Thursday, January 31, 2013

WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?



A look at messianic expectations throughout history and whether Jesus fulfilled them
  

978-0-8254-2109-9 / $36.99 / Hardcover / 528 pages / Trim Size 6x9 inches / Kregel Academic
Jesus The Messiah
by Herbert W. Bateman IV, Darrell L. Bock, Gordon H. Johnston

"Without question, Jesus is an unsurpassed, certainly an unequaled figure in human history," say the authors of Jesus the Messiah: Tracing the Promises, Expectations, and Coming of Israel's King (ISBN: 978-0-8254-2109-9, $36.99). "Belief in his life, death, and resurrection has transformed and even redirected world empires, cultures, and people." He can, however, be both "endearing and repelling. Thus Jesus has been, and continues to be, a worthy person to ponder. Jesus the Messiah is such a presentation about Jesus, specifically a consideration about his messiahship."
      There are many books that attempt to determine who Jesus really was--social reformer, religious reformer, etc.--but Bateman, Bock, and Johnston take a broader approach: by tracing God's promise of Messiah as presented in the Hebrew Scriptures, then reflected upon in the later second temple period, and finally fulfilled in the promise of Jesus, the authors offer a contextual-canonical, messianic, and Christological development of God's promise of a "messiah" within the larger framework of Jewish history found in canonical and extra-biblical literature.
      They make their argument in three parts: In Part One, Promises Of A King, Johnston looks at contextual and canonical dimensions for the Davidic dynasty of Israel. In Part Two, Expectations Of A King, Batmen looks at First Testament and second temple literature to determine what messianic expectations were. In Part Three, The Coming Of A King, Bock describes how the Second Testament builds upon the First Testament promises of a Messiah.
      "The point is this," say Bateman, Bock, and Johnston. In the period immediately following the death of Jesus, "the only 'canonical' Testament people had was the Hebrew Scriptures. So we must be willing to travel back in time when the Old Testament canon had yet to be fully fixed and the New Testament promises were not yet realized."
      The authors did not intend to create an overly technical work, but it does cater to anyone seriously versed in Scripture. In the end, "it is our hope that readers will better comprehend and even more importantly appreciate the dynamics of messianic prophecy and fulfillment. The consummations of God's promises are yet to come. But Scripture, early Christian preaching, and history point to Jesus and God's Messiah, Israel's king, who rules over and is worshiped by Jew and Gentile alike."
###

Herbert W. Bateman IV has taught beginning and intermediate Greek for more than twenty years. He is the editor of Four Views on the Warning Passages in Hebrews, Three Central Issues in Contemporary Dispensationalism, and Authentic Worship.

Darrell L. Bock is research professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. A former president of the Evangelical Theological Society, he is the author of the best-seller Breaking the Da Vinci Code and numerous works in New Testament studies, including Jesus According to Scripture.

Gordon H. Johnston (ThD, Dallas Theological Seminary) is associate professor of Old Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. He has spent a number of years sifting through archaeological digs. In addition to his work in the field, Dr. Johnston has published numerous articles and essays in scholarly journals.

For media queries, please contact Adam Ferguson at adamf@kregel.com.  

QUESTIONS FOR JESUS THE MESSIAH
  1. There are many books that attempt to describe who Jesus really was. What makes this book unique?
  2. Why is your approach stronger than others?
  3. You evaluate your stance using three criteria: contextual-canonical, messianic, and Christological. What do the criteria mean and how do they support your argument?
  4. In the end, who would you say that Jesus is?

978-0-8254-2109-9 / $36.99 / Hardcover / 528 pages / Trim Size 6x9 inches / Kregel Academic
Jesus The Messiah
by Herbert W. Bateman IV, Darrell L. Bock, Gordon H. Johnston

Sunday, January 27, 2013

What God Really Wants

When you read the first several chapters of Genesis it becomes clear that God created us and gave us all that we needed to be in close relationship with Him. He came to Adam and Eve in the cool of the day to talk and thus to develop a relationship with us. 

When we rejected His wisdom and instruction He provided a way forward and promised a way back to Him via the redeemer or Messiah Genesis 3:15. 

Throughout the remainder of what we call the Old covenant God unfolds His plan and details His promises which have been and are being fulfilled through Jesus the Messiah and Redeemer.

2013 can be A Year of Passionate Participation in God. One of discovering what God wants and how we like Enoch can have a walk with God that please God and grows our relationship with Him into what He designed us to have, A deeply intimate and vibrant walk with Him. A year in which we can please Him not simply as His servants but as His Children and as His friends. John 15:15 "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."
God created us to be in an active participatory relationship with Him. He has an Enoch promise of Relationship with Him through Jesus for each of us. He has sent His Spirit to help us and His Word to build guide and instruct our relationship with Him. 

