A Guest Post from Ernie Moek

Because I am sick this week, here is a guest post.
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The Holy Spirit has laid this question on my heart and I thought it would be a
simple answer . As I prayed for the Father to tell me why He came He revealed to
me that He came for many reasons, not just to save us so we can eat drink and be
merry and sit and wait for the Rapture bus as the so called church teaches.
Forgive me for my poor writing skills but as you will notice, I let YHVH's word do
most of the talking.

1. He came to save the lost.
Luke 19
10 "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
Luke 9
56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.
John 12
47 "If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I
did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.

The question that we must ask ourselves is "who are these lost?" according to
scripture.
Matthew 15
24 But Jesus answered and said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel."

Who did Jesus send his disciples for?
Matthew 10
5 These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: "Do not go in the way of the
Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; 6 but rather go to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel.
Lets now relate these passages to a few of Jesus parables.
Luke 15
3 So He told them this parable, saying, 4 " What man among you, if he has a
hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open
pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 "When he has found it,
he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 "And when he comes home, he calls together
his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found
my sheep which was lost!'
Don't forget that only a few more verses past this parable Jesus tells us another
parable "The Prodigal Son" here is the final verse of this parable.
Luke 15
32 'But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has
begun to live, and was lost and has been found.'"
John 10
10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have
life, and have it abundantly. 11 "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays
down His life for the sheep. 12 "He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who
is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees,
and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 "He flees because he is a hired
hand and is not concerned about the sheep. 14 "I am the good shepherd, and I
know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I
know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 "I have other sheep,
which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and
they will become one flock with one shepherd. 17 "For this reason the Father
loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.

Can the Prophets give us any insight on who these lost are? Can you relate
with the same terms such as sheep, shepherd, scattered, and lost.
Jeremiah 50:6
"My people have become lost sheep; Their shepherds have led them astray. They
have made them turn aside on the mountains; They have gone along from mountain
to hill And have forgotten their resting place.
Isaiah 53
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
Ezekiel 34
11 For thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and
seek them out. 12 " As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among
his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the
places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day. 13 "I will bring
them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to
their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and
in all the inhabited places of the land. 14 "I will feed them in a good pasture, and
their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie
down on good grazing ground and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.
15 "I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest," declares the Lord GOD.
16 "I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and
strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with
judgment.

Did YHVH predict that his Sheep would be scattered for there disobedience
and regathered?
Deuteronomy 30
1 "So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the
curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where
the LORD your God has banished you, 2 and you return to the LORD your God
and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you
today, you and your sons, 3 then the LORD your God will restore you from
captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the
peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. 4 "If your outcasts are at the
ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there
He will bring you back. 5 "The LORD your God will bring you into the land
which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and
multiply you more than your fathers.
6 "Moreover the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of
your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all
your soul, so that you may live.

HMMMMM!!!! In verse 6 it sounds like He’s talking about the renewed
covenant doesn’t it?

Who was the renewed covenant for?
Jeremiah 31
31 "The time is coming," declares the LORD , "when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the
covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them
out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,
" declares the LORD . 33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time," declares the LORD . "I will put my law in their minds and write it
on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will
a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD ,' because
they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD .
"For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

According to scripture it is very obvious who He came for and who we are as
his lost sheep who hear his voice. We are Israelite sheep who have been
scattered for our disobedience and are now being regathered by the Good
Shepherd.

2. He came to give full meaning to the Law(Torah).
Matthew 5
17 "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to
abolish but to fulfill. 18 "For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Torah until all is accomplished.
19 "Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches
others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever
keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Fulfill in Greek is Pleroo and means to fill to the top or to give full meaning to. It
does not mean stop or cease as in a point in time when something stops, in fact
Yeshua said "Do not think that I have come to end the Law". Law in Hebrew is
Torah or the first five books of the Bible. Torah means YHVH's loving instructions
and comes from the root word Orah meaning light. As you read the New
Testament substitute Law with Torah knowing that it means loving instructions. Do
the scriptures read a little differently now? Why would anyone want to do away
with YHVH’s loving instructions?

