John 15:11 "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."
This was a momentous statement for Jesus to say to His disciples at that very time. Jesus says this during a long conversation with the disciples after He washed their feet demonstrating true servitude (John 13: 1-17). He talked to them extensively about His crucifixion and how they should react to it. And during this conversation He tells them that "I have spoken this to you that My joy remain in you and that their joy would be full."
After telling them that He was going back to Heaven, how it would happen, telling them that one of them would betray Him, and even telling them that another one of them would betray Him. I'm sure that they were thinking, "what a thing to say to us." He is telling us that we should remain joyous!
As a matter fact, He makes this statement over and over during His ministry. Specifically, in the Beatitudes He explains that we should feel that we are blessed during times when we are poor in spirit, when we mourn, and yes during times of persecution (Matthew 5: 1-12).
It is my belief that Jesus is also telling us this today. God's Word, the Bible, is divinely spoken for all of His children to read and take comfort in it until that Great Day when Christ returns to bring all the Christians Home.
John also echoes this joy statement in 1 John 1:4, "And these things we write to you that your joy may be full." By this time Christ had already been crucified, buried, and resurrected. John had witnessed this and He was transferring that statement to us because He also found joy in the statement. Why have joy though? Well, the first reason is that we have an eternal hope in Heaven. The second reason is that as Christians we will have troubled times and we can look to that joy in our eternal hope; through Jesus Christ.
There is so much going on around us today and there are so many people losing hope. People are losing jobs, the economy is terrible, and Christians are being more persecuted. But, there is a reason to have hope; pure joy. This is because Christ is our forerunner that went on before us to Heaven and He is there praying for us and rooting for us. We have that eternal assurance that one day we will be with Him in Heaven. At that time all of our hardships will no longer be. We will no longer grieve. There will no longer be a reason to shed tears.
It is my prayer that you will rest in the assurance of Christ's return and have joy. Have joy abundantly!
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Zechariah 11:12-13
12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.
There are literally hundreds of prophecies that Jesus fulfilled throughout His life. I would make a quick comment here that there hasn't been anyone else in the history of time that this has happened with. Jesus fulfilled these prophecies hundreds of years later after they were spoken. We live in a technological world where almost anything is possible. However, if you wanted to write even 100 characteristics down that you would love to see in a future ancestor, it would still be impossible for those characteristics to come to fruition. Not even half of that hundred and I would say that not even one of those things would come to fruition.
Not just one, but hundreds of prophecies were fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ. There are several things that are amazing about Jesus fulfilling these prophecies. First, is that it was impossible to store these things and preserve them as we can today to pass down to others. The second amazing thing about these prophecies are that they not only describe Jesus' characteristics, but they describe His life which encompass His birth (how He was born and where He was born), His life, ministry, and His death.
Zechariah 11:12-13 describe what is known as the betrayal of Jesus Christ. The whole text of Zechariah 11 has to deal with prophecy of our Lord. We come to where Zechariah requests his pay to continue service. He did this not on his own, but by what the Lord told him to do.
Those that counted out the money counted 30 shekels of silver. The money paid was the price of a slave at that time (Ex. 21:32). This wasn't the price of good service and it was an undervalue to be paid this much. However, it was as God planned to show that this figure would be seen in the future. Indeed, it was shown again when Judas betrayed our Lord. The 30 shekels of silver were an undervalue of Zachariah's work and again it was an undervalue of our Lord.
In verse 13 the Lord told Zechariah to cast it unto the potter. A potter may have worked in the House of the Lord at the time. But, this again is a demonstration of the potter field mentioned in Matt. 27:9-10. Judas' conscience got the best of him and he felt it would be better to give the 30 pieces of silver back, but it was too late. After Judas hung himself, he was buried in the potter's field.
The 30 pieces of silver is the money that was given to betray the Lord. It was an undervalue especially when Judas had spent years with Jesus and should have known that our Lord's purpose wasn't what Judas had in mind. Jesus' purpose was priceless. It was to save our souls from an eternity in hell.