Genesis 5:22-25 Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God after the birth of Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 And Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God; and he was not, for God took him [home with Him].

Hebrews. 11:5 (AMP) Because of faith Enoch was caught up and transferred to heaven, so that he did not have a glimpse of death; and he was not found, because God had translated him. For even before he was taken to heaven, he received testimony [still on record] that he had pleased and been satisfactory to God.† 6 But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out].

Acts 17:28 (AMP) For in Him we live and move and have our being; as even some of your [own] poets have said, For we are also His offspring.

John 14:26 (AMP) But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you.

2 Tim. 3:15 (AMP) you have had a knowledge of and been acquainted with the sacred Writings, which are able to instruct you and give you the understanding for salvation which comes through faith in Christ Jesus [through the leaning of the entire human personality on God in Christ Jesus in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness]. 16 Every Scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, [and] for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God’s will in thought, purpose, and action),


Ask God to give you the full measure of the relationship with Him that He has for you as you pursue Him passionately this year!! 

 Copyright (c) 2012 Wayne Newcomb

Thursday, January 24, 2013

WE ARE NOT OF THIS WORLD...SO WHAT DO WE DO WHILE WE ARE HERE?

WE ARE NOT OF THIS WORLD

I Peter 2:11, John 15:18-19, John 16:33, Matthew 16:18, John 14:3

We are Pilgrims in a strange land
We are so far from our homeland
With each passing day it seems so clear
This world will never want us here
We're not welcome in this world of wrong
We are foreigners who don't belong
We are strangers, we are aliens
We are not of this world
[From: http://www.elyrics.net/ ]


SO WHAR DO WE DO WHILE WE ARE HERE


We are envoys we must tarry
With this message we must carry
There's so much to do before we leave
With so many more who may believe
Our mission here can never fail
And the gates of hell will not prevail
Jesus told us men would hate us
But we must be of good cheer
He has overcome this world of darkness
And we will soon depart from here


Words & Music by Bob Hartman (Petra)

http://youtu.be/BhPVOyzZBqk

Monday, January 07, 2013

His Lovingkindness Is Everlasting

Psalm 136:1, 4–9
Give thanks to the LORD for He is good;
for His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Give thanks to Him who alone does great wonders,
for His lovingkindness is everlasting;
to Him who made the heavens with skill,
for His lovingkindness is everlasting;
to Him who spread out the earth above the waters,
for His lovingkindness is everlasting;
to Him who made the great lights,
for His lovingkindness is everlasting:
the sun to rule by day,
for His lovingkindness is everlasting,
the moon and stars to rule by night,
for His lovingkindness is everlasting.     NASB


     "There's one word repeated there again and again. It’s the word
lovingkindness. The Hebrew word there is chesed. That word has a
very special meaning in the Hebrew language. I believe the best way
to interpret it is “God’s covenant-keeping faithfulness.” God’s chesed
is a particular aspect of the total character of God, which means that
when God makes a covenant He commits Himself to keep it.

     And then, in that light, we see that all creation – the sun, the moon,
the stars – they all proclaim the covenant-keeping faithfulness of God.

     How important for us as believers that we view the created universe
aright. That we do not see it merely as some kind of mechanical force
that’s at work regardless of other things. The whole creation, the universe
that we see, the sun and the moon and the stars are there because of
God’s covenant-keeping faithfulness. It’s His faithfulness that brought
them into being; it’s His faithfulness that keeps them into being. Let’s
look at them that way."


—Derek Prince https://www.facebook.com/pages/Derek-Prince/41405382974

Saturday, January 05, 2013

THE WAR BETWEEN FAITH AND UNBELIEF


"The devil is a sworn enemy against true faith. He persecutes it in the cradle, as Herod did Christ in the manger; he pours a flood of wrath on it as soon as it announces its own birth by crying after the Lord. If your faith is legitimate, "Naphtali" may be its name, and you may say, "I have wrestled with Satan and with my own heart, and at last I have prevailed." 

You know the answer Rebekah received when she asked God about the scuffle and striving of the children in her womb. "Two nations," God told her, "are in thy womb" Genesis 25:23.If you find strife in your soul, comfort yourself because of it, Christian. This dispute is from two contrary principles, faith and unbelief, which lust against each other; when your unbelief, which is the elder-- no matter how hard it fights for mastery-- shall serve faith, the younger. Presumptuous faith lacks balance. It has one lame hand. It has a hand to receive pardon from God but no hand to give itself up to Him. But true faith has the use of both hands. "My beloved is mine"-- there the soul takes Christ-- "and I am His"-- there she surrenders herself to His purposes Song of Solomon 2:16. 