What does Jesus say he is and what we are supposed to be?
John 8:12
Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who
follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."
Matthew 5
14 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor
does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lamp stand, and it
gives light to all who are in the house. 16 "Let your light shine before men in such
a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in
heaven
.
See here in verse 16 Jesus relates light with our good works or doing the
Torah.
3. He came to destroy the wall of hostility between the two brothers Jew and
Gentile or you could say Judah and Ephraim(who are scattered among the
nations) and making the two into one.

You see Judah had put up walls around the Torah and the Temple to keep
anyone who was not one of them i.e. gentiles separate, in other words they
made it impossible for anyone to join their club and as a result there became
great hostility between the two. Although Torah does not teach that you are
not to allow anyone else in, in fact it says that anyone who will be circumcised,
observe Passover, and Sojourn are as a “native born Israelites”

Ephesians 2
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near
by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups
into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in
His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances,
so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing
peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross,
by it having put to death the enmity.

1 Corinthians 12
13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks,
whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Galatians 3
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is
neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

4. He came to cause division.
Luke 12
51 "Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather
division; 52 for from now on five members in one household will be divided,
three against two and two against three. 53 "They will be divided, father against
son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

Remember in John it says that Yeshua is the Word and here in Hebrews and
Matthew we find that the Word is a two edged sword and divides.
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword,
and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and
able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Matthew 10
34 " Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring
peace, but a sword. 35 "For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER,
AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW
AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; 36 and A MAN'S ENEMIES WILL BE
THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.

5. He came as our final sacrifice.
Hebrews 7:27
who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His
own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when
He offered up Himself.
Hebrews 9
12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He
entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will
appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly
await Him.
Hebrews 9:26
Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world;
but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away
sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
1 Corinthians 5
7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact
unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us
celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and
wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

So how should we respond to what he has done for us? How do we show him
that we love Him?
John 14:15
"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."
1 John 5:
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and
observe His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His
commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.

Now that scripture has told us very clearly "If you love him, you will keep His
commandments”. What commandments is he talking about? His!!!!!!!!! Not the
Catholic's or Baptist's or even your wonderful Pastor's, but rather The Father's
commandments. Well, seeing that the New Testament books weren't canonized
until after John wrote these words, the commandments he is talking about is the Old
Testament commandments, only this time He will write them upon our hearts.

Jeremiah 31:33
"But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those
days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will
write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

6. He came to be our High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 7
22 By so much has Jesus become the collateral of a better covenant. 23 Many,
indeed, have been made priests, because they are hindered from continuing by
death. 24 But he, because he lives forever, has his priesthood unchangeable. 25
Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God
through him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them.
26 For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated
from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; 27 who doesn’t need, like those
high priests, to daily offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins
of the people. For this he did once for all, when he offered up himself.
Hebrew 8
1 Now in the things which we are saying, the main point is this. We have such a
high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the
heavens, 2 a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord
pitched, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and
sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this high priest also have something to
offer. 4 For if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, seeing there are
priests who offer the gifts according to the law; 5 who serve a copy and shadow of
the heavenly things, even as Moses was warned by God when he was about to make
the tabernacle, for he said, “See, you shall make everything according to the pattern
that was shown to you on the mountain.” 6 But now he has obtained a more
excellent ministry, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant,
which has been enacted on better promises.
Hebrew 8
11 But Christ having come as a high priest of the coming good things, through
the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not
of this creation, 12 nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his
own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal
redemption
7. He came because He loves us.
Maybe the most important reason for His coming is simply because he loves us and
wants to have a relationship with us, even after all our disobedience and idolatry.
You see, none of us deserve His love, but only because He loved us so much that
He gave His own life so that we may live for Eternity with Him.

