I heard the question on the program, “What is the purpose of the ministry?”
The ministry that I am aware of is the ministry of reconciliation mentioned in II Cor 5:19. (KJV) My 1599 Geneva Bible says “word” rather than “ministry”.
I suppose I could ask “What is the purpose of the word of reconciliation?”
“The ministry” is mentioned in Eph 4:12. It seems to me that the purpose of all that is mentioned there is for reconciliation.
The 1599 Geneva begins Eph 4:12 with “For the repairing of the saints, for the work of the ministry..”
I suppose I could ask, “When does a house need repair?” I suppose when something comes apart, peels off, or gets worn away. In any event, I suppose it’s some kind of separation.
That poem really had all thats been on my mind for the past few days.There must be more, i fall so easily when temptation arises and i’m helpless, surly the Risen Lord has power, it probably is me, i know its me but all i can do is ask for help in my unbelief. Please advise i cant go on this way, i know the Gospel and i believe but i’m alone without power or comfort, or answers to prayer, i’m too far in to go back i’m useless to God and too religious for the world.
I’m trapped
As concerning the matter of how old the earth is in years of age, I have not yet been able to reconcile the somewhat common belief system of it being millions and millions of years with what I have read from the Bible on creation.
Is it that each of the six days (when God created the earth) are ascribed quite equal amount of millions of years?
Was the first day tens of millions of years and likewise the second?
Was it that the herb and the tree (Gen 1:11) were sustained by the word of God without sunlight for tens upon tens of millions of years?
And was it that the fish and the fowl lived their tens upon tens, and even more millions of years, before the cattle lived and breathed upon the earth?
Whatever length of time it was, the heavens and the earth were finished according to their days. (Gen 2:1)
I wonder if Gen 1:14 began a new time of days in the day that God gave them the power to rule in the day and in the night.
One thing I am convinced of and that is that I don’t think I will ever meet a scientist, biologist, or any other who honestly could maintain that he could ascertain the age of the wine that the governor of the feast in Cana had received (John 2:9) simply by the study of it if it were subjected to his tests of science or other studies, simply by the study of it, without the word of God.
If any of those who have so much knowledge of science, biology, geology, astronomy, or otherwise, ascertain the age of that wine that Jesus made by the word of God, (for didn’t he say that he did nothing by himself?) was anything more than a few hours old, (as we know of hours on this earth, “earth time” hours) I don’t think I should agree with them.
I wonder if people looking for security find comfort in “knowing” the earth is millions (if not billions) of years old, as if that is the reason they can depend on the sun rising each morning. One would think that they trust they will live forever.
I’ve often heard of the earth and all that is in it being millions and millions of years old by watching television programs on the earth and what’s in it, but it’s simply said without the evidence presented.
Without evidence of such a thing, I’ve heard over and over again the line “millions (if not millions and millions) of years.”
I heard one man tell of how when people say “millions and millions of years”, they seem to have to roll out their hands while they say it.
Maybe they have to bring their head down a bit and look through the part of their lenses that are not the reading part when they say it, just to look down at you while they roll out their hands, as if to help sell their product.
If the days of Genesis 1 up ’till the day when God gave the lights in the firmament of heaven (Gen 1:14) the power to be for days, (about 24 hour periods of time, if we are allowed to count time that way) were millions and millions of years, would that seem to be as a man putting an old piece of cloth upon a new garment?
It does to me. There’s something Jesus said that leads me to believe Jesus isn’t like that.
What I so often hear of the age of the earth on the nature shows on TV, seems to me to be problematic, something I’m not yet able to reconcile with scripture.
If we want to put a spin on something, how about putting a rotation on the earth (as it was) in Gen 1:5 when we try to imagine what we are reading.
I make this suggestion because I tend to think it may be a proper thing to do.
