumo Sacerdote, Jesús, interviene para aquellos que lo conocen como Señor y Salvador. Jesús le dice a Juan: “los perros estarán fuera, y los hechiceros y los inmorales, los asesinos, los idólatras, y todo aquel que ama y hace mentira.” (Ap 22, 15) que hace eso incluye? Sí, todos nosotros. Pero en Cristo somos limpiados en su Sangre, su sacrificio por todos los que lo conocen como Salvador. Para aquellos, que él describe como perros, que lo rechazaron, que negaban lo que Él es, que están en el exterior del nuevo mundo resucitado. “Bienaventurados los que lavan sus ropas, para que puedan tener derecho al árbol de la vida y que puedan entrar en la ciudad por las puertas.” (Ap 22:14) En Jesús nuestras ropas han sido lavados, en su sangre .

La resurrección está totalmente en la voluntad de Dios, será la restauración de su creación conforme a su voluntad. Su voluntad sólo puede ser en términos de su justicia, su santidad, su justicia. Sólo aquellos que están en Cristo serán capaces de compartir en aquel mundo eterno que es sólo en la voluntad creadora de Dios. Debemos hacer todo lo que podamos hacer hincapié en que a todos los que nos encontramos y el punto que la única manera posible de ese nuevo mundo resucitado que es sólo en Jesús. Para aquellos que rechazan e ignoran nosotros, debemos llorar por los que están condenados y la decisión de mantenerlos en oración para que Dios tenga piedad de ellos y conducirlos a la única esperanza y la promesa de que está en Jesús. Volver a leer el relato de la resurrección en la Revelación, es entre los capítulos 21 y 22. Diario cómo va a ser todo sobre Jesús y no sobre cómo el mundo piensa que debería ser.

La paz de Dios que sobrepasa todo entendimiento, guardará vuestros corazones y vuestros pensamientos en Cristo Jesús. Amin y Shalom

Only God’s will in the New World of the resurrection Revelation 22: 1-6, 12-20 First St Johns May 8, 2016

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who look forward to the eternal, perfect life in the resurrection and the new world said … AMEN!

I’m not that big into eschatology, end times, I’ve never really understood the point. When God decides to let the clock run out, it’s going to happen, whether I’m ready or not. What does fascinate me, and what it’s all about as Christians, is the eternal world, the new heavens and the new earth. One of my professors in seminary Rev Dr Louis Brighton, is a well known scholar and expert on the Book of Revelation. Dr Brighton is a professor emeritus at Concordia in St Louis, but he regularly did lectionaries on Revelation and I took advantage of taking in his expertise, especially concerning the resurrection. Between Dr Brighton and Randy Alcorn, I have come to a real understanding and appreciation of the resurrection that I never really had as a lay person. The resurrection is the ultimate reality.

We live our lives as Christ’s people, baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We take the Body and Blood of Jesus and are saved, sustained and strengthened to live our lives being nourished by His true Body and Blood. We are confirmed in His church, the Body of Jesus. These are the things the Holy Spirit leads us to do in our very short, difficult, sin-filled life on earth. If we die before the return of Jesus we, who are in Jesus, will go to heaven, will be the church in waiting for the promised resurrection. I know today the word promise is used a little too loosely, promises made but easily forgotten or a quick excuse because our promise is too often insincere and hastily made. So with Jesus we should read the word promise as iron clad/lead pipe guarantee.

There were Jews who believed in the resurrection as part of Jewish doctrine. It was a basic source of disagreement between the two main schools of Jesus’ time, the Pharisees who believed in the resurrection and the Sadducees who did not. The Sadducees tried to trap Jesus making a fallacious argument about a woman who had seven husbands “who would be her husband in the resurrection?” Really?! You reject the resurrection because of someone’s marital status in this earth? If you regularly present Jesus to people you will hear a lot of silly arguments and I have no doubt that this was one of many that Jesus heard. His answer made it clear that God had intended our resurrection from the very beginning of time. God knew that we would reject Him and we would have to be removed from the first earthly paradise, Eden. We know that there is a perfect life for us because of the first perfect creation in Eden. Jesus’ answer to the Sadducees emphasizes what our true life will be: “ESV Matthew 22:31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ESV Matthew 22:32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” ESV Matthew 22:33 And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.” Jesus answers them a little more tartly in Mark’s version of this pericope: “”Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? … ESV Mark 12:27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”” Not exactly the oh so delicate Jesus the world likes to make Him. Basically, “you don’t know what you’re talking about because you obviously don’t know Scripture.” Luke has the scribes commending Him: “ESV Luke 20:39 Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.”” God did not create us to simply pop out of life, He created us so that we would have life and life more abundant. For those who are in His will He did create an eternal world, completely in accord with His being the God of the living.

