time escapes

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

James

I just looked at how long it has been since I've posted.  It seems that life runs at a pace faster than I would like.  I came across a study on James just recently.  I stumbled across this verse, "For if a gold-fingered man in splendid clothing comes into your synagogue, and a poor one in shabby clothing also comes in; . . ." (James 2:2)  This made me want to look a little closer as most translations do not use the word synagogue.  -- Well, except for the well-meaning people that try to vilify the work of Messiah by calling those that follow any of God's commandments, members of the "synagogue of Satan" from Rev. 3.  But then they must be trying to live out the commandment of "loving your neighbor" to it's fullest extent.   -- Anyway, I investigated the definition of synagogue and what is the difference between synagogue and church.  Since the NT is written in Greek, but the authors would be speaking Hebrew, we must determine what is the Hebrew word for sunagoge - Greek for synagogue.  Before we go there, we must determine what synagogue means in our English language.  It means assembly, congregation, or group meeting.  Wait a second, that seems awfully close to the definition of the Greek word ekklesia.  As a matter of fact, they are synonyms!  Why?  Because they are both Greek words for the Hebrew word, kahol.  Remember, there was no church at the time of the Master, but there were meeting places - called synagogues.  They were not religious meeting places, they were more like community centers.  So church cannot be the right English translation.  Let's not lose focus - how can we be certain the word kahol is the root word that would be used here?  Let's look at the KJV (the only true translation???)

Acts 7:38 - "This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: . . ."

Uhhh, what was that?  Flashback - this is Stephen speaking about Moses.  Why would Stephen use ekklesia?  He wouldn't!  He would use the word that meant congregation or assembly - kahol.  (Remember he was a JEW!)  Clearly Moses wasn't running a church - even if there was a 40 days of purpose plan back then.  He had an assembly.  The church wasn't a concept that was even a twinkle in their eye until centuries later when men wanted to seize power over the people. 

So we have the Hebrew word kahol which means assembly or congregation.  Back to Rev. 3 for a sec - now it reads "assembly of satan" - it seems to take on a little different meaning doesn't it? 

Why do some translators use church instead of assembly when they are referring to a modern day church, and synagogue when they are referring to the assembly of Jews?  That is a question worth investigating . . . 

Knock Knock. . .

Event Description

• Learn practical ways to fulfill Paul’s injunction to,“pray without ceasing” and to “pray with understanding”
• Discover how you can participate in the daily moed—an appointed time of prayer
• Understand prayer as a “Service of the Heart”
• See how prayer assists in the process of renewing one’s mind
• Be in one accord, “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer.” (Acts 1:14)

Date and Time

Location

Can we laugh about Passover?

Puppets + Passover = Humongous Hilarity!

http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/mediaplayer/default.asp?aid=269486

I do have one question . . . What does the bible say about our current issues with immigration to the USA?

BTW, only 2 days until Passover . . . let the countdown officially start!

Pesach and the Uncircumcised

Rusti said, "Does that mean that it is not yet fulfilled because He has not eaten it again here on earth, or does it mean that He celebrates Pesach every year in Heaven?" -- You know I never really thought about what Jesus does in Heaven as it seems I have enough things to struggle with down here on the 3rd rock from the sun.  But it is a interesting thought, option 2 that is.  In Hebrews it talks of things as a shadow of things to come . . . so it would seem very possible that the Lord presents the "real" Pesach in His temple in Heaven.  What a thought!  But the literal meaning is also very important to see here also.  He states He will not drink from the cup again until "the kingdom of God comes."  So we see Him explaining to His disciples to look forward to His return and with it the reinstatment of the "earthly" kingdom of God.  Yep, that is AWESOME!

David said, "As long as you're circumcised in order to do it, I guess it's a "go". Right? 'Cause I know you don't believe in replacement theology. You know I'm just playing with you...We have, after all, been grafted in.  And if botany serves me well - when you graft something in, it starts taking on the characteristics of the root that supports it. But if we read Jeremiah 9:25-26 "Behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised--Egypt and Judah, and Edom and the sons of Ammon, and Moab and all those inhabiting the desert who clip the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart." -- It would seem the physical act of circumcision is not as important to God here.  The nations, the Gentiles, are uncircumcised, but here He compares Israel to the uncircumcised even though they are physically circumcised.  (perfectly logical, hmm?)  So the idea here is that even though the position of Israel has not changed they are being judged by the same standard that God judges the nations.  Surprising, no not at all.  We know God has the same standard for all.  It was revealed to all mankind.  It's not a secret.  "Nothing new under the sun."  We just have to look for it.  But once we find it, then we have to give everything for the "pearl of great value." (Matt 13:45-46)  Give everything for this one thing . . . what is the one thing?  Is it a mystery?  I don't think it is.