Why Should Christians Celebrate Passover
hy Christians should celebrate the Passover Pastor Jayon George
Exodus 12:11 “And thus shall you eat it; from your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s Passover.”
Recently I received a phone call from a friend of mine who asked the question, “Why are you spending so much time talking about Israel?” My response to him was, I have discovered my true Christian roots and I’m excited about it. Secondly I explained to him that Judaism is not only the root of Christianity, but that Israel is at the vortex of God’s prophetic time clock. More importantly, Israel’s appointed feasts or holy days, all points to Christ and His return in one way or another. Having said that, Passover is one of Israel’s appointed feasts that have much spiritual significance to our lives as believers today. However, it is unfortunate that the church have rejected the Passover and instead embraced pagan practices such as Easter egg hunts, Easter Bunnies, Valentine’s Day, and even Halloween to some degree. For more on the Easter Bunny and his colored eggs, watch for my article titled, “Since when Bunnies lay eggs,” set to be released in a few days. The Passover feast has so much to teach us in that it reminds us of our covenantal relationship with our God and with each other. Last night my family and I attended our very first Passover celebration with a wonderful Messianic congregation (Beit Yisrael), here in Orlando Florida. I must admit that it was one of the most enriching Christian experiences I’ve been a part of. It is my belief that all of Christianity ought to be a part of this great feast the Lord has ordained forever. If you are a believer and you are somewhat doubtful or critical about the Passover, please read to the end with an open mind and let the Lord speak to your heart.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT:
Since the time of Israel’s departure out of Egypt about 1445 B.C., the Hebrew people (later called Jews) have been celebrating the Passover Heb. (Pesach), each year in the spring (usually around the time of Good Friday and Easter). After more than four hundred years of bondage in Egypt, God determined to deliver the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob from slavery. He rose up Moses and commissioned him to be the leader of the exodus (Ex. 3-4). In obedience to the call of God, Moses confronted Pharaoh with God’s mandate: “Let my people go.” To impress upon him the seriousness of this message from the Lord, Moses by the power of God, called down plagues as judgments on the Egyptian nation. At the same time, the people of Israel were learning about God’s power and His mercy to them from these disasters. During several of the plagues, Pharaoh agreed to let the Israelites go but then reneged on his decision once the plague was lifted. The time came for the tenth and final plague, the one that would give the Egyptians no choice than to drive the Israelites out. God sent an angel of death throughout Egypt to destroy “all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast” (Ex. 12:12).
Since the Israelites were also living in Egypt, how could they escape the slaying angel? The lord gave specific command to His people; to obey it would bring His protection to each Hebrew family and firstborn son. Every family that sheltered in a house marked by the blood was safe from the destructive power of death. The night of judgment for the Egyptians was to be a night of salvation for the Israelites. Each family was to take a year-old male lamb without defect and kill it at twilight on the 14th day of the month of Abib; smaller households could share a single lamb (Ex.12:4). Some of the blood of the slain lamb was to be sprinkled on the two sides and on the top of the doorframe of their homes. When the angel of death went through the land, he would pass over those homes that had the blood sprinkled on them (hence the term Passover, from Heb. Pesach, meaning “to jump past,” “to pass by,” or “to spare”). Thus by the blood of the slain lamb, the Israelites were spared the judgment of death that came to all the Egyptian firstborn. God commanded the sign of the blood not because He could not otherwise distinguish the Israelites from the Egyptians, but because He wanted to teach His people the importance of obedience and of blood redemption, thus preparing for the “Lamb of God,” who centuries later would take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). On that particular night the Israelites were supposed to be dressed and ready to leave (Ex. 12:11). They were commanded to roast, not boil, the lamb, and to prepare unleavened bread (i.e., bread made without yeast) and bitter herbs. The bitter herbs served as a reminder of the bitterness of slavery in Egypt. Some see Unleavened Bread as an agricultural festival because it was linked with the barley harvest, when a first-ripe sheaf of barley was offered to God. The Bible links the eating of unleavened bread with the first Passover, when the people were in such a hurry to leave Egypt that there was no time to wait for the dough they took with them to rise. As the night approached, they would then be ready to eat the food and depart in haste when the Egyptians came and begged them to leave their country. Waling and lamentation filled the land as death came to each Egyptian dwelling. Pharaoh told Moses to take the people and be gone. As soon as that night came, all the Egyptians were eager to speed the Israelites on their way. The Israelites were free at last to leave the land of their slavery and to set out for the land God had promised their forefather Abraham. Everything happened as the Lord had spoken (Ex. 12:29-36).