Jesus took this reference from Exodus 3:6, way back to the second book of the Bible. This is important because the Sadducees believed that only the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible were the only valid books of Scripture. Jesus is making it emphatically clear in a way they could not dismiss that it is all about the resurrection. God does not create us in order for us to simply blink away. He creates us in order to live our life in Christ that makes us truly prepared for eternal life in a new world that will only be suited to those in Jesus, because He will be the very present source of that eternal life. As Dr Brighton writes: “…whatever kind of physical life his people will live and experience in their resurrected bodies, God will richly supply their earthly needs as he did with Adam and Eve in the first paradise before the fall.”[1]

Don’t misconstrue, the world is not going to be one big garden with us sitting around eating fruit. God provided Adam and Eve all they could want in their own context. That is what He will do for us in our own context. There has been 5,000 years of recorded human history and the resurrection will be the culmination and inclusive of all that history.

Between Matthew and Revelation there are 41 references to the resurrection.

For those who like to tell us how unfair we are in saying that only those in Jesus will be resurrected, refer to Jesus’ words to John: “No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it and his servants will worship him.” (Rev 22:3) What is accursed? … Everything! Sin made everything in creation, yours, mine, everyone from Adam and Eve to you and me. We are not “good”, we are all accursed, but in Jesus we are saved, we are justified and righteous. Dr Brighton writes: “The theology of the incarnation itself suggests that, as a result of Christ’s redemptive activity and his own bodily resurrection, those in Christ in his resurrection will be restored to God’s original design for humanity’s bodily state and so also the present earth be restored to its original, divinely intended state as the home for God’s resurrected people.”[2] Sorry, but there can’t be a diversity of opinion and “lifestyle” in the new world. There was only God’s will in Jesus through whom all creation came into existence in the original world. There can only be God’s will in the new, resurrected world. Sure there’s a lot of other “opinions” and lifestyles and diversity in this world. But that’s not how God intended in His original creation and it will only be what God intended in the new restored, resurrected world.
Jesus promises John who writes that promise to us: “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done.” “Coming soon” in the context of eternity, even two thousand years after the promise made means pretty much right away. In eternity we will clearly understand how quick and tenuous our short lives were and how even two thousand years in eternity is “soon”. God is a just, completely holy God, we expect that from Him. The problem is we expect Him to be just according to our perspective which is inevitably wrong. We are only just in Jesus. Yes in the final judgment we will have to answer for the things we failed in, we sinned in. The difference between those of us in Jesus and the rest of humanity is that our Great High Priest, Jesus, intervenes for those who know Him as Lord and Savior. Jesus tells John: “Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.” (Rev 22: 15) Who does that include? Yes, all of us. But in Christ we are cleansed in His Blood, His sacrifice for all who know Him as Savior. For those, who He describes as dogs, who rejected Him, who denied who He is, they are on the outside of the new, resurrected world. “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.” (Rev 22:14) In Jesus our robes have been washed, in His blood.

The resurrection is entirely in God’s will, it will be the restoration of His creation according to His will. His will can only be in terms of His justice, His holiness, His righteousness. Only those who are in Christ will be able to share in that eternal world that is only in God’s creative will. We should do everything we can to emphasize that to all who we meet and point them to the only possible way to that new resurrected world that is only in Jesus. For those who reject and ignore us, we should mourn for those who are doomed and continue to hold them up in prayer that God will have mercy on them and lead them to the only hope and promise that is in Jesus. Go back and read the account of the resurrection in Revelation, it is between chapters 21 and 22. Journal how it will be all about Jesus and not about how the world thinks it should be.

The peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amin and Shalom

[1] Dr Louis Brighton “Revelation” p 631

[2] Ibid p 632

I am holding on to you John 16 First St Johns May 1, 2016

[please click on the above for the audio of this sermon]

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who know that the great I AM is holding on to them said … AMEN!