John 3:16
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Romans 5
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.
1 John 4
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to
be the propitiation for our sins.
Revelation 1
5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler
of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by
His blood blister.......
2 Thessalonians 2
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us
and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace,

And in closing Isaiah tells us just how much He really loves us.
Isaiah 43
1 But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob,And He who formed you,
O Israel,"Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are
Mine!
2 "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers,
they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be
scorched, Nor will the flame burn you.
3 "For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have
given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place.
4 "Since you are precious in My sight Since you are honored and I love you,
I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your
life.
5 "Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east,
And gather you from the west.
6 "I will say to the north, 'Give them up! And to the south, 'Do not hold them back.'
Bring My sons from afar And My daughters from the ends of the earth,
7 Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory,
Whom I have formed, even whom I have made." Amen

Lock Jaw

My brother and I have a relationship different than most brothers in the sense that we grew up in different places, yet still grew up together.  However, one thing we have like most brothers is a sense of rambunction and fight. My brother has always had the strength and I, I always had the mouth.  I spent the first few years I could talk, air born, due to quips and cutting tongue.  As I got older there wasn't as much of a challenge for my brother to beat me up as brothers do, so he started bringing over his friends to beat me up.

It didn't matter if they were twice as tall or twice my weight ( which wasn't much back then) He would pit me up against all these people twice my age and the crazy thing was, I was winning. There I was six or seven years old beating up twelve and thirteen year olds who came up against me, and I WAS FEARLESS!  There was one kid that held me by the hands and sat on my legs as he did that thing where you spit a little bit and slurp it back up ( you know, that really gross thing kids do ) I tried with all my might to break free but this enemy was just too much. I sat there for a good ten minutes until, as my brother describes the story " a light clicked on inside my head and the biggest grin ever spread across my face". As sook as this kid retracted the spit up into his mouth, I lunged forward with all the might my tiny body could muster and I cracked my foreheat into the bridge of this kids nose. He staggered back bleding all over moms rug yelling about how he thought I broke his nose, and my brother just looked at this kid and said "I told you man, my brother is a fighter, he's tough"

A year later I lost my father.  All the confidence within me and the drive left too. I lost my fight. It took a long time for me to get the strength to get out of bed, let alone stand up to those who would be resolute in my opposition.  I just wanted to shy away from the world and in a sense, Just die.
As a kid, I was lost without that covering of my father. I lost the greatest form of strenght that gave me the heart to fight.

Some years later, my brother introduced me to my Heavenly Father. The Creator. God.  He told me of sin and redemption and spoke of a God who would never leave me or forsake me. As I accepted this premise, a God bigger than the defeat that I have known, bigger than death itself, my confidence slowly began to return to me.  I began to stand again. The fight slowly started to return to me.

I admit that it took me some time to transition froma physical fight into a spiritual one. There was one thanksgiving when I was about fifteen. My brother was in town and we were in the livingroom and began wrestling. The house shook like the thunder at the sound of him and I clashing in a battle. My brother was able to menuver around me and get me into a sleeper hold. "Tap out" he demanded as I struggled to breath. "Never" I choked out as he tightened his grip. " You're not getting out of this, Tap out" he said " NO!" I exclaimed as the corners of my vision began to fade to black at the loss of oxegen. "KANE STOP KILLING YOUR BROTHER AND BOTH OF YOU COME EAT!!!" Mom yelled from the dining room.  from thta point on, my brother had a respect for something in me. He called a sense of lock jaw, like a pit bull when it bites. It clamsp down and it doesn't let go.  I would have let him knock me unconcieous than surrender.


Fighting in a spiritual sense is funny because the only way to really do it, is to surrender. When walking in my own confidence, I still had a desire to be there spiritually on my strength and my wisdom for other people. I relate to Peter who is this divout follow of  Jesus who has the revelation that Jesus is the Messiah, then in the next breath exclaims that he himself woudl never let Jesus be crucified. That odd mixutre of well intended confidence in the flesh, that is opposed to the Spirit of God that often defies conventional understanding. I walked that line. I stood and read the scriputres and quoated them well in places that made me feel spiritual and like I knew what I was doing. In my flesh I felt like  righteous man, like I was something important. To a degree that is truth, but in the way I was doing it, it wasn't real humility. So God started breaking things out of my life and stripping me of everything I had until I was left there alone just me and Him and he asked me a question that took me three days to answer. Everything had left and had been stripped away,my heart broken and my fight gone.