THE PASSOVER IN ISRAELITE/JEWISH HISTORY:
From that moment in history, God’s people celebrated the Passover every spring, in response to His command that the Passover be “an ordinance forever” (Ex. 12:14). It was, however, a memorial sacrifice. Only the initial sacrifice in Egypt was an effective sacrifice. Before the temple was built, each Passover the Israelites gathered together in households, killed a lamb, removed all leaven from their homes, and ate bitter herbs. More importantly, they retold the story of the miraculous exodus of their ancestors from the land of Egypt and from slavery to Pharaoh. Thus from generation to generation, the Hebrew people remembered God’s redemption and their deliverance from Egypt. Parents were expected to use the Passover to teach children the truth of how God had redeemed them from slavery and sin and made them a special people under His care and rule. Once the temple was built, God commanded that the Passover celebration and the killing of the lamb take place in Jerusalem. The O.T. records several times in which an especially significant Passover was celebrated in the holy city (e.g., 2 ki. 23:21-23; 2 Chr. 30:1-20; Ezra 6:19-22).
WHY CHRISTIANS SHOULD CELEBRATE THE PASSOVER
The Passover was likewise observed by the Jews in N.T. times. The only incident from Jesus’ boyhood recorded in the Scriptures occurred when His parents took Him to Jerusalem at twelve years old to celebrate the Passover (Luke 2:41-50). Later in life, Jesus regularly went to Jerusalem for the Passover (John 2:13). The Last Supper that Jesus ate with His disciples in Jerusalem, shortly before going to the cross, was a Passover meal (Matt. 26:1-2, 17-29). As believers we must understand that Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper during a Passover meal. It was during the meal He took the bread and the wine and blessed it and distributed it to His disciples.Christ did not replace Passover with a different festival. In fact, the only thing that He replaced was the spring lamb with His own sacrifice—and the institution of the bread and wine to symbolize it. Jesus Himself was crucified on the Passover, as the Passover lamb (1 Cor. 5:7) who delivers those who believe from sin and death. Though the nature has somewhat changed, the Jews today still celebrate the Passover. Since there is no temple in Jerusalem where a lamb can be slain in obedience to Deut. 16:1-6, the contemporary Jewish feast (called the Seder) is no longer celebrated with a sacrificed lamb. But families still gather together, all yeast is ceremonially removed from Jewish homes, and the story of exodus from Egypt is retold by the father of the household.
The Passover account is found in Exodus 12:12-14. Verse 14 states that the Passover ceremony was commanded by God to be an annual memorial feast to be kept by Israel “forever.” (This command is repeated in Leviticus 23:5.) Exodus 12:15 introduces the seven-day festival called the Days of Unleavened Bread (also repeated in Leviticus 23:6-8), which was to immediately follow the Passover feast each year. This is why Acts 12:3 states, “Then were the days of unleavened bread,” before mentioning the Passover in the next verse. These days were always kept in conjunction with one another. If the Passover was instituted forever, then New Testament instruction for its observance should be clear. This instruction is found in I Corinthians 5:7-8: “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast (of unleavened bread, which always followed Passover, as explained above)…”
Christ, as the Lamb of God (John 1:29; Acts 8:32; I Peter 1:19; Rev. 5:6), replaced the Old Testament lamb eaten on Passover evening each year. The New Testament symbols of the bread and wine were instituted so that Christians could eat the body and drink the blood of Christ, the true Lamb of God. Jesus’ sacrifice replaced the need to kill a spring lamb. Luke 22:19 shows that Jesus substituted the bread and wine to be taken annually in commemoration of His sacrifice for the remission of our sins—both spiritual and physical. Early Christians kept the Passover, not Easter. Notice this from the Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edit., Vol. 8, p. 828: “There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers…The first Christians continued to observe the Jewish festivals [God’s festivals of Leviticus 23], though in a new spirit, as commemorations of events which those festivals had foreshadowed. Thus the Passover, with a new conception added to it, of Christ as the true Paschal Lamb…continued to be observed.”
