Posts of Alexander RSSTue, 14 Apr 2020 19:24:30 GMTJoh 6:63 It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life.In another place I conversed with a believer that had trouble knowing the voice of the Lord. I shared with him John 6:63. Jesus told us that his words are “spirit” and “life”. These two words help us recognize the words of Jesus. “Spirit” is both the will of God – thus the content will be confirmed in Scriptures – and the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Holy Spirit moves to bring his words to pass. “Life” means movement and action. When the Lord speaks to you, there is a motivation to act upon his words.I shared with this person a recent experience I had on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. One of the translators spoke to 2 men and she and the other translator became aware of demonic presence. The translator not speaking called me over and told me they felt demons coming from a woman who was sitting in the background. So I stood at the fence in front of the woman and spoke to the demons in the woman, who spoke no English only Creole. But the demons understood me and caused the woman to get up and walk away. Later, at our base camp, the Lord spoke to me and told me to go to the tree. I instantly got up and went to the tree where the translator was telling the story to the team leader. The Lord wanted me to share my part in the story. When the Lord told me to go, I did not realize that the Lord was talking to me, I only knew I had to go. In hindsight and reviewing my memory I realized I went because Jesus told me to go.After this discussion I started noticing this in the Bible. Here are some examples.Luk 5:10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will be catching people alive.”Luk 5:11 When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything, and followed him.Notice they left their fishing boats as soon as Jesus said they would catch p... Read more

]]>Tue, 14 Apr 2020 19:24:30 GMTWhen reading what Jesus says, many times it seems his topics are unrelated, so the natural tendency is to grab onto parts that we think we understand while missing the point of his discourse which runs like a thread tying together all the seemingly unrelated topics. The discourse in Matthew 18 is one such example.But before getting to Matthew 18 a foundation to his discourse begins in Matthew 16. Having traveled to the north of Israel to Caesarea Philippi due west of Tyre in Syria.  They stood in front of 3 pagan temples, one specifically was called the Gates of Hades, where the Greeks believed was the entrance to the underworld, where they performed immoral acts of worship.   With this background, Jesus asks his disciples who people (and them) thought he was.  Peter replied,Mat 16:16  ...“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”Mat 16:17  Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.We see here that Peter received a realization directly from God.Mat 16:18 I also tell you that you are Peter  [petros in Greek meaning “a piece of rock’], and on this rock [petra in Greek meaning “a mass of rock such as a cliff”]  I will build my assembly [ekklesia in Greek, not “church” but an assembly of government leaders] , and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Despite the claim of Catholicism, the rock that Christ builds his assembly upon is the direct revelation from God that believers, like Peter,  have particularly after the new birth is given.  The Greek word ekklesia, translated as “church” in most translations, literally means “called out” and is understood to mean an assembly gathered in answer to that call.  What has been forgotten about the term is that such assemblies were usually assemblies of government.  The ancient Greek culture was a pure democracy with each citizen having a vote in any matter.  When a matter needed to be settled, they were all called toget... Read more

]]>Thu, 20 Feb 2020 21:47:12 GMT