When I had nothing, but  the choice between Him, and death... He asked me what I will choose.

Suddenly in a sense of both surrender and acceptence, my fight returned, but not in the self confidence, I'm all that  and a tough guy sense...   No. This was something different. The way I fight back at the waves of crap in the world, and the ways of destruction and evil... it isn't with my strength.
It's in dying to myself.  It's in submission to HIM and HIS WAYS. Peter got torn up by the grief that he had denied the Messiah. That the things he swore to upold and do by the power of his hands in his flesh, were not enough. Peter had a few days of mourning and grief where everything that he had was stripped away. Then, one of the most precious points in scriputre occurs.... The Messiah restores Peter, and Peter submits to the power and the change of the Savior. Peter has an amazing second half. Peter gets his fight back, by dying to that sense of self.  In  that moment where I had to choose life or death, and the world had its hands on my throat choking out my air... I REFUSED to let go of my God, by His grace and His spirit.

Sometimes the way you win a fight is by not fighting at all. Having faith in the one that is True strength.

L2S2 Personal Evangelism- Serve

Love
Listen
 >  Serve
Speak




What sets any of us apart from the rest of the world?

What makes any of us distinct and different than the majority?  Sometimes I take a step back  within myself and look at the world we live in. It appears to be something very backwards from that which God has intended for man to live. We're bombarded with advertising that is appealing to us, our way, our desire, our selves as individuals. Its an idea that has permeated our language. How many people make jokes putting another person down so that the other knows their place while the first claims their status as "the Man" "Top Dog""The Queen B". 

Yet, there is something that happens when God gets a hold of us. He starts to transform our hearts and He shows us a better way. The opposite of the world. The way that is the crucifixion of the flesh and a demonstration of humility. A living example of the power of God!
Ask anyone in this world and they can tell you about how someone hurt them, used them, broke them, stole from them, let them down and so on..." But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant." Luke 22:26

In serving others we demonstrate our freedom from the flesh that demands that we hold ourselves above one another. We demonstrate that we are free to not be embarrassed show love for each other. Just like it says in  gal 5:13 "For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."

The Spirit of the Law of God.

Do you follow the Spirit?
Do you follow God's Law?


Many here would be quick to quote that we are to follow the Spirit because it brings life instead of the letter that brings Death...
But is that really the case?

In Romans 7:13, Paul states that the Law did not become death to him. So, Is he saying that following the Law is death and following the Spirit is life?

Let us take a look at the functions & characteristics of each.

Romans 7:14-
For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.

Romans-7:12-
So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

Hosea 4:6- Law is Knowledge:
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

Romans-2:20- Law is knowledge and Truth:
a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth,


What is the purpose of the holy Spirit?

1Cr 2:12 - 1Cr 2:14 To Discern:
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,
which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual {thoughts} with spiritual {words.}
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

Ezekiel-36:27
"I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
Mic 3:8: To declare sin:
But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin

Jhn 16:7-8: To declare sin:
Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

Jhn 16:13
"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.


So the Law is Truth... And The Spirit Guides us in Truth.
The Law is Holy, Righteous and good, and the Spirit instructs us on what is holy and Righteous
The Spirit Writes the Law on Our Hearts.
The Law is Spiritual
The Spirit reveals the Words of God, The Law is the words of God.
The Spirit reveals Sin to Israel, We are grafted into Israel by Christ... and Sin is the transgression of the Law.



So long story short... you should follow both of them. They Both Came from God and are relevant in the life of the believer for today.

Daniel-7:25- Antichrist seeks to change the Laws and appointed times of God.
The Spirit cannot be both of God and Against him.