The original apostles and early New Testament Church did not observe Easter. Notice: “In the second century A.D., Easter Day was, among Christians in Asia Minor [these would be the Gentile churches that Paul raised up in places such as Philippi, Colossae, Galatia, etc.—and he warned the Galatians (4:9-10) about taking days such as Easter] the 14th of Nisan [or Abib] the seventh month of the [civil] Jewish calendar” (World Almanac, 1968 edit., p. 187). The date described here is not Easter Day, but rather the Passover—which was kept on the 14th day of the first month (Nisan) of the sacred calendar. The apostles and early Church did not observe Easter. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 11:17-22 Paul says, “Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you.Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper.For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk.What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you……“Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.”
It is imperative that we understand that in this passage Paul is not talking about the Lord’s Supper, but rather the Passover. If it was not a meal, then why would he say “For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk?” He then goes on to say“when you come together to eat, wait for another.” In the same way Jesus initiated the Lord’s Supper over a Passover meal, in the same manner, Paul and the early church partook of the Lord’s Supper during the Passover meal. Despite the overwhelming proof that God’s Holy Days, as listed in Leviticus 23, are still to be kept by Christians today (Acts 2:1; 12:3; 18:21; 20:6, 16; I Cor. 5:7-8; 16:8), not many Christians who claim to believe in the God of the Bible keeps them. Almost no one in the Christian church, who professes to worship Jesus Christ, observes the Passover as He commanded.
YESHUA (JESUS) & THE PASSOVER:
For Christians, the Passover contains rich prophetic symbolism that points forward to Jesus Christ. The N.T. explicitly teaches that the Jewish feasts are a “shadow of things to come” (Col. 2:16-17; Heb. 10:1), i.e., redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ. Note the following in Exodus 12 that remind us of our Savior and His will for us.
1. The heart and soul of the Passover event was God’s saving grace. God brought the Israelites out of Egypt not because they were such a worthy people but because He loved them and because He was faithful to His covenant (Deut. 7:7-10). Similarly, the salvation we receive from Yeshua comes to us through the amazing grace of God (Eph. 2:8-10; Tit. 3:4-5).
2. The purpose of the blood applied on the door was to save the firstborn son of each family from death. This blood points to Christ’s shedding of Hid blood on the cross in order to save us from death and from God’s wrath against sin (Ex. 12:13,23; Heb. 9:22).
3. The Passover lamb was a “sacrifice” (Ex.12:27) that functioned as a substitute for the firstborn. This sacrifice points to Christ’s death as a substitution for the believer’s death (Rom. 3:25). Paul explicitly calls Christ our Passover lamb who was sacrificed for us (1 Cor. 5:7).
4. The male lamb that was marked for death had to be “without blemish” (Ex. 12:5); the lamb prefigures the sinlessness of Yeshua, the perfect Son of God (John 8:46; Heb. 4:15).
5. The eating of the Lamb represented the identification of the Israelite community with the lamb’s death, a death that saved them from physical death. Similarly, taking the Lord’s Supper represents our participation in the death of Yeshua, a death that saves us from spiritual death (1 Cor. 10:16-17; 11:24-26). As in the case of the Passover, only the initial sacrifice, i.e., His death on the cross, was an effective sacrifice.
