Faith early church

Faith of our Fathers Pt. 1

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Today we are adopting a new approach to our study in faith. As we have learned faith is just another way to say trust in relationship – relational trust. As such it is always exercised TOWARDS God, not FOR things or outcomes. Because faith springs from and works toward relationship with God, it always causes growth in that relationship. The Bible often refers to this a bearing fruit unto maturity in Christ. Which is to say we become more and more like, the God we come to know and trust.

Trust in God is one of the most intimidating things to the devil. In fact, the scriptures tell us that it is in order to tempt us away from trust that all temptation comes in the first place. As such, all of the examples, stories and letters in the New Testament are largely focused upon our trust in God in the face of the enemy’s opposition against us. So today we cast our glance back to the successes and failures addressed in the New Testament.

We began with the success we see in the fledgling church found in Acts 2:42 and then turned to the last things Jesus said in correction to the churches that arose from those humble beginnings.

In order for Revelation chapters 2 & 3 to make proper sense, we need the backdrop and the cipher supplied to us by Jesus Himself in the first chapter – so that is where we spent the bulk of our time.

The stars are the angels of God to the churches. They are firmly held in the power of the authority of His right hand. Also, Jesus walks among the golden lampstands which represent the churches. These are very important imageries and will help to keep us grounded in our studies of the faith of these early Asian churches.

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Reveling

Reveling

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Before moving forward with chapter 6, we went back and revisited the “dream” of chapter 5 using David Guzik’s understanding of those verses. I did this not because I believe it to be the best interpretation of that segment, but because it added to our study something I found truly impactful and important which did not go beyond what was possible in the text.

As we progressed through chapter 6 we applied both our interpretations and brother Guzik’s of the “dream” in chapter 5 to see what truths it would address and uncover for us and I feel we were the better for it.

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Easter 2026 Jesus

Together Forever

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It’s Easter Sunday – Our goal today in all the scriptures we examined was to learn how to participate in Christ’s death and resurrection with Him. How to obtain the prize of that process which is Christ in us. To examine the dangers of failing to devote our lives to that for which Christ laid hands on us. To, through communion, testify of our once-for-all decision to live unto God, share in Christ’s sufferings, conform to His life, death and resurrection and thereby assume His likeness within!

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Palm Sunday 2026 Expectations

Messianic Expectations

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It’s Palm Sunday – and our series on ‘From Faith to Faith’ was a perfect fit for the day! As one looks back on Jesus’ ‘Triumphant Entry” into Jerusalem, the conclusion that it was anything but ‘Triumphant’ is hard to miss.

The Jewish people DID recognize their Messiah, primarily from 3 major clues…

Jesus entered Jerusalem on one of the most pivotal dates in the progression of Daniel’s prophecy of 70 weeks in Daniel 9:25-26. The date landed on Nisan the 10th, precisely 4 days before the offering of the Pascal lambs for Passover.
Jesus’ entering Jerusalem immediately followed His having raised Lazarus from the dead AFTER decay had already begun to set in – a miracle which was of great significance to the Jewish people of that day.
Additionally, Jesus entered the city just as Zechariah had predicted, riding on a donkey (Zech. 9:9).

So the Jewish people had great reason to see Jesus as the Messiah.

For the next 4 days, Jesus was under the scrutinizing gaze of all Jews in Jerusalem. Jesus’ actions and teaching that week laid an axe to all their unscriptural expectations of the Messiah which led to their rejection of Him by week’s end.

Little did they know that in their unjust judgment, they were actually judging Him worthy to be the Passover Lamb of God, sacrificed for all of Israel and the world itself.

How this fits our teachings on Faith, is that Israel had all the prophetic foretellings before them. That word was near them, in their mouths and hearts and yet they missed it due to their selective reading of these passages. Their desires dictated their understanding and their unscriptural understanding gave them expectations which were out of step with the divine order of God’s plan.

The cure? Reverence for God which is stronger than our natural desires and seeking God with all, NOT PART, of our hearts. It isn’t enough to know the scriptures – we need to know and respect the God of who inspired them.

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