By throwing the 30 pieces of silver to the potters is a striking resemblance of throwing 30 pieces of silver into a fund for the burial of someone who was a stranger (Matt. 27:7). In a way Judas was a stranger to all of his associates, the other apostles. When Jesus told them that someone would betray Him they thought it was impossible and that none of them could betray our Lord. But, he was in no way a stranger to our Lord. He knew who Judas was and what his purpose would be.
The ultimate purpose for all of this was that ALL can be saved. The prophecies and the events that led to Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection was all part of a plan by our God. Our salvation wouldn't be possible without any of these events. That is how much God loves you and desires to have a relationship with you.
13 And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.
There are literally hundreds of prophecies that Jesus fulfilled throughout His life. I would make a quick comment here that there hasn't been anyone else in the history of time that this has happened with. Jesus fulfilled these prophecies hundreds of years later after they were spoken. We live in a technological world where almost anything is possible. However, if you wanted to write even 100 characteristics down that you would love to see in a future ancestor, it would still be impossible for those characteristics to come to fruition. Not even half of that hundred and I would say that not even one of those things would come to fruition.
Not just one, but hundreds of prophecies were fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ. There are several things that are amazing about Jesus fulfilling these prophecies. First, is that it was impossible to store these things and preserve them as we can today to pass down to others. The second amazing thing about these prophecies are that they not only describe Jesus' characteristics, but they describe His life which encompass His birth (how He was born and where He was born), His life, ministry, and His death.
Zechariah 11:12-13 describe what is known as the betrayal of Jesus Christ. The whole text of Zechariah 11 has to deal with prophecy of our Lord. We come to where Zechariah requests his pay to continue service. He did this not on his own, but by what the Lord told him to do.
Those that counted out the money counted 30 shekels of silver. The money paid was the price of a slave at that time (Ex. 21:32). This wasn't the price of good service and it was an undervalue to be paid this much. However, it was as God planned to show that this figure would be seen in the future. Indeed, it was shown again when Judas betrayed our Lord. The 30 shekels of silver were an undervalue of Zachariah's work and again it was an undervalue of our Lord.
In verse 13 the Lord told Zechariah to cast it unto the potter. A potter may have worked in the House of the Lord at the time. But, this again is a demonstration of the potter field mentioned in Matt. 27:9-10. Judas' conscience got the best of him and he felt it would be better to give the 30 pieces of silver back, but it was too late. After Judas hung himself, he was buried in the potter's field.
The 30 pieces of silver is the money that was given to betray the Lord. It was an undervalue especially when Judas had spent years with Jesus and should have known that our Lord's purpose wasn't what Judas had in mind. Jesus' purpose was priceless. It was to save our souls from an eternity in hell.
By throwing the 30 pieces of silver to the potters is a striking resemblance of throwing 30 pieces of silver into a fund for the burial of someone who was a stranger (Matt. 27:7). In a way Judas was a stranger to all of his associates, the other apostles. When Jesus told them that someone would betray Him they thought it was impossible and that none of them could betray our Lord. But, he was in no way a stranger to our Lord. He knew who Judas was and what his purpose would be.
The ultimate purpose for all of this was that ALL can be saved. The prophecies and the events that led to Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection was all part of a plan by our God. Our salvation wouldn't be possible without any of these events. That is how much God loves you and desires to have a relationship with you.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Friday, August 16, 2013
Remain Faithful
A recurring theme when reading what the Lord has to say to the Seven Churches in Revelation is 'repent'. It is worthy to point out that the Lord is speaking to churches and giving them a report. It could also be pointed out that the Seven Churches here could easily represent our churches today. We could easily look at each of the Seven Churches and describe a church today with it's description. One church will be so busy doing, that those inside the walls has lost their love and passion for Christ which is the Church of Ephesus described in Revelation 2:1-7. Then there may be a church that could be commended for doing all the right things however, they overlook some wrong teaching or blatant sin such as it was with the Church of Thyatira.
There were only two Churches that the Lord didn't tell to repent; that was the Church in Smyrna and the Church in Philadelphia. The Church in Smyrna was known to the Lord as the Church that was being persecuted for Him. The Church in Philadelphia was known for being faithful to Him regardless of their situation.