I AM holding on to you, I AM holding on to you, in the middle of the storm I AM holding on I AM. For those who are convinced that I’m a stodgy fuddy-duddy, who just can’t get contemporary Christian music, I assure you that is completely inaccurate. I will compare my library of “contemporary” Christian music going back over twenty years to yours any day of the week.

One of the newer artists is David Crowder, the last Winter Jam we went to he was there and he really is great. I think he gets it a lot better than a lot of Christian musicians and yes, sad to say, there is a lot of junk out there.

One of his newest songs is titled “I Am”, if you listen to the song without really “hearing” it, it will sound as if me, you, the desperate sinner whoever that is, is almost frantically proclaiming that he is holding on. Sort of like me on a real roller-coaster. I don’t like roller-coasters, and when I am on one, I am probably thinking about how much “I am holding on”. But that’s not the point of the song and it is a really good illustration about our relationship with Jesus.

When Crowder says I AM holding on to you, who is the I AM? …  Yes, Jesus. In the middle of the storm I AM holding on to you. We have that assurance all the way through as to who it is that is really holding on. Jesus says, in our reading, “…whatever you ask of the Father in My Name, He will give it to you.” Now that is a huge assurance that in Jesus when we ask we will get what we need. More than that, when we think we’re asking in Jesus’ Name and we’re not, we’re asking for something that is not going to build us in Jesus or glorify Him or witness to the world for Him, we won’t get it. Why? Because He is holding on to us, even when we have a bad idea or motivation, He is holding on to us to protect us from ourselves and the world. Between John 6: 35 to 51, Jesus refer to Himself four times as “I AM the Bread of Life”. I AM the Good Shepherd, I AM the door, I AM the water of life over and over. The people listening to Him all knew exactly what He meant, Yahweh told Moses that His Name is I AM. They understood His reference to the bread that Yahweh provided for their ancestors in the desert. They understood their need for that physical bread, and also the bread that “strengthens and preserves us in body and soul to life everlasting.” That Jesus was saying I AM the bread. He was telling them that He is God the Son, the only one who could give them what they need to preserve them in their daily lives, but also for spiritual nourishment, to strengthen, preserve and prepare them to life eternal in the resurrection, as He was going to be shortly resurrected. The difference being our resurrection will be in the perfect world of the eternal earth.

Crowder writes “this is my resurrection song”, saying again that it’s about what Jesus did, He who died in order to save us from our sins, who was perfect, perfectly holy and God the Son, the only One who would be sufficient to pay those sins and in doing so gave us the hope and promise that we need in order to know that we are saved. Not just saved but also given the very visible, tangible evidence of our salvation. The perfect Son of God, tortured, mocked, humiliated, killed so that our sins are completely paid for. Not what we did, but entirely what He has done and continues to give us the assurance that He has provided everything necessary for us to live in this world in Him, and as it says in the Revelation reading: “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.” That is, we will be in the very presence of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the resurrected, perfected, eternal world.

Through all of our readings today, it is being made abundantly clear, who’s we are and in Whose hand we are and will always be.

Luke tells about Paul who is headed east, toward Asia. The Holy Spirit gives Paul a dream of a man in Greece, Macedonia, asking Paul to cross from Asia Minor to bring the Gospel message to Greece. Paul’s journeys have been entirely in faith to Jesus who knocked him off his horse on the road to Damascus. While Paul was taking the initiative to spread the Gospel, it’s obvious when we look at all he had to endure that it was the great I AM who was holding on to him, guiding him in his ministry. Paul had the things that he was told by the apostles in Jerusalem, by men who had been Jesus’ disciples during His incarnational ministry. He had his encounter with Jesus, he certainly had his experience of being raised to the third heaven. But the Holy Spirit was leading him into places that had never heard of Jesus. Paul didn’t have a New Testament to show people and help them to see who Jesus is. But Jesus was holding on to him, even in new places where Paul had to trust entirely in Christ. There were no churches, no clergy, no funds to live on, no Bibles, no radio, internet or television. Just Paul and maybe Timothy, Barnabas, Mark, maybe Peter caught up to him. Much more powerfully it was the great I AM who promised to hold on to him, did hold on to him and lead him to where he needed to be to build those churches, establish the Christian leaders who would be the catalyst of Christianity to grow around the entire world.

