Habakkuk 1:5 Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. -LORD God
When some people see you trying to better yourself & starting to do well in life, they will try to bring you down out of jealousy & bitterness. Don’t let them, keep doing the right thing & they will be seen for who they are. When you are bettering yourself, not everyone is meant to stay in your life & that’s okay. You can’t swim with dead weight dragging you down. Let go & move on.
1 Peter 2:15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the foolish talk of ignorant people.
1 Peter 2:13-17 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
Comments from featured writer Paul Beverly.
2020 has definitely been the craziest & most trying year for all of us I’m sure. I’ve definitely struggled more than ever financially & at times emotionally.
With November here, I am focusing on the good in my life & the good to come & I’m definitely thankful. I’m believing that this year will end in a big upswing for us all & that next year will be a much better year.
Praying this election won’t separate us & that we realize we need each other more than who we want to be president.
Join me in being thankful for what we have & focusing on the good in our lives! -Paul Beverly
Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil…
On Tuesday, November 3, 2020, we the people of the United States have the freedom and duty to participate in the election of our leaders. We have been granted the free will to choose our leaders. Be a part of the process. Go Vote!!!
And when it is all said and done…
1 Peter 2:17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
Revelation 3:5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
The one who conquers… This is the Greek verb νικαο/nikao. It is a term for a victorious military hero. Nike athletic shoes and apparel comes from this Greek root word. The grammar states the action is continuous.
We always have victory in Christ. There is not one human being outside of Jesus who can win the day on their own. We prevail by Jesus. As members of the body of Christ, we succeed via the Overcomer. Scripture is very clear. There is only one way to conquer.
1 John 5:4-5 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world…our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
…will be clothed thus in white garments…This is the same type of garment described in the previous verse in Revelation 3:4. The garment is a long, flowing outer tunic. The color is white or λευκός/leukos in the Greek. This is defined as a bright, brilliant white.
We know our future as believers with Christ is that of a king and a priest.
1 Peter 2:5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Revelation 1:6 and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father–to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
A brilliant white flowing robe is the clothing consistent with a priest. Heavenly, priestly clothing is of linen. That’s the type of cloth Jesus was buried and covered. Before going to Heaven to be at the right hand of the Father, Christ the high priest was buried in linen. Matthew 27:59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth… (see also Mark 15:46, Luke 23:53). The body referenced is Jesus after His death.
Exodus 28 gives instructions for the priestly garments. The clothing for the priest is to be made of linen. Exodus 28:5 They shall take the gold and the blue and the purple and the scarlet material and the fine linen.The concept is stated seven times in Exodus 28. Priestly garments are of linen (Exodus 28:6, 8, 15, 39, 39, 42).
Jesus Christ is setting the stage for His bride to be clothed in Heavenly splendor.
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Psalm 118:25-26 Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the LORD.
Psalm 118 is known as the Messianic Psalm. As part of the Feast of Tabernacles Psalms 113-118 are sung and read. These are called the Hallel prayer (https://www.templeinstitute.org/tabernacles.htm).
About 2,000 years ago when Jesus made His triumphal entry in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the Sanhedrin freaked out. The Sadducees and Pharisees understood. The people were recognizing Jesus as the Messiah of Israel. All of the pieces were in place. The people were waiving palms. Jesus was claiming to be a direct descendant of King David. He was claiming to be the Son of God. The crowds were calling on Jesus to be their Savior. The term Hosanna is noted twice in the verses below. Hosanna is a cry. Save us now!
Matthew 21:8-9Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
Jesus knew He would not be accepted as the Messiah at His first advent. Jesus is the rejected stone.
Psalm 118:22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
The apostle Peter makes it crystal clear who the rejected stone is in the book of Acts and in his self-named epistle.
Acts 4:11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.
1 Peter 2:7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone…”
Later in the text of Matthew, Christ would lament of His rejection as Messiah over Jerusalem.
Matthew 23:39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
And we wait for His people Israel to recognize Him as the Messiah…But before He returns to Earth, this scene will be done in Heaven. Recall the words of the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.”
Revelation 7:9-10 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
When some people see you trying to better yourself & starting to do well in life, they will try to bring you down out of jealousy & bitterness. Don’t let them, keep doing the right thing & they will be seen for who they are. When you are bettering yourself, not everyone is meant to stay in your life & that’s okay. You can’t swim with dead weight dragging you down. Let go & move on.
1 Peter 2:15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the foolish talk of ignorant people.
The second of God’s holidays is Unleavened Bread or Chag haMatazt in the Hebrew. The holiday begins on the 15th of Nisan and runs for seven days.
The directions for Unleavened Bread are noted in Exodus 12:18-20. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the land.You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.
The focus of the week is to live a life without leaven, the symbol for sin. Leaven is not to be in the house. Leaven products are not to be consumed. Bread without yeast, matzah, is to be eaten.
What does the matzah look like? In the most fundamental Judaism homes, matzah is an irregular, round shaped piece of bread. It resembles a cracker or wafer in thickness. There are even rows of tiny holes on the wafer bread. The cracker-like bread appears to be striped.
Isaiah 53:5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.
1 Peter 2:24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. Peter is quoting Isaiah 53.
Jesus is the unleavened bread. He is the bread of life. John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
John 6:48 I am the bread of life.
John 6:50-51 This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.
Jesus knew He would not be accepted as the Messiah at His first advent. Jesus is the rejected stone.
And we wait for His people Israel to recognize Him as the Messiah…But before He returns to Earth, this scene will be done in Heaven. Recall the words of the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.”