To the Church in Smyrna or the Church in Philadelphia He didn't tell them to repent. Instead, he reminded them to "remain faithful" and to "hold fast" with the reminder that He is "coming quickly." Why, if there was only good things to say about these two Churches, would he remind them to stay on course? I believe it is because He knew that it can be difficult to stay the course sometimes.
It is true that it's hard to overcome and persevere. This is because there is so much temptation. Jesus Himself knew about temptation. Matthew 4:1-11 describes the temptation of Christ by the devil. As a matter of fact, Hebrews 4:15 explains that Jesus can sympathize with us because He was tempted in all ways yet without sin. Therefore, even though we may always be doing the right thing and walking the strait and narrow, there should always be encouragement to stay the course and keep up the good work!
Let me ask you, are you staying the course today. If the Lord was to give you a report as He did the Seven Churches, would He remind you to stay the course or would He tell you to repent? This may be a question that offends some, but it is a question that needs to be asked. This is a question that we should be asking ourselves.
The Bible says "Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord." Lamentations 3:40
2 Cor. 13:5 says, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove yourselves."
Yes. We should always examine our walk with Christ and our relationship with Him because as the Lord Himself says, "I am coming quickly."
Prayer:
Dear Lord, let us examine our walk with You and always be found in Your will. May our report from You always be of encouragement to stay the course rather than You rebuking us to repent. I thank You Lord for being in my life. You truly are the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords. Amen.
There were only two Churches that the Lord didn't tell to repent; that was the Church in Smyrna and the Church in Philadelphia. The Church in Smyrna was known to the Lord as the Church that was being persecuted for Him. The Church in Philadelphia was known for being faithful to Him regardless of their situation.
To the Church in Smyrna or the Church in Philadelphia He didn't tell them to repent. Instead, he reminded them to "remain faithful" and to "hold fast" with the reminder that He is "coming quickly." Why, if there was only good things to say about these two Churches, would he remind them to stay on course? I believe it is because He knew that it can be difficult to stay the course sometimes.
It is true that it's hard to overcome and persevere. This is because there is so much temptation. Jesus Himself knew about temptation. Matthew 4:1-11 describes the temptation of Christ by the devil. As a matter of fact, Hebrews 4:15 explains that Jesus can sympathize with us because He was tempted in all ways yet without sin. Therefore, even though we may always be doing the right thing and walking the strait and narrow, there should always be encouragement to stay the course and keep up the good work!
Let me ask you, are you staying the course today. If the Lord was to give you a report as He did the Seven Churches, would He remind you to stay the course or would He tell you to repent? This may be a question that offends some, but it is a question that needs to be asked. This is a question that we should be asking ourselves.
The Bible says "Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord." Lamentations 3:40
2 Cor. 13:5 says, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove yourselves."
Yes. We should always examine our walk with Christ and our relationship with Him because as the Lord Himself says, "I am coming quickly."
Prayer:
Dear Lord, let us examine our walk with You and always be found in Your will. May our report from You always be of encouragement to stay the course rather than You rebuking us to repent. I thank You Lord for being in my life. You truly are the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords. Amen.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Author Pages
Several writings can be found here for free..
http://wattpad.com/griggsdale
I have two books that can be found on Amazon Kindle: Walk With God & 30 Days of Hope.. http://www.amazon.com/Dale-Griggs/e/B007HD3DL6
Some more poetry can be found here as well..
http://solideogloria4life.blogspot.com/
At the links above most of it is poetry. I love to write poetry for my Lord and have written several other books for self help, motivation, and other poetry that is unpublished now. I have been writing since I was in High School and enjoy every minute of it.
I have two books that can be found on Amazon Kindle: Walk With God & 30 Days of Hope.. http://www.amazon.com/Dale-Griggs/e/B007HD3DL6
Some more poetry can be found here as well..
http://solideogloria4life.blogspot.com/
At the links above most of it is poetry. I love to write poetry for my Lord and have written several other books for self help, motivation, and other poetry that is unpublished now. I have been writing since I was in High School and enjoy every minute of it.