Finally He gives them the ultimate hope and promise; “But take heart; I have overcome the world.” It’s not up to us to overcome the world. We’re not going to be able to overcome the world, Jesus will. The world will ultimately become so corrupted, sin-filled, beyond the possibility of any kind of rehabilitation or redemption that it will be destroyed. Yea, I guess many people would wag their finger saying how mean that will be of God. “Why can’t God just leave us alone and let us be happy?” You hear people regularly ask. Because the world they envision, filled with destruction, despair, anger, intolerance will become an intolerable place to live, even to those who think that complete independence from God will form some kind of utopia. It won’t, the world today, all around us, is filled with despair, hopelessness. We see people substituting that hope with greed, drugs, sex, alcohol, things that separate us, divide us, even cause us to confront each other in anger, violence and destruction. The only thing that will unify us, bring the world together is the peace and hope of Christ, who through Him all creation came into existence. Jesus’ promise in our reading that yes, we will have tribulation, but in the things that He has promised us, we will have peace, we will have true life and life more abundant, our life in this world and especially in the life of the resurrection. The great I AM is holding on to us.

Crowder’s song may sound like the desperate floundering of someone who is just barely holding on, but it really is about the assurance that no matter what we’re going through, being led to some unknown to witness to Jesus, to serve others, going through the storms of life, that the great I AM is holding on to us and not the other way. He holds on to us even when we try to pull away, when we ask in His Name He is faithful to keep holding on, always for our good in Him.

The peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amin and Shalom

Jesus Ascends, our high priest, Ascension Day 2016

[For the audio version click on the above icon]

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit. Amen

Starting at Ash Wednesday, through Lent, all of the Holy week remembrances. Sunday morning we celebrate “He Has Risen! He has risen indeed hallelujah.” It can be tough for us to observe all the important milestones of the Lent/Easter season. They are packed together and they kind of come at you, bang/bang. It’s not over either, another big one, Pentecost where the disciples are really grabbed by their collars and  moved right out into the fray.

Luke seems to give us the most complete account of this time. He might have been there and he certainly had access to people who were right there. He doesn’t stop in his Gospel, his next book, Acts, picks up from where he stopped. Acts still has them standing there gaping into the sky. Hey, I don’t blame them, even in this technologically advanced age, we don’t see people being levitated out of sight into the sky. That they wouldn’t be standing there gaping would surprise me, because I would be. Seems a little disjointed between the end of Luke’s Gospel and the beginning of Acts, but either way the disciples are now being moved on, in the Holy Spirit. Sure they would have liked Jesus to be with them physically, who wouldn’t want to hang with Jesus. But it’s, obviously, physically impossible. The entire world is about to find out about Jesus, He can’t be everywhere all the time, physically, and it is now time for a new chapter. It is time for the Holy Spirit to appear and because He is God/Holy Spirit, He can be everywhere. God Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all equally God, they are all omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, but in Spirit, we can be that physical temple of the Holy Spirit. He can dwell in all of us, as Spirit. And He will be what physically drives the disciples, Paul and new Christians to bring the Gospel of salvation in Christ to the rest of the world.

Backing up to Easter morning, they thought that He was gone, they were despondent, defeated. Luke 24 starts out by telling us that the women are visiting the tomb, having no expectation that they are there to properly prepare Jesus’ Body, something they were unable to do because of the Passover Sabbath. Jesus wasn’t there! How could that be? There are two men there, angels, telling the women that Jesus has risen. Just as He told them He would, but of course who would believe that? But it’s true! Now they have a second chance, He has risen, He has returned. Luke doesn’t go into detail about what was said in the forty days after the resurrection. Jesus had explained that He would be killed, but then He would be resurrected. Obviously, they weren’t listening then. But now so much has happened, and the Body is gone and two angels have told them straight out what has happened, who knows maybe it’s the same two angels who pop up while they’re standing there staring into the sky. Now that Jesus had their undivided attention, He would have mine, I’ve never known anyone to be resurrected and yet He is right here. So now He has their undivided attention, He was crucified and now He’s alive. That has to be enough to keep even the attention of the most attention deficient person. During the forty days He has probably told them what will happen next, that He does have to leave, again. But this time He is leaving as the Lord of creation, He is going to the glory of being seated at the right hand of the Father. Just as you see in the stained glass window above me. He has been to the deepest depths, beaten beyond recognition, no food/water, tortured, naked, nailed into and lifted up on a rough wooden cross and then a spear drive through Him. All this to be the payment for our sins. Reduced to the lowest humiliation, our creed says He even descended to Hell. Certainly not condemned, but to free those who are now free in Him.