6. The sprinkling of the blood on the door posts was done in obedient faith (Ex. 12:28; Heb. 11:28); this response of faith brought about redemption through the blood (Ex. 12:7, 13). Salvation through Yeshua’s blood is obtained only through “the obedience of faith” (Rom. 16:26).
7. The Passover lamb was to be eaten along with unleavened bread (Ex. 12:8). Since yeast in the Bible usually represents sin and corruption (Ex. 13:7; Matt. 16:6), this unleavened bread represented the separation of the redeemed Israelites from Egypt, i.e., from the world and from sin. Likewise, God’s redeemed people are called to separate themselves from the sinful world and dedicate themselves to God alone.
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What is Lent?
What is Lent?
For some Christians, Lent has always been a part of their spiritual life, but for others it is unfamiliar. Lent is a season leading up to Easter, a time when Christians have historically prepared their hearts for Easter with reflection, repentance, and prayer. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday and proceeds for forty days, excluding Sundays, and culminating with Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Since Sundays are weekly celebrations of the resurrection of Jesus, the six Sundays in Lent are not counted as part of the forty-day season, which focuses on introspection, self examination, and repentance. Many Christians choose to celebrate a fast throughout the season of Lent, but the focus is not on depriving themselves of something as much as it is on devoting themselves to God and his purposes in the world.
Lent is an important season of the church year. The church year is an excellent way to help focus our attention on God with the way we organize our time. Rather than following the solar calendar's more familiar structure, organized by the rhythms of nature, the church calendar is organized around God and his activity in the world. The church calendar follows six seasons of varying length: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. Each of these seasons have different focuses: Advent focuses on the anticipation of God's coming into the world, both in the incarnation and in Christ's return. Christmas focuses on the birth of Christ. Epiphany focuses on the light of God's presence shining in the world. Lent focuses on human sin and God's gracious solution. Easter focuses on resurrection life. Pentecost focuses on the ongoing activity of the Holy Spirit in the world. The annual rhythm of these seasons can have a powerful effect on personal and communal spiritual growth.**
Begin the Lent season today by reflecting on God’s grace in your life and the areas you need His grace to manifest. We would love to hear from you today @ [email protected]
**Devotion taken from www.youversion.com
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Embrace The Donkey In Your Life
Mary and Joseph left Nazareth and began their journey to Bethlehem riding on a donkey. It would take a week or so to reach the launching place of Jesus Christ life and ministry.
I have pondered all day, “what was Mary thinking?” as she rode mile after mile on the hard and rocky terrain… on the smelly, sweaty donkey.
As the donkeys foot would slip or hit a rock Mary would have to reach down and clinch the neck of the donkey….when she was tired she would put her cheek on the head of the smelly, sweaty donkey.
MARY HAD TO EMBRACE THE DONKEY IN HER LIFE TO REACH THE LAUNCHING PLACE OF JESUS LIFE AND MINISTRY!!
So what or who are the donkeys in your life that God is using to walk you into your destiny? An unsaved husband, an unfair boss, unemployment, a child with a life-long disability? Whatever or whoever are the donkey’s in your life, EMBRACE THE DONKEY!!
I am not suggesting you “live with” the situation, not at all! You embrace Your Donkey by faith. You keep walking but you do it by faith and here are some suggestions:
1. Embrace Your Donkey
2. Rid Yourself of Unforgiveness and Doubt
3. Confess God’s Word and Trust in God as Mary did, “According to thy Word” Luke 1:38
4. Keep Walking Towards Your Destiny Until You Reach It!!
THE DONKEY IN YOUR LIFE IS WALKING YOU INTO YOUR DESTINY!! EMBRACE IT!!
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Christmas “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!”
Artificial or synthetic trees are quite popular due to convenience, easier maintenance, looking just as appealing on display, and the ability to be reused over the years.
Even though from a window display it may look authentic, an artificial tree will never have that fresh smell of pine or soft bristles. And although, the maintenance of a real tree throughout the holiday season may take more work, in the long run it is worth doing. Consistently adding water to the base of your tree stand ensures the life and freshness of your authentic Christmas tree.