Have you ever freely given yourself to Him? Everybody professes this, but the presumptuous soul like Ananias, lies to the Holy Ghost by keeping back the most important part of what he promised to lay at Christ's feet. The enjoyment of lust is entwined about his heart and he cannot persuade himself to deliver it up to God's justice. His life is bound up in it, and if God will have it from him He must take it by force; there is no hope of gaining his consent. Is this the picture of your faith? If it is, you have blessed yourself in an idol; you have mistaken a bold face for a believing heart.
On the other hand, if you count it a privilege that Christ should have a throne in your heart, as you have a room in His mercy, you prove yourself a sound believer.”
Quoted material from, ”The Christian in Complete Armour Daily Readings in Spiritual Warfare” by Gurnall and James S Bell. http://www.moodypublishers.com/pub_productDetail.aspx?id=41823&pid=53617

Thursday, January 03, 2013

The Abba's Glory Blog

Check Out our New Abba's Glory Blog.

God created us to be in an active participatory relationship.with Him He has an Enoch promise of Relationship with Him through Jesus for each of us. He has sent His Spirit to help us and His Word to build guide and instruct our relationship with Him. Read more by clicking the link

Click here to discover More

Enoch’s Amazing Walk With God


When we read God's Word there are several people whom God speaks highly of. No one but Enoch had such a close walk with God that one day he just walked into God's home (heaven) with God. Scripture does not say much about Enoch but what it does say is astounding!
       
Gen. 5:21 24 (AMP) 21 When Enoch was 65 years old, Methuselah was born.  22 Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God after the birth of Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.  23 So all the days of Enoch were 365 years.  24 And Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God; and he was not, for God took him [home with Him].

Heb 11:5-6
Because of faith Enoch was caught up and transferred to heaven, so that he did not have a glimpse of death; and he was not found, because God had translated him. For even before he was taken to heaven, he received testimony [still on record] that he had pleased and been in close (intimate) fellowship with God.  [Gen 5:21-24.]
But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out]. Amp

Jude 14 (AMP) It was of these people, moreover, that Enoch in the seventh [generation] from Adam prophesied when he said, Behold, the Lord comes with His myriads of holy ones (ten thousands of His saints)  

Comments

What an amazing thing this is, to be in such a close and pleasing relationship with God that you just walk into heaven with Him without dying.
·       This Walk, Relationship, Adventure that God is calling us to is greater than the George Lucas’s ‘Star Wars’ Movies, it is greater than J. R. R. Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ series, greater than Homer’s ‘Iliad.’
·       It is an Adventure that will never end. Let is capture your heart, let the roots of your life go deep into the soil of God’s love and join Him in Living a Life of Passionate Participation in God.
·       Align yourself with Jesus the Messiah, the Cornerstone. This is why you were created. This is what Adam and Eve had a taste of and cut it short because they doubted God and had faith in Lucifer.
·       A ‘Life of walking with God’ is not meant to be a part of your life, it is meant to be your life! God has given us a free will and does not demand that we give Him our all, but invites us into a life, an adventure of intimate fellowship with Him.
·       God is calling, He is inviting us to a life without comparison, a life with Him, the author and perfecter of all that was and is and shall ever be. (HEB 12:1-2)
·       Each person’s journey will be different. It will be your own unique adventure with God, but like John Bunyan’s Pilgrim in his book ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ who was [waiting expectantly and confidently] looking forward to the city which has fixed and firm foundations, whose Architect and Builder is God. ( Heb 11:10 Amp) We were created for more than life on earth, but a life that does not end in death and is much more than life on earth in the flesh without God.
·       There is no story ever written or told on video greater than the one God has for you. You however must choose to actively participate with Him in faith.
·       BE like Enoch, Live a Life of Passionate Participation in God, walk or live in continuous relationship with Him. THIS is why you were created.
·       Chose to walk with God. Do Not just let Him walk with you! Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you. Operate or live by choosing to continually act in faith by seeking Him out concerning every detail of your life. By doing this your life is lived in active faith as you include God and seek Him concerning every detail and aspect of your life. He is a rewarder of those who genuinely and sincerely seek Him. Heb 11:6
·       Your unique life; who you are, how you function, your gifts, heritage education, personality etc. make you the One and only person like you and God wants you to walk in intimate and continual relationship with Him! God love the infinite variety He has created and celebrates every single person. He does not compare you to others. He is not a respecter of one person’s uniqueness over another. He wants an intimate ongoing relationship or walk with you!

Let’s start the adventure by learning more about Enoch’s Amazing Walk With God so that we may Live a Life of Passionately Participating in God.

This material is under my Copyright © Wayne Newcomb 2012  Do not reproduce or copy or share without my permission.

Wayne Newcomb