We see that Jesus leads His disciples to Bethany and some translate the word “Bethany” as the House of Obedience. It certainly does seem appropriate. Another writer describes Bethany as a “miserable” village. So Jesus isn’t giving them some “white glove” treatment. Certainly the disciples are going to find being obedient, is going to cause some misery. While the disciples are going to be getting further orders, seems as if Jesus is making a point? This is the last time you will see me and as I said, He probably has told them what is about to happen. Gives them some final instructions and rises into the air helped by angels. They don’t seem upset in any way that He’s leaving, He gives them a final blessing, they worship Him and “returned to Jerusalem with great joy.” It does seem as if the disciples have a much more profound understanding of what is going to happen. Nonetheless they are still human, they may have returned to Jerusalem joyously. Jesus no doubt gave them promises and assurances. The disciples had seen Jesus do miracles, teach with a wisdom that is beyond what they had known from any human. They saw Him die on a cross, they saw Him resurrected, now they see Him rise far into the sky, into heaven. Augustine writes that “Jesus ascends in his body so that the person of Jesus, divine and human nature is not separated.”[1] He is now the Great High Priest, very God, very human as the writer of Hebrews tells us: “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” That great high priest has to be man, but He is also the all mighty God the Son. Our Lord and Savior. Leo the Great submits that because Jesus has returned to heaven, both God and man, the disciples have further assurance of the fact that they enter into heaven along with Him. So surely, at this point they will return to the upper room joyously. But even a day can make a big difference, and there has been a lot of attention put on the disciples. So when we see them again, a week from Sunday, they will be hunkered down in fear. They have had the assurances of Jesus just ten short days ago, but they still do not have the Holy Spirit as they will on Pentecost, so their joy only lasts so long, they probably don’t know exactly what the next step is, ten days is a long time when you are waiting, and their joy is back to fear. But with the Holy Spirit in them, they will charge out, not just in joy, but in determination, guided by the promised Holy Spirt who will lead them to various places in the known world, and who faithfully leads us today where the Lord had destined us to serve Him.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin

[1] Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture p 391

¡Sí! Un nuevo cielo y una nueva tierra! Apocalipsis 21: 1-7 Primera Saint Johns 24 de de abril de, el año 2016

Hacemos nuestro comienzo en el Nombre de Dios el Padre y en el nombre de Dios el Hijo y en el nombre de Dios el Espíritu Santo y todos los que miran hacia adelante a la vida eterna resucitada de cumplimiento y el orden dijimos … AMEN!