In the same respect, people may be authentic or artificial Christians. Just like your Christmas tree in the window display may seem to look real, people may also appear to be Christians but aren’t always authentic. So tell us how you think someone can prevent from becoming an artificial Christian?
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What is Advent?
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14 NKJV).
The Incarnation of the Eternal Word – Jesus Christ – is the great redemptive miracle of the Christian faith. The union of humanity and divinity in the person of Jesus means that his crucifixion and resurrection have defeated the power of sin and death and brings the promise of eternal life to all who believe. This redemptive event is most often associated with the celebration of Christmas. However, in the last century the celebration of Christmas has lost its Christological focus. So, the challenge before us is to discover, or rediscover, ways by which the church can once again focus its worship on this wonderful event.
Many centuries ago, the church established a sacred calendar to inspire its worship. The sacred calendar focused on God’s saving acts as revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. The first sacred season is Advent. Advent is a season of expectation. For centuries the Hebrew prophets declared the coming of the Anointed One. The Hebrew people patiently waited for the “consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25). Each year as the church celebrates Advent, the people of God experience a season of hopeful expectation. Just as the ancient Hebrews anticipated the advent of the messiah, the church presently anticipates the second advent of Jesus Christ. Advent focuses our worship on the fullness of Christ’s redemption – Incarnation and consummation. Thinking of the sacred calendar as a clock is helpful to understanding Advent. Just as twelve o’clock is the ending and beginning of the day (AM and PM), so too Advent is the ending and beginning of the sacred calendar.
Advent began this year on December 2, 2012 (on the fourth Sunday before Christmas ). The four Sundays of Advent are celebrated by emphasizing biblical themes of expectation and hope. The first Sunday of Advent emphasizes the Second Advent of Christ (Matthew 24:37-44; Mark 13:24-37; Luke 21:25-36). The theme for the second and third Sundays of Advent focuses on the ministry of the John the Baptist: Prepare the Way of the Lord (Matthew 3:1-12; Mark 1:1-8; Luke 3:1-6) and The Coming One (Matthew 11:2-11; John 1:6-8; 19-28; Luke 3:7-18). The fourth Sunday of Advent focuses on the Virgin birth of Christ (Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38; Luke 1:39-55).
Because Advent has not been celebrated in most Pentecostal churches, the various Advent themes may seem somewhat alien. But there are many ways that Advent can be observed that will be helpful in Pentecostal congregations. The celebration of Advent is traditionally centered on the Advent wreath. It is comprised of a wreath of evergreens with four candles placed around the circumference and a fifth candle in the center – the Christ candle. The wreath should be placed at the altar, or on the stage. Each Sunday, beginning with the first Sunday of Advent, the appropriate candle is lighted with an appropriate song or hymn and reading from the Scripture. This is a good opportunity to involve children, or entire families. The progressive lighting of the candles symbolizes the growing anticipation of the coming of the Light of the world. The Christ candle should be lighted during a Christmas Eve service, or as the final act of worship on the fourth Sunday of Advent. The lighting of candles for Advent is an ancient Christian tradition. According to legend, during the 4th and 5th centuries, the entire Roman Empire was illuminated by the candles of believers during Advent. The Advent wreath could also be used in Christian homes as a teaching device to instruct our children about the “reason for the season.”
Advent worship could also include dramas and dances that depict the theme of the season. Also, choral songs and sermons should be presented during worship that serves to keep the redemptive theme of Advent prominent in the minds of worshipers. For the past several years, I have designated the midweek services during Advent to teach the biblical and traditional foundations for the Advent/Christmas season. This includes lessons on the infancy narratives of the Gospel, and historical background behind other seasonal images, such as: the Virgin Mary, the three wise men, and the star of Bethlehem. Also, this is an excellent time to teach the story and traditions about Nicholas of Myra, the ancient Bishop who has been transformed into Santa Claus.