Friday, August 9, 2013
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Intro to the Book of Hebrews
The Book of Hebrews is an awesome book that should be taught and read by every Christian. When I was in the rehab ministry I always started out teaching this book. It is a great book for the themes that are outlined in it. It points to Christ's superiority over anything else that we could possibly put above Him. And it helps us to grow in our faith rather than sliding back or turning away from the faith. It was probably written to second generation Christians that converted from Judaism.
The author and date of the Book of Hebrews has brought curiosity to many preachers and theologians.
To start, the author is unknown. In earlier transcripts of the Bible such as the KJV the author was attributed to the Apostle Paul. There are several reasons that many theologians have discarded the thought that Paul wrote Hebrews. There are two that I have always pointed out.
The first would be that the style of Hebrews is much different than any of the other Books that are written by the Apostle Paul. Paul would have been very knowledgeable about the subject and probably to the audience however, the style is much different.
The second point that I always point out is in Chapter 2 verse 3 which states, "how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him."
I believe that a verse can tell us so much after praying over it and meditating on it. I also believe that a single verse will always have other supporting verses somewhere in the Bible.
For instance, this verse plainly tells us that the Good News that was spoken by the Lord was handed down from someone that heard the message firsthand. Demonstrated in the second part of that verse, "which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him."
Luke tells of the Apostle Paul's salvations in which it plainly states that Paul spoke to the Lord. Paul encountered Christ while on the road to Damascus and can be read in Act 9.
In verse 5 Paul asked, "Who are You, Lord?" Jesus then replied "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." Did you know that when you are persecuting, talking about, or slandering another Christian you are doing the same to Christ? Moving on: Just Paul's conversion is a whole other sermon and could be a sermon series, but we see that Paul directly spoke to the Lord and the Lord gave Paul his new mission in life.
Ok so, if it wasn't Paul, who was it? It is still a mystery, but many names have been thrown in the hat such as Barnabas because he was very familiar with the culture that the audience of Hebrews was of. Others suggest that Luke may have written, Peter could also be the writer, or it could have been Priscilla. One thing is for sure though, the ultimate Author was God who inspired all of the authors who wrote this book and the other 65 in the Bible.
The best date that can be given is sometime before A.D 64 which was before Nero's persecution. The main reason for this thought is that the Christian audience that the author is speaking to hasn't yet been called upon to suffer death for their faith in Christ. Which also brings up the reason for the Book of Hebrews. There are several themes in the Book of Hebrews that are pointed out which are:
-Christ is Superior. This starts out in Chapter One demonstrating that Christ is the Son of God and superior to the Angels.
-Christ is greater than the Jewish priesthood. This will be shown in Chapter 5.
-Christ is the Ultimate sacrifice. This will be displayed in Chapter 10 and also demonstrates that there is no other need for sacrifices after Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice.
-Faith in Christ is Superior to anything else we could have faith in.
-Finally, we will see the importance of enduring.
All of these themes point to a second generation Christian audience who were probably thinking of turning back to their traditional Jewish religious practices. It is important that this point is expressed especially in our time today.
We are finding people looking to worship in other ways than Christianity and for many reasons. There are first of all too many people teaching a wrong doctrine. It seems that ministers are too often trying to gain their popularity and glorifying themselves rather than Christ.
There is too much out there that draws people away from true faith in Christ and we are not doing enough teaching the hard right. The easy left is the path that seems to be the route to take when teaching someone such as forgiveness. For example, I have encountered people who will tell me that they can do whatever it is that they want to as long as they ask for forgiveness. This is a tough discussion to have especially to those who have lingered in addiction. The truth is ALL of the doctrines of the Bible need to be taught to all new Christians.
The last thing that I would point out and this is a topic that Christians don't want to hear is that often Christians do a good job of turning people away from Christ. I recently read a book that was written by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons called "Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity." This book was published in 2007 and a great book for Christians to read. It explains the many reasons why we are seeing less and less of the younger generations come to Christ and even don't want to come to Church.
We should care what the younger generation thinks of Christianity and how we can draw them back. If we as Christians only care about the older Christians and not care whether the younger generation is saved or not, Christianity will eventually die out. The younger generations and teens is our future. They will be the one's to carry on the Gospel Message after we are gone.