Así que aquí es donde todo se junta. A partir del Jardín del Edén, todos los diferentes aspectos de Jesús en el Antiguo Testamento, lo que lleva a la encarnación / la vida de Jesús en el Nuevo Testamento. Ciertamente, el pico de la Biblia para nosotros es la muerte de Jesús, su sacrificio como pago de nuestros pecados, y luego viene la resurrección. El camino ha sido hecho para nosotros estar en relación con el Padre, para restaurar lo que se ha roto por el pecado durante tanto tiempo, pero si no hay resurrección, entonces todavía morir para la eternidad. Nuestra esperanza y promesa es en la resurrección de Jesús, es por eso que adoramos los domingos, todos los domingos de ser un mini-Pascua, un tiempo para venir y ser bendecidos y alimentada por todos los sacramentos que reforzar en nuestro espíritu con el fin de seguir viviendo y la función de Cristo en un mundo oscuro, sino también para tener la certeza de la vida eterna. La vida se nos promete en la resurrección de Jesús y, finalmente, en nuestra resurrección. Chuck Swindoll cita S Lewis Johnson: “La resurrección es de Dios a la declaración de Cristo, Amén! ‘” Todo se ha cumplido “” No es que Jesús está terminado, o toda la esperanza está terminado.. ¡No! Es el final de la desesperanza y la desesperación, el fin de la separación, el viejo se deja llevar, el reino está aquí, como es en Jesús, en presencia del Espíritu Santo y en última instancia, es toda la realidad. El viejo mundo, del mundo en que vivimos día a día no es más, se ha destruido, barridos. El pecado, la muerte, la enfermedad, la ruptura de nuestro cuerpo, los fracasos de la edad y la discapacidad. Todas esas cosas ya no son un factor. La resurrección es el cumplimiento de la promesa de Jesús de que en él tenemos vida y vida más abundante. En la resurrección, es el último de la vida abundante. Ya no estamos limitados por la muerte y la enfermedad, el resultado del pecado. Juan escribe: “… porque el primer cielo y la primera tierra pasaron, y el mar ya no existe.” El “mar” en la literatura judía siempre fue una metáfora, para el caos, la destrucción, la falta de orden, control. La primera tierra falleciendo significa al mundo de pecado, el caos. El deseo en el mundo de hoy es para el cumplimiento, la felicidad. ¿Cuántas veces se oye decir que, ver alguien publicar en los medios sociales “Sólo quiero ser feliz.” ¿Cómo es que va a funcionar? ¿Alguno de nosotros vemos ninguna verdadera felicidad en el mundo de hoy? No. Usted simplemente no lo hace. No me importa lo que su situación es, en algún momento el descontento, la envidia, quiere, se cuelan y bien “no sólo que está va a ser feliz hasta que …” Cuando eso sucede, entonces qué? Sí …, el pecado! “Bueno, yo tengo derecho a ser feliz”, oímos decir que una y otra vez hoy. Esta es la primera etapa en la historia del mundo, donde la gente realmente se sienten con derecho a la felicidad. Cuanto más esperan, más su definición de la felicidad se expande, ¿cuál es el resultado final? Infelicidad. OK, he ganado la carrera de este tiempo, pero ¿qué hay de la raza grande la próxima vez? ¿Qué hay de la misma carrera el año que viene? No estoy diciendo que no hay que ser motivada y se esfuerzan por mejorar. Pero cuando nos atamos a la felicidad y nuestra confianza allí en vez de en Jesús, no vas a ser feliz. Lo hemos dicho antes, hay alegría en Cristo, existe la esperanza y la promesa de lo que hace por nosotros. Ciertamente, en este pasaje que la esperanza y la promesa se está claramente explicado: “El enjugará toda lágrima de sus ojos, y la muerte no será más, ni habrá más llanto, ni clamor, ni dolor, porque las primeras cosas tienen fallecido. “Lo que tenemos aquí, en este momento, todo esto va a pasar, esto es una garantía tubo de plomo. Esta es la promesa de Dios para nosotros que los que están en Cristo a ser parte de una nueva tierra, la fealdad y la muerte pútrido de la vieja tierra se ha ido. En este nuevo mundo, nuestra nueva vida resucitada, este mundo del aquí y ahora será un vago recuerdo. Y ya que tendremos la vida eterna en este nuevo mundo, esta vida se desvanecen aún más en nuestra memoria, esta vida en la tierra es tan corto. La vida en la resurrección eterna será tan larga y ocultar el dolor y la angustia de este mundo sinfilled.

Contexto histórico. Edward Englebrecht escribe: “En el momento en que el Apocalipsis fue escrito cristianos estaban siendo terriblemente perseguidos por el emperador romano Domiciano.

El libro de Apocalipsis revela a Jesús en toda su majestad y victoria gloriosa. Sus fotografías y descripciones son ciertas, pero no literal. Muchos de los primeros cristianos soportaron el dolor inimaginable simplemente porque se negaron a renunciar a su fe en Jesús. Ellos fueron arrojados a los leones y otros animales salvajes, mientras que los espectadores vitorearon. Ellos fueron incendiadas, arrojado hacia abajo acantilados, desollados vivos y, según informes, incluso cocidos en aceite. La crueldad era fuera de serie! Como creyentes observaban amigos y familiares torturados, habría sido fácil renunciar a la esperanza. Hubiera sido fácil negar su fe. El libro de Apocalipsis ayudó al pueblo de Dios se mantienen firmes a pesar de las tormentas que rugían a su alrededor. El libro tiene un mensaje claro y preciso: Jesús es victorioso y viene pronto “!