It may surprise many Christian parents to discover that most of the contemporary themes of Advent and Christmas celebrations – Santa Claus, gift giving, and Rudolf – are less than 150 years old. The present culture has co-opted, redefined, and even paganized an important holy season of the Christian church. If we are to succeed in preserving the significance of the Advent season, it must begin with intentional observances in church, and at home.-- Author, Daniel Toberlin http://www.danieltomberlin.net/
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Spoken Word
First, I have a confession to make. On the one hand, I know that I am loved by God. I know that He values me, has a plan and purpose for me. On the other hand, I still run into doubts in my heart. Places where I suddenly suspect, no matter how many times I have sung Jesus Loves Me, that I am more of an afterthought to God than precious in His sight. I stumbled into one of those darkened chambers in my heart as I wondered if I was a word from God.
So, I began to think about the fact that God formed me in the womb (Isaiah 44:2), and that I was fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). I love the phrase David used, “you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). This was helpful. It reminded me that I did not end up here randomly. I am not an accident. I am part of God’s purpose. However, I still wondered if God formed me as a mere piece to His beautiful puzzle. Don’t get me wrong. Being a piece in God’s puzzle is an incredible honor, more than I deserve. But is that all that I am? Or am I something more? Not just something God will plug into the picture, but someone God speaks about?
This got me thinking about God speaking. We see how He spoke things into existence at creation. Does He still speak things into existence? Or did He only need to get the ball rolling? Did He actually speak me into existence? You into existence? Or does He just like to quietly knit things together?
I started looking for references to God speaking individual people into existence. I was reminded that He “brought us forth by the word of truth” (James 1:18). I thought about how we are called “epistles of Christ” (2 Cor 3:3). And of course Jesus Himself is called the Word of God (John 1:1). Thinking about the first chapter of John reminded me of the third chapter of John, where we learn that we are not just born once, but twice (John 3:3). Our second birth is birthed by the Spirit, which blows like the wind (John 3:5-8). So, God breathed me into my new birth, and breathing is a whole lot like speaking. Yet, in all of this I still felt unsettled.
So, I began to wonder, IF God spoke me into existence what word did He use? I began to think about my name. And I remembered that God actually has my name written on the palm of His hand (Isaiah 49:16). I also remembered that to the one who overcomes God will give a white stone with a new name written on it that no one understands except the one who receives it (Revelation 2:17). And that the new name that I will receive will not only be written on the white stone, but on me as well (Revelation 3:12).
My faith was growing throughout this process. But I was still unsure about God actually speaking my name, saying it out loud. Then I was reminded that God not only speaks over me, but actually sings over me (Zephaniah 3:17). I began to get a little scared thinking about God actually speaking out loud, calling my name. But then I was reminded of this: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1).
That last verse sort of settled the matter in my mind. I began to wonder what it sounds like to hear God say my name. And just the thought of it sent the love of the Father down to the bottom of that hole in my heart. I accepted that my name is a word, which means that I am a word. I am a word spoken from Heaven, spoken by God. Once I had accepted that I was a word from God, that He had spoken me into existence, that I had left His lips, I was filled with such an awesome sense of the presence of God that I thought I might audibly hear Him speak my name. I did not hear my name, but what I heard in my heart was a promise about what God does with words like me, words like you. And it wrecked me. I was undone. This is what I heard:
As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You are a word from God, spoken from heaven. All of your days were written in His book before your body was ever formed (Psalm 139:16). Your name is written in heaven (Luke 10:20). When you left the lips of God your purpose was guaranteed. You will not return to Him empty, but will accomplish what He desires and achieve the purpose for which He sent you. Receive yourself with thanksgiving today. “For everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it, but receive it with thanks” (1 Timothy 4:4). You are more than body, soul and spirit. You have been named in Heaven. And you are more than a name. You are a word spoken by God.