I don’t think Matt 24:14 is going to happen until there is a great multitude of intercessors trained to be delivering judges, able to plead the cause of any oppressed by any other, whenever there is any present distress, when one has gone to another first but has not been able to resove the matter…etc., making themselves available for such service, not prefering one over another, doing for one just as for another, walking in kindness, goodness, mercy, (asking for mercy when mercy is fit) patience, etc…by the gospel of Christ, finding something good from the Bible and thanking God for it, for they will walk through dry places and will find water, etc.. with staff in hand, etc…going on toward Zion, etc…justice, equity, fairness, etc…minstry of reconciliation, etc…
jj,
In case you haven’t yet done so, please take what you have posted above, exactly as it is, without changing a thing, to God in prayer, and see what he will do with it and you.
He hears the prayers of the weak. He knows the voice of his own. Like little lambs they call to him. He gives strength to the weak and takes down the mighty.
Keep looking to him. Pray when in trouble. Remember the cross. When you suffer, remember that he is with you. Suffering in his eyes is a glorious thing. It’s OK to be broken. Jesus himself was broken for us.
Every time you fall, repent and get back up again. It hurts to fall. May God show you how to catch yourself before you fall as you go on to Zion, the heavenly city of God where all those who have fallen have been saved by Jesus.
jj, Do what you have to do to get free. Just do it.
I remember what Jesus said about if two agree… (Matt 18:19).
Let’s agree with John 17:15.
Thank you brother Ray. I have repented, i had been putting it off, i’m willing to suffer but all i ask is that i know He’s with me i dont act or see that He is, perhaps it’s just a tough time but they seem to be getting longer and longer now and sin is getting in and the enemy seems to have his foot on my neck. There has got to be more.
Thank you for your time Ray perhaps this is the wrong place to sound this out but that poem summed me up by Dr Brown.
well here my first poem ever. inspired by the rhyme of the modern parishioner.
Blessed be repentant tears enemies laugh snicker and sneer Depression, confusion entangle me sin and loneliness are all i see.
It seems so easy that i fall temptation comes my thoughts unchecked his foot he places on my neck. There must be power with the risen Lord will you hear me King when i call for I’m no match for him at all
in this world theres no relief sadness sorrow unending grief Sovereign Lord i know your there but do you know or even care. in you i trust, but i’m so weak help thou my unbelief
I saw you at the cross that time were you bore the sins that were mine how could it be the Most High God could look on me a waste of time. you looked down with eyes that said; your free dear one your debt’s been paid.
Oh Lord, how come, my life i owe to you the Saviour of my soul my life my Lord i pledge to thee why have you not, forsaken me
Holy, just and mercy great unending patience you will wait for the turning of a sinners heart your steadfast love to impart
strengthen me my Lord my God, glorify your Holy Name, with this weak vessel filled with shame the people are so unaware that theres a God that Loves and cares use me Lord i ask and plea, let my will be one with thee
blessed be repentant tears comfort comes and quenches fears. He came and cut the sinful cord Blessed be the Name of the Lord.
Now a Pilgrim on his way to Zion’s place where Jesus waits. Praise be to God for saving grace.
jj,
God will meet you!
Amen.
“the people are so unaware that theres a God that Loves and cares use me Lord i ask and plea, let my will be one with thee.” And they all said, Amen.!
JJ, I would like to know more about your situation, if you are willing to share.
On the subject of the evolution and creation argument, here is an excerpt from a websitem in which it goes on to say that a Rabbi from the 13th centruy calculated the age of the universe being around 15,000,000,000 ‘earth’ years of age.
“According to the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a, ” R. Kattina said: Six thousand years shall the world exist, and one [thousand, the seventh], it shall be desolate…”. Ancient and medieval Kabbalists such as Nehunya ben HaKanah, in Sefer HaTemunah (written about 100 AD) and Rabbi Isaac of Acco understood these seven thousand years a running parallel to the Jewish Sabbatical cycle. In this cycle the fields are planted and harvested for six years and left unplanted in the seventh year.2
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, who apart from being a rabbi, also held a master’s degree in physics, cites the calculations of Rabbi Isaac of Acco in his commentaries on the book Sefer Yehzirah: The Book of Creation. This book has an oral tradition going back to Abraham, but was first committed to writing about 1500 years ago. In his commentary on this book Rabbi Kaplan writes:
“According to the master Kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac of Acco, when counting the years of these cycles, one must not use an ordinary physical year, but rather, a divine year. The Midrash says that each divine day is a thousand years, basing this on the verse, “A thousand years in Your sight are but as yesterday” (Psalm 90:4). Since each year contains 364 ¼ days, a divine year would be 365,250 years long.