El libro de Apocalipsis ha sido una fuente de esperanza y promesa a través de los siglos. Incluso para aquellos que no pueden estar sufriendo de persecución física, que los cristianos de hoy sabemos que nuestra esperanza viene de este pasaje. Debemos recordar y celebrar lo que Jesús hizo por nosotros en la cruz. Debemos recordar y celebrar que Él ha resucitado. Estos no son generales, las ideas abstractas! Estos son la esperanza y la promesa que tenemos de la vida eterna: “. He aquí que hago nuevas todas las cosas” Y sabemos que la promesa es para nosotros, la edad en que vivimos ahora se ha ido. El nuevo habrá una tierra más allá de nuestra imaginación y de tal promesa y el potencial que nos sorprenderá. Aferrarse a esa esperanza y promesa. La sensación de arenilla del pecado y la muerte se acabará pronto, el mundo que Dios prepara para los que ama, los que son suyos en Jesús, sus hijos, será el mundo de la felicidad, de la felicidad genuina, lo que ahora es una visión de la impresionante promesa de que será para nosotros la realidad de la vida eterna, alegre, emocionante en un mundo muy físico, que contendrá maravillas que hacen que la tecnología moderna de hoy en día mirada infantil.

Cuando Juan escribe que él ve “una nueva tierra”, Spiros Zodhiates escribe: “Nuevo, a diferencia de edad o anterior y por lo tanto también lo que implica mejor, … También para renovada, hecho a nuevo, y por lo tanto superior, más espléndido. … Metafóricamente, hablando de los cristianos que se renueva y cambia del mal al bien por el Espíritu de Dios; una nueva creación … “Esta es la razón por la nueva mundo sólo se promete a los cristianos. Será un mundo que Dios ha creado que sólo se acomoda a aquellos cuyas vidas están en Jesús, que viven juntos conociendo la vida en el Espíritu Santo. No habrá habitación o tolerancia para aquellos que insisten en las cosas del mundo. ¿Quién eligió para crear la lucha, el dolor, la codicia, para sus propios fines. Como cristianos confían en la voluntad de Dios, queremos un mundo que se ajuste a su palabra y no a la voluntad de aquellos que lo rechazan y piensan que pueden hacer las cosas mejor que él. Si alguien se niega la voluntad de Dios, ¿cómo iban a vivir en una “nueva tierra” que es del todo sobre el Padre y su voluntad? Nuestra existencia terrenal se trata de la clasificación de aquellos que quieren vivir en Jesús y que va a perseverar y superar de acuerdo a la voluntad de Dios. Eso es lo que la nueva tierra se trata. No se trata de aquellos que adoran a su propia voluntad y que han vivido en este mundo por su propio juicio, limitada, de pecado. Quiero vivir en el mundo perfecto santa, e ilimitada de la vida verdadera, no un mundo que los hombres y las mujeres optaron por desastre de acuerdo a sus deseos egoístas. Randy Alcorn escribe: “creyentes en particular (los que tienen el Espíritu de Dios dentro) están alineados con el resto de la creación, que llega intuitivamente a Dios por la liberación. Sabemos lo que Dios quiere para la humanidad y la tierra, y por lo tanto tenemos un objeto de nuestro deseo. Gemimos por lo que la creación de gemidos -. Redención “, escribe Pablo en Romanos 8 que toda la creación gime. Confiamos en que la resurrección será maravillosa allá de nuestra comprensión, Alcorn escribe: “… del Artista Maestro, nos pondrá en exhibición a un universo con los ojos abiertos. Nuestra revelación será una revelación, y vamos a ser visto como lo que somos, como lo que estábamos destinados a ser – portadores de la imagen de Dios. Él glorificaremos al dictaminar sobre el universo físico con la creatividad y la camaradería, mostrando respeto y benevolencia para todos nosotros gobernamos. “La promesa que leemos hoy en día deben tomar aliento. Renuévanos no sólo para la esperanza en el mañana, sino también con un corazón para compartir lo que nuestra promesa es. Para nuestro corazón a doler para aquellos que no tienen ninguna promesa y para llegar a ellos para compartir el maravilloso mundo que se nos promete en Jesucristo.

La paz de Dios que sobrepasa todo entendimiento, guardará vuestros corazones y vuestros pensamientos en Cristo Jesús. Amin y Shalom