rise Y'shua rise.....

Its an amazing thing that when Y'shua was crucified as a murder it was not the end but the truth of death and life was just getting a move on in God's will, eye's and heart. You see when Y'shua died and was taken down from the cross it was an aspect of life taking over in him. He was taken to a tomb to be buried and layed to rest. One of the things I love here is the relation of this to the sacrifice of the lamb on the day of atonement (see Levicitus 16). After the High Priest would take the blood of the lamb into the holy of holies and sprinkle it on the mercy seat (also known as the atonement seat), this would be as to the acceptance of the sacrifice whether he walked out of the temple or not.

The priest would have items attached to him as he made this sacrifice in the temple. One he would have bells on him so that the priests outside of the temple waiting for him to finish would know whether he was dead or alive and also the high priest would enter the temple with a rope tied around his waist so that if he died/was stuck dead while offering the atonement they could just drag him out. This was necessary cause no one but the high priest was allowed into the holy of holies. And even he was only allowed to go in once a year to make atonement for the sins of the people. This is all very basic but all very necessary and beautiful to see the greater meaning behind the resurrection of our Lord Y'shua.

You see when Y'shua was layed to rest in the tomb it was part of the acceptance in God's will, eyes and heart. When this happened Y'shua was working towards overcoming all things; the devils work and the fall of Adam to the fullest. I say "working towards" cause it will only be finished when the fullness of the consummation in the end times comes to pass (Revelation 21). All that said We must understand and see the necessary of the resurrection in our lives. Not only does it eternally bring to fullness our blessed hope (1 Peter 1:3-9), but also brings into play the abundant life that Y'shua talks about in the gospel of John chapter 10.

We are not called to live in the death of Y'shua but the life and death and resurrection and glorification of Y'shua the messiah. Even though we are called to die daily to ourselves (Luke 9:23). This death is the very stepping stone. Imagine if Y'shua stayed on the cross?!?! We would not received glorified bodies as Paul says (1 Cor. 15), in fact Paul says "But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then even Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain (1 Cor. 15:13-14)....For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins" (1 Cor. 15:16-17). We see and have this great and necessary truth for our faith to be sound and real Paul says. We would not be able to live unto God and be with him forever. Life would never be part of who we are. Just death. This is not good news but menial news at its best. Now I'm not trying to take anything away from what the death of Y'shua means and what it does, but look into greater and more significant meaning of the totality of life from God in the resurrection.

As for us this very day in the year 2013 its not any different for us then for the early church. Paul says in 2 Cor. 5:17, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come" and also in Romans 8:10-11, "But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you." and also in 2 Peter 1:3-4, "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desires.". These are just very few scriptures that talk of this.

Stand strong child of God. You have overcome sin, the world and the evil one through the perfect work of Y'shua in his life, death, resurrection and glorification. Stand in victory in him Ephesians 6:10 says..."Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might".

Blessings to you.

 

death of Y'shua.....

After yesterdays blog I did some thinking and feel necessary to continue more on the subject of death in Christ, but lets first look at Christ's death first. To start out we see that Y'shua was betrayed by those that said they would follow him where ever he went, He was betrayed by the Jews, after this He was brutally whipped by what were commonly called "cats claws" (this would be a wood stick about 1- 1/12 feet long with would be a rope like substance with small claws on the end to dig into the skin and rip it to shreds) and they would do this 40 lashes minus 1 which basically is getting you as close to death as possible without killing, He was then traded by the Romans at the request of the Jews for a murder (so he then was placed in murder row in the eyes of the people), He was lead to die on a cross all while having to carry that very cross about 2-3 miles to his death. Mind you this death was capital punishment (death on a cross) and VERY painful. First they would nail your wrists and feet to this cross (literally nails though your body) and if bleeding to death wasn't bad enough you would suffocate also. So while death is at the door you have to lift yourself up to catch a solid breath. And if that wasn't enough if you still weren't dead after a 5-6 hour process they would brake your legs so you then for sure die of suffocation. This process of bleeding and suffocating was long and painful process while people watched you die the death of a murder.