Adapted form author Jonathan Stone, 3/19/12, at http://bit.ly/NjFFOI
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Faith and Health
If religious faith could be packaged in a pill, the stock price of drug companies would soar. Religion, not merely spirituality, is a profound predictor of health. Spiritual practices can reduce blood pressure, strengthen the immune system, and help stave off some effects of mental illness about as well as many drugs on the market. In fact, the lack of religiosity is about as unhealthy as 40 years of smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. If you care about your health, you might want to start going to church and praying regularly.
Consider these five ways that faith is really good for you.
Faith Encourages Healthy Behavior.
“Don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t chew, and don’t go with girls who do.” Even the fundamentalist Christian high school I attended considered that line outdated. Nevertheless, the effect of behavioral change due to religion literally reduces your chances of dying. Your faith community may not encourage you to eat organic, non-GMO, plant-based, local and slow foods, but it probably still exercises some healthy influence on the habits you form and the activities you undertake.
I discovered a stark example visiting the work of a Christian microfinance agency in Cambodia. Microfinance aims to help people out of poverty by giving small loans to start small businesses. But the loan client I met, a fisherman, told me that what really helped him was learning discipline through the small group of loan clients he regularly met with. Many of them were Christians, so he became one too. They helped him stop drinking, which ended the damaging home environment for his wife and children. Religion didn’t fix his life and help him out of poverty. But through regular exposure to a group with healthier lifestyles and habits, faith created an environment to make that happen in his own life.
Faith Reduces Stress.
Stress has a direct negative effect on your immune system, reducing the ability of cells to attack disease inside the body. Studies have shown that religion reduces stress in a number of ways. Prayer, in particular, can reduce high blood pressure that is due to stress. The anxieties and stresses of modern life tend to encourage the body’s fight or flight response. Prayer, worship and other spiritual activities can balance out this stress response by enhancing the body’s relaxation response.
In addition, people who are religious tend to think in ways that are healthy. Faith gives people a sense of meaning and purpose in life, which is linked to better health. The brain controls every aspect of our bodies, so how we think affects how our bodies work. In a similar way, religious people tend to be affected less by depression. Of course, real, faith-filled Christians still suffer from depression and other forms of mental illness. But while faith is certainly no cure for any mental illness, it does seem to offer an additional buffer against its worst effects.
Community Improves Emotional Health
Having friends is good for you. Having religious friends is even better. In fact, one study found that “church membership was the only type of social involvement that predicted greater life satisfaction and happiness,” according to Harold Koenig, the Director of the Center for Spirituality at Duke University. (He writes about all these studies in his book, Medicine, Religion, and Health.)
Another study found the same effects from informal social interactions with church friends—but not other friendships. Another study among older adults in Iowa found that frequent church attenders where 68 percent less likely to die over a 12 year period. The bonds we form as Christ-followers provide us with more than just a social calendar. They are a vital web that sustains our health through rich relationships that improve both psychological and emotional wellbeing.
Helping Others Improves Life Satisfaction
Faith makes you healthier by providing you a community more willing to help you when life is difficult. Christians created the world’s first hospitals, and professional health care has long been essential to missions and ministry to the poor. But if you don't find yourself seated among nurses or doctors in the pew, never fear. Faith's greater health benefit comes to those who help. People who tithe, or give away 10 percent of their income, are on average 10 percentage points more likely to be very happy with their lives, according to sociologist Christian Smith.
One study sought to determine which of two different methods would better help people who suffer from multiple sclerosis, but they found that MS sufferers who were providing help, not just receiving it, were actually the ones to benefit the most. Since religious people are more likely to give money to charity and to volunteer, they are also more likely to experience the health benefits of helping others.
Space for the Miraculous
We need not doubt the fact that God heals, sometimes in miraculous ways. More than three quarters of Americans believe that prayer can heal people from injury or illnesses. In a survey, the same number of doctors said that they believe in miraculous healings. In many cases, the truth of Christianity has been put to the test of its miraculous effects and found to be genuine. This was true in 9th century Egypt when one monk claimed that he knew of no one who had become a Christian “except for proofs which they have witnessed, signs which they have known, and miracles which they have recognized, which compelled them to submit to it and practice it.”