The Book of Hebrews is a great Book and I hope you all enjoy it as you journey through it. If you have any questions please leave a comment or email me. My email can be found on the profile of this blog.
The author and date of the Book of Hebrews has brought curiosity to many preachers and theologians.
To start, the author is unknown. In earlier transcripts of the Bible such as the KJV the author was attributed to the Apostle Paul. There are several reasons that many theologians have discarded the thought that Paul wrote Hebrews. There are two that I have always pointed out.
The first would be that the style of Hebrews is much different than any of the other Books that are written by the Apostle Paul. Paul would have been very knowledgeable about the subject and probably to the audience however, the style is much different.
The second point that I always point out is in Chapter 2 verse 3 which states, "how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him."
I believe that a verse can tell us so much after praying over it and meditating on it. I also believe that a single verse will always have other supporting verses somewhere in the Bible.
For instance, this verse plainly tells us that the Good News that was spoken by the Lord was handed down from someone that heard the message firsthand. Demonstrated in the second part of that verse, "which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him."
Luke tells of the Apostle Paul's salvations in which it plainly states that Paul spoke to the Lord. Paul encountered Christ while on the road to Damascus and can be read in Act 9.
In verse 5 Paul asked, "Who are You, Lord?" Jesus then replied "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." Did you know that when you are persecuting, talking about, or slandering another Christian you are doing the same to Christ? Moving on: Just Paul's conversion is a whole other sermon and could be a sermon series, but we see that Paul directly spoke to the Lord and the Lord gave Paul his new mission in life.
Ok so, if it wasn't Paul, who was it? It is still a mystery, but many names have been thrown in the hat such as Barnabas because he was very familiar with the culture that the audience of Hebrews was of. Others suggest that Luke may have written, Peter could also be the writer, or it could have been Priscilla. One thing is for sure though, the ultimate Author was God who inspired all of the authors who wrote this book and the other 65 in the Bible.
The best date that can be given is sometime before A.D 64 which was before Nero's persecution. The main reason for this thought is that the Christian audience that the author is speaking to hasn't yet been called upon to suffer death for their faith in Christ. Which also brings up the reason for the Book of Hebrews. There are several themes in the Book of Hebrews that are pointed out which are:
-Christ is Superior. This starts out in Chapter One demonstrating that Christ is the Son of God and superior to the Angels.
-Christ is greater than the Jewish priesthood. This will be shown in Chapter 5.
-Christ is the Ultimate sacrifice. This will be displayed in Chapter 10 and also demonstrates that there is no other need for sacrifices after Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice.
-Faith in Christ is Superior to anything else we could have faith in.
-Finally, we will see the importance of enduring.
All of these themes point to a second generation Christian audience who were probably thinking of turning back to their traditional Jewish religious practices. It is important that this point is expressed especially in our time today.
We are finding people looking to worship in other ways than Christianity and for many reasons. There are first of all too many people teaching a wrong doctrine. It seems that ministers are too often trying to gain their popularity and glorifying themselves rather than Christ.
There is too much out there that draws people away from true faith in Christ and we are not doing enough teaching the hard right. The easy left is the path that seems to be the route to take when teaching someone such as forgiveness. For example, I have encountered people who will tell me that they can do whatever it is that they want to as long as they ask for forgiveness. This is a tough discussion to have especially to those who have lingered in addiction. The truth is ALL of the doctrines of the Bible need to be taught to all new Christians.
The last thing that I would point out and this is a topic that Christians don't want to hear is that often Christians do a good job of turning people away from Christ. I recently read a book that was written by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons called "Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity." This book was published in 2007 and a great book for Christians to read. It explains the many reasons why we are seeing less and less of the younger generations come to Christ and even don't want to come to Church.
We should care what the younger generation thinks of Christianity and how we can draw them back. If we as Christians only care about the older Christians and not care whether the younger generation is saved or not, Christianity will eventually die out. The younger generations and teens is our future. They will be the one's to carry on the Gospel Message after we are gone.
The Book of Hebrews is a great Book and I hope you all enjoy it as you journey through it. If you have any questions please leave a comment or email me. My email can be found on the profile of this blog.
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