According to this, each cycle of seven thousand divine years would consist of 2,556,750,000 earthly years. This figure of two-and-a-half billion years is very close to the scientific estimate as to the length of time that life has existed on earth.
If we assume that the seventh cycle began with the Biblical account of creation, then this would have occurred when the universe was 15,340,500,000 years old. This is very close to the scientific estimate that the expansion of the universe began some fifteen billion years ago” (Kaplan 186).”
Well done, jj. Heartfelt and well-crafted. Just cling to Him whom you first saw, looking down from that cross of shame. Remember Him who loved you so much He laid to rest all the past’s shame. Cling to Him and He will give you more rest than you have ever known. He loves you, rest assured. And He will always supply you with everything you need to avoid, and conquer, temptation. Call upon His Name, outloud, when temptation strikes! He will give you eveything…you need…Be blessed with Him TODAY! Amen.
Concerning the idea of so-called “soulless hominoids” predating Adam. A better explanation is that the claimed evidence for the existence of humans predating the biblical date for Adam, is that such claims are simply bogus and based on similar faulty assumptions and presuppositions as those that suggest an old age for the earth and universe.
Furthermore, if we were to accept the secular dates for human anthropology as authoritative then we would have to agree that the Australian aborigines have existed on the Australian continent for somewhere between 40 and 60 thousand years. That would mean that they are not descendants of Adam and therefore can’t be saved because only descendants of Adam can be saved. More likely is the scenario that Australian aborigines simply migrated to Australia following the Flood and the dispersal at Babel.
I heard the question on the program, “What is the purpose of the ministry?”
The ministry that I am aware of is the ministry of reconciliation mentioned in II Cor 5:19. (KJV)
My 1599 Geneva Bible says “word” rather than “ministry”.
I suppose I could ask “What is the purpose of the word of reconciliation?”
“The ministry” is mentioned in Eph 4:12. It seems to me that the purpose of all that is mentioned there is for reconciliation.
The 1599 Geneva begins Eph 4:12 with “For the repairing of the saints, for the work of the ministry..”
I suppose I could ask, “When does a house need repair?” I suppose when something comes apart, peels off, or gets worn away. In any event, I suppose it’s some kind of separation.
That poem really had all thats been on my mind for the past few days.There must be more, i fall so easily when temptation arises and i’m helpless, surly the Risen Lord has power, it probably is me, i know its me but all i can do is ask for help in my unbelief. Please advise i cant go on this way, i know the Gospel and i believe but i’m alone without power or comfort, or answers to prayer, i’m too far in to go back i’m useless to God and too religious for the world.
I’m trapped
As concerning the matter of how old the earth is
in years of age, I have not yet been able to reconcile the somewhat common belief system of it being millions and millions of years with what I have read from the Bible on creation.
Is it that each of the six days (when God created the earth) are ascribed quite equal amount of millions of years?
Was the first day tens of millions of years and likewise the second?
Was it that the herb and the tree (Gen 1:11) were sustained by the word of God without sunlight for
tens upon tens of millions of years?
And was it that the fish and the fowl lived their tens upon tens, and even more millions of years, before the cattle lived and breathed upon the earth?
Whatever length of time it was, the heavens and the earth were finished according to their days.
(Gen 2:1)
I wonder if Gen 1:14 began a new time of days in the day that God gave them the power to rule in the day and in the night.
One thing I am convinced of and that is that I don’t think I will ever meet a scientist, biologist, or any other who honestly could maintain that he could ascertain the age of the wine that the governor of the feast in Cana had received (John 2:9) simply by the study of it if it were subjected to his tests of science or other studies, simply by the study of it, without the word of God.
