The Perfect Gift

 This week most of the world will celebrate Christmas. There are many ways it is celebrated, usually included is the giving of gifts…When I was a young child I lived in the Netherlands. There children believe Sinter Klaas will come on a white horse along with Zwarte Piet. Sinter Klaas will give gifts but Zwarte Piet will take away bad boys and girls and punish them. In North America many children believe in Santa Claus. Santa Claus also brings gifts.

But some of us remember Jesus at this time of year, to remember that God gave us His Son, the greatest gift of all, the forgiveness of our sin because He was born to be our sacrificial lamb, to wash us through His perfect blood. Let us not neglect so great a salvation, Jesus was born into this wicked and fallen world and died for us.❤️

Past Traumas and Wounds That Haven’t Healed

I’ve been binge watching Chynna Phillips Baldwin (from musical group Wilson Phillips) YouTube videos. Chynna came to be saved in 2006 and started a YouTube video channel two or three years ago to share her testimony and share Jesus and sometimes has guests over to share their story. She was involved in the new age movement prior to becoming saved so I do share an affinity with her. She is very open and transparent, she shares her struggles, her doubts and fears and some of the things in the past that she kept hidden and compartmentalized….shame…mistrust…anger…sorrow…things we probably all can relate to. In this one she’s taking her little pooch for a walk as she shares a painful memory and the fact that Jesus washes us from the guilt and shame with His own blood. I hope this message will reach someone who has hidden hurts that need Jesus’ healing touch. 

“Peace of Christ!”

The Wise and Foolish Virgins Revisited

 I posted on the topic of the wise and foolish virgins parable a couple of years ago which included a sermon from Jacob Prasch. In this posting I want to examine the parable a bit closer. Something that nags at me is the fact that all the ten virgins in the parable go to sleep. It is dark, it is night. That is the time when most normal people go to sleep (excluding of course those who work in the middle of the night such as policemen and emergency workers, etc) .

Taking this as a typology, the darkness could mean:

Abscence of light

Jesus tells us that He is the light of the world. All ten virgins had lamps. All ten had lamps that went out, therefore they all had oil in their lamps before it got very dark. 5 were wise and had extra oil for their lamps and 5 did not. David had said “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet” (Psalm 119:105)…and the prophet Amos tells us that there will come a day where there will be a “famine for the word of God” (Amos 8:11,12) ….no word of God equals no light… are we seeing the beginnings of that time? Is there a famine for the word of God? Are the churches closing their doors for lack of attendance, for lack of hunger for God’s word? People are starving for the truth but do not even realize they are starving. The light is growing dim. The church is going to sleep.

All ten were “virgins”…all ten were “good people”. All ten started out with oil in their lamps. All ten started out awake. All ten went to sleep. They all had many things in common. 5 had extra oil and 5 did not. Our good works can bring some light to a dark world. There is nothing wrong and Jesus even encouraged feeding the poor, visiting the sick and those in prison…but it is not enough to keep our light burning during the darkest hours. When the goats said to Jesus “when did we not feed you, clothe you, visit you in prison, etc. ?” (Matthew 25:31-46) Both groups sheep and goats had done good things for people…read that parable carefully and you find that the good works of one group was accepted while those same good works were not accepted from the other group. Jesus was left out of one of those groups and made the good works all for nothing. If they neglected even one person that needed help and didn’t give it they did that neglect to Jesus. The other group if they only helped one person in Jesus name their works were acceptable to the Lord. One group had true light, the other group’s works even though good, had no light of Christ to give a lasting effect. 

Is the land becoming like the darkness of sackcloth? Are we in that time of deep darkness when the famine for the word of God is growing and spreading throughout the earth? Do we have extra oil for our lamps while it seems our lamps have gone out? Who can supply us with that much needed extra oil? Can we buy it from merchants? (Pastors selling their prosperity gospels perhaps? People selling lessons on how to become healthy, wealthy, and wise?) Or is it “purchased” through trials by fire and only from the Lord? By seeking Him as we go through our trials in life?

Daniel 2:20-22 Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.

 He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;

 he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.

Daniel 12:3  And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. 

To read my previous posting on this topic:

https://bibletreasuresandpearls.blogspot.com/2019/10/wise-and-foolish-virgins.html

Pure and Life-Giving Water

My husband and I are blessed to live in an area that has very good tap water, but we still buy our bottled drinking water. our favourite bottled water comes from Iceland. You can taste the difference. It tastes truly refreshing and tastes better than our tap water or other bottled water. There's another bottled water that comes very close and is slightly less pricey which comes from Quebec.

 We need water to live. 

 Plants and animals also need water to live. 

Jesus said

 

John 4:13-14 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life

Wise and Foolish Virgins

Jacob Prasch is a favourite Bible teacher of mine. I don’t agree with him on all points, however I cannot say that I agree 100% about anyone. The message about the ten virgins has always been somewhat problematic for me because I only heard it explained in a pretrib context and it just never rang true for me and although I understood the general idea of the wisdom in being wise and prepared, I felt I was missing part of what Jesus was getting at.

In this video Jacob explains the parable in light of what we can learn from the Song of Solomon (!)  which was very surprising, but it fits! 

The fact that the days are growing darker and darker and that good preaching is almost impossible to find anymore, I am thankful to have Jacob Prasch pass on the wisdom the Lord has graced him with. I hope you too will have plenty of oil in your lamp when the light goes out and persecution comes to where you live (if it hasn’t already).

Jacob Prasch

Jacob Prasch is a Messianic Jewish preacher on YouTube. I truly enjoy his commentary on what the Bible reveals to us, especially when it comes to his views on eschatology (end times prophecy). He understands Biblical Greek and Hebrew so he can flesh out the nuances that can be missed when reading an English translation. In this video Jacob talks about many of the things we are seeing today, and the precursors that have come before that give us the template of what we expect to see as these things unfold.

Does God Care?

 image from here

Yesterday some workmen came and trimmed two of the trees on our property, and removed another to make way for the repositioning of the power poles on our road. In the process two birds nests came down as well. One bird died immediately, and three others clung to life. A workman had gathered them up and put them all, including the dead one, in a planter area near our front door. It seemed that the two from the same nest found more comfort in staying close together, while the third stayed about a foot's length away from the other two, and all three had moved away from the dead one. It brought to mind a song I used to sing in church when I was a child:

1.
God sees the little sparrow fall,
it meets his tender view;
if God so loves the little birds,
I know he loves me too.

Refrain:
He loves me too, he loves me too,
I know loves me too;
because he loves the little things,
I know loves me too.

2.
He paints the lily of the field,
perfumes each lily bell;
if he so loves the little flow'rs,
I know he loves me well. [Refrain]

3.
God made the little birds and flow'rs,
and all things large and small;
he'll not forget his little ones,
I know he loves them all. [Refrain]

I was hoping the parent birds would somehow still care for their young. I saw them fly about and get very nervous when I was too close to their young.This morning I found that the remaining babies had died. It again reminds me of how fragile and temporary life is here, and that we are to use our time wisely.

Jesus said:
What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.   And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.   But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
--Matthew 10:27-33 

What a wonderful thing that God does care about every little thing, even tiny birds, and even caring about the number of hairs on our heads! And because He cares, He wants to use us to spread that good news with others, the good news that we being deserving of hell have been bought with the purchase price to save us from the penalty for our sins.

Praise God! He cared enough to die for us.