This was a sick, ugly, brutal, painful and shameful way to die in the 1st century. Again it was capital punishment and not meant to be friendly to the one going through it. The Romans came up with this system to sway others from committing the same crimes. The way that Y'shua died was not friendly, but necessary for him to complete the work the Father called him to do. He was called to humble himself to the point of death on a cross (Philippians 2:8) to the glory of God and the elect. Ephesians 5:1 says we are to imitate Christ in the manner of love. Y'shua went to the cross in love of the people He created and for the fulfillment of God's righteous glory (1 John 4:8-12, Romans 3:21-26, Ephesians 1:3-10). This was all for the sake of the kingdom of God and the glory of God. Imagine that, Y'shua died for everyone but himself. Amazing, beautiful, stunning and convicting all in one shot!

As a follower of Y'shua I am called to this very same thing. Y'shua says......

"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or for fits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:23-27)

I love this cause it said directly after Y'shua speaks of His own death, suffering, rejecting and resurrection. Not only is that on the disciples minds but I would have to say there own death also could very well be. There is something scary about this but also very refreshing as a follower of Y'shua. I am called to die daily of myself which is scary, but also living to God on the refreshing side. Death means my wants and desires get put in the back seat, laid aside for God's will, forgotten in a way so others my be lead of Y'shua.  Living with 3 other guys this isn't as challenging as I thought it would be but yet it is cause we are all very different in many ways. We all respond and react to situations in different ways. In general its just not the normal from what I'm told and see in this world. Its all about you, your money is yours to do as you wish, you need to live the American dream and so on. This is a joke in reference to following Y'shua.

All this said in light of Y'shua's death i am called to not live comfortable, welcomed by all and so on. My life is not my own, but God's to do as he wills. This could be a missionary in a foreign country, a pastor, a math teacher, a garbage man, a pool chemical vendor and so on. I'm at a point in life of seeking God leading me in a few different ways but no matter where he leads I must die to Aaron and live to God as Y'shua did (Romans 6:10). It might not be pretty, comfortable, happy (outward), controlling on my end or even something I wanted in the long run, but its not my life, its God's.

Blessings to you all!

dishes in the sink....

Living with people will cause you to be selfless. I have 3 roommates and I had a dilemma today as I  walked into the kitchen. There were dishes in the sink that weren't mine and had been there for about 4-5 days. Kinda gross in a way but yet not compared to when I was in India. Anyways, I have to say that for the past number of days I just said to my self , "there not yours so don't do them" which in someways is true cause people need to be responsible for there own mess, but not cause I am called to a life of sacrifice. So today as I made something to eat, I looked at the sink and God very simply said to me "do the dishes". After a minute of thinking I did them. Now granted its only a few dishes that took about 5 minutes of my day. But it was the lesson I had to again learn. My life is not my own. Very profound but very simple.

My life is God's and at His service. And in his service I am called to live to death of self and life to God (Rom. 6:10). In having 3 other roommates I must and will continue to learn selfless living and humility as I live in this house. I am convinced that this love is fulfilled in this act of selflessness. We see this in a great way with the creator of the universe taking on human skin, living with us, dying on the cross and raising from the dead. This I speak of is the greatest act of humility in Jesus Christ the Son of God (Philippians 5:5-11). As I walk through life as a friend, son, brother, boyfriend and so on I am called to be humble and sacrificial to all around me.

I have been given so much in this life and want to continue to give to those around me. I want continue to learn from this example and others as God leads. In this I don't know what God will bring across my path in the next few hours, days or weeks, but I can choose to walk in the way on my God has laid out for me; whether humility, gratitude, death to self or the many others I should live out. But I have been learning and am seeing that gratitude is the gateway to the spiritual realm. In this I want to end with a verse from the bible that speaks about this subject and says,

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Y'shua, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." (Colossians 3:17).