If any of those who have so much knowledge of science, biology, geology, astronomy, or otherwise, ascertain the age of that wine that Jesus made by the word of God, (for didn’t he say that he did nothing by himself?) was anything more than a few hours old, (as we know of hours on this earth, “earth time” hours) I don’t think I should agree with them.
I wonder if people looking for security find comfort in “knowing” the earth is millions (if not billions) of years old, as if that is the reason they can depend on the sun rising each morning. One would think that they trust they will live forever.
I’ve often heard of the earth and all that is in it being millions and millions of years old by watching television programs on the earth and what’s in it, but it’s simply said without the evidence presented.
Without evidence of such a thing, I’ve heard over and over again the line “millions (if not millions and millions) of years.”
I heard one man tell of how when people say “millions and millions of years”, they seem to have to roll out their hands while they say it.
Maybe they have to bring their head down a bit and look through the part of their lenses that are not the reading part when they say it, just to look down at you while they roll out their hands, as if to help sell their product.
If the days of Genesis 1 up ’till the day when God gave the lights in the firmament of heaven (Gen 1:14) the power to be for days, (about 24 hour periods of time, if we are allowed to count time that way) were millions and millions of years, would that seem to be as a man putting an old piece of cloth upon a new garment?
It does to me. There’s something Jesus said that leads me to believe Jesus isn’t like that.
What I so often hear of the age of the earth on the nature shows on TV, seems to me to be problematic, something I’m not yet able to reconcile with scripture.
If we want to put a spin on something, how about putting a rotation on the earth (as it was) in Gen 1:5 when we try to imagine what we are reading.
I make this suggestion because I tend to think it may be a proper thing to do.
I don’t think Matt 24:14 is going to happen until
there is a great multitude of intercessors trained to be delivering judges, able to plead the cause of any oppressed by any other, whenever there is any present distress, when one has gone to another first but has not been able to resove the matter…etc., making themselves available for such service, not prefering one over another, doing for one just as for another, walking in kindness, goodness, mercy, (asking for mercy when mercy is fit) patience, etc…by the gospel of Christ, finding something good from the Bible and thanking God for it, for they will walk through dry places and will find water, etc.. with staff in hand, etc…going on toward Zion, etc…justice, equity, fairness, etc…minstry of reconciliation, etc…
jj,
In case you haven’t yet done so, please take what you have posted above, exactly as it is, without changing a thing, to God in prayer, and see what he will do with it and you.
He hears the prayers of the weak. He knows the voice of his own. Like little lambs they call to him. He gives strength to the weak and takes down the mighty.
Keep looking to him. Pray when in trouble. Remember the cross. When you suffer, remember that he is with you. Suffering in his eyes is a glorious thing. It’s OK to be broken. Jesus himself was broken for us.
Every time you fall, repent and get back up again.
It hurts to fall. May God show you how to catch yourself before you fall as you go on to Zion, the heavenly city of God where all those who have fallen have been saved by Jesus.
jj,
Do what you have to do to get free.
Just do it.
I remember what Jesus said about if two agree…
(Matt 18:19).
Let’s agree with John 17:15.
Thank you brother Ray. I have repented, i had been putting it off, i’m willing to suffer but all i ask is that i know He’s with me i dont act or see that He is, perhaps it’s just a tough time but they seem to be getting longer and longer now and sin is getting in and the enemy seems to have his foot on my neck. There has got to be more.
Thank you for your time Ray perhaps this is the wrong place to sound this out but that poem summed me up by Dr Brown.
well here my first poem ever. inspired by the rhyme of the modern parishioner.
Blessed be repentant tears
enemies laugh snicker and sneer
Depression, confusion entangle me
sin and loneliness are all i see.
It seems so easy that i fall
temptation comes my thoughts unchecked
his foot he places on my neck.
There must be power with the risen Lord
will you hear me King when i call
for I’m no match for him at all
in this world theres no relief
sadness sorrow unending grief
Sovereign Lord i know your there
but do you know or even care.
in you i trust, but i’m so weak
help thou my unbelief
I saw you at the cross that time
were you bore the sins that were mine
how could it be the Most High God
could look on me a waste of time.
you looked down with eyes that said;
your free dear one your debt’s been paid.
Oh Lord, how come, my life i owe
to you the Saviour of my soul
my life my Lord i pledge to thee
why have you not, forsaken me
Holy, just and mercy great
unending patience you will wait
for the turning of a sinners heart
your steadfast love to impart
strengthen me my Lord my God,
glorify your Holy Name,
with this weak vessel filled with shame
the people are so unaware that theres a God that Loves and cares
use me Lord i ask and plea, let my will be one with thee
blessed be repentant tears
comfort comes and quenches fears.
He came and cut the sinful cord
Blessed be the Name of the Lord.
Now a Pilgrim on his way to Zion’s place where Jesus waits. Praise be to God for saving grace.
jj,
God will meet you!
Amen.
“the people are so unaware that theres a God that Loves and cares
use me Lord i ask and plea, let my will be one with thee.” And they all said, Amen.!
JJ, I would like to know more about your situation, if you are willing to share.
On the subject of the evolution and creation argument, here is an excerpt from a websitem in which it goes on to say that a Rabbi from the 13th centruy calculated the age of the universe being around 15,000,000,000 ‘earth’ years of age.
“According to the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a, ” R. Kattina said: Six thousand years shall the world exist, and one [thousand, the seventh], it shall be desolate…”. Ancient and medieval Kabbalists such as Nehunya ben HaKanah, in Sefer HaTemunah (written about 100 AD) and Rabbi Isaac of Acco understood these seven thousand years a running parallel to the Jewish Sabbatical cycle. In this cycle the fields are planted and harvested for six years and left unplanted in the seventh year.2
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, who apart from being a rabbi, also held a master’s degree in physics, cites the calculations of Rabbi Isaac of Acco in his commentaries on the book Sefer Yehzirah: The Book of Creation. This book has an oral tradition going back to Abraham, but was first committed to writing about 1500 years ago. In his commentary on this book Rabbi Kaplan writes:
“According to the master Kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac of Acco, when counting the years of these cycles, one must not use an ordinary physical year, but rather, a divine year. The Midrash says that each divine day is a thousand years, basing this on the verse, “A thousand years in Your sight are but as yesterday” (Psalm 90:4). Since each year contains 364 ¼ days, a divine year would be 365,250 years long.
According to this, each cycle of seven thousand divine years would consist of 2,556,750,000 earthly years. This figure of two-and-a-half billion years is very close to the scientific estimate as to the length of time that life has existed on earth.
If we assume that the seventh cycle began with the Biblical account of creation, then this would have occurred when the universe was 15,340,500,000 years old. This is very close to the scientific estimate that the expansion of the universe began some fifteen billion years ago” (Kaplan 186).”
Here is the link I referenced: http://www.yashanet.com/library/missing_link.htm
Well done, jj. Heartfelt and well-crafted. Just cling to Him whom you first saw, looking down from that cross of shame. Remember Him who loved you so much He laid to rest all the past’s shame. Cling to Him and He will give you more rest than you have ever known. He loves you, rest assured. And He will always supply you with everything you need to avoid, and conquer, temptation. Call upon His Name, outloud, when temptation strikes! He will give you eveything…you need…Be blessed with Him TODAY! Amen.
Concerning the idea of so-called “soulless hominoids” predating Adam. A better explanation is that the claimed evidence for the existence of humans predating the biblical date for Adam, is that such claims are simply bogus and based on similar faulty assumptions and presuppositions as those that suggest an old age for the earth and universe.
Furthermore, if we were to accept the secular dates for human anthropology as authoritative then we would have to agree that the Australian aborigines have existed on the Australian continent for somewhere between 40 and 60 thousand years. That would mean that they are not descendants of Adam and therefore can’t be saved because only descendants of Adam can be saved. More likely is the scenario that Australian aborigines simply migrated to Australia following the Flood and the dispersal at Babel.
There is a plethora of information found on the subject of the Bible and anthropology at this link:
http://creation.com/anthropology-and-apemen-questions-and-answers