Today the same is true in many places. In China, 80 to 90 percent of converts claim to have converted due to divine healing. In Brazil, more Pentecostal Christians claim to have experienced healing than to have spoken in tongues. Whether through prayer, laying on of hands, or some other miraculous intervention, those who claim faith can find in God health for both body and soul.
Some have suggested that miraculous healings are actually a sign of a "placebo effect" in which Christian belief motivates the body to faster healing—and, it's true, many studies have shown a positive correlation between optimistic outlook and effective recovery. But whether through placebo effect, divine intervention or, perhaps, some combination we do not entirely understand, the truth remains: there are health benefits to believing that God has control over your health.
We need to exercise caution when trumpeting the benefits of faith, as faith was never intended to be a pill and the Bible is not an exercise pamphlet. Faithful, believing Christians get sick and lead lives plagued by disease or physical ailments (many scholars believe the apostle Paul himself spent his life battling some sort of physical handicap). But if we believe that God's authority stretches to the physical as well as the spiritual, then we can accept that He can manifest that authority in our physical health as well as our spiritual health.
Taken From: www.relevantmagazine.com
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THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE TOWEL
Footwashing has been observed by the Church for centuries. Some early church fathers understood footwashing as a sacrament and associated it with water baptism. Others used the word “mystery” when speaking of footwashing, and presented it as a sacred rite independent of communion and baptism. Churches representing all Christian traditions, from Roman Catholic to Pentecostal, observe this sacred act. Footwashing has often been adopted by various renewal movements as a protest against abuses of ecclesiastical hierarchy. Because early Pentecostals understood themselves to be a renewal of the “church of the Bible” the practice of footwashing was embraced. Every member was encouraged to observe this sacred act on the basis of fidelity to the Bible and the unity of the Church. Some have questioned the validity of footwashing. However, there are many biblical reasons why we should observe footwashing regularly.
Footwashing witnesses to the descent of the eternal Word. John declared that the eternal Word descended from glory and power to assume human nature (John 1:1, 14). This is a common theme in the New Testament. Peter spoke of the descent of our Lord when he “made proclamation to the spirits now in prison” (1 Peter 3:19). In a beautiful early hymn of the Church, Paul relates to us the heart of this Christology:
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself (Greek – kenosis), taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8).
The apostolic tradition interprets the Incarnation using terms denoting humility and service. The image of Jesus rising from the table, laying aside his garments, taking a towel, pouring water into a basin, bowing before his disciples and washing their feet incorporates into one sacred action the significance of the Incarnation. In Christ’s own self-emptying he has revealed to us the glory of God. Likewise, Christians are called to emptiness and self-denial (Matthew 10:39; 16:24-25; 19:21; Mark 8:34-35; 10:21; Luke 9:23-24; 17:33; 18:22; John 12:26; Acts 2:45; 4:34-37; Philippians 2:3-5; 3:7-8). This is the spirituality of Footwashing – the fellowship of the towel (John 13:14-15). This is a difficult spirituality for Christians who live in a culture of affluence, where spirituality is defined in terms of prosperity and success. One who wishes to enter into the fellowship of the towel must first experience the kenosis, the emptying of one’s self. Footwashing is more than a sacred act of worship; it is a way of life.
Footwashing interprets Christ sacrificial death. Jesus’ washing of his disciples’ feet interprets the cross as the climax of the Son’s descent. Footwashing is presented in terms of Christ’s redemptive love and sacrificial death (John 13:1). As Jesus washed their feet, the disciples experienced a spiritual transformation. Through footwashing the disciples were cleansed and placed in fellowship with Him (John 13:8-10). Unless the disciples allowed Jesus to wash their feet, they could have “no part” of Him (John 13:8). Footwashing was not a matter of individual consciences, but a matter of salvation. Further, Jesus commanded his disciples to wash one another’s feet (John 13:14). By doing so, they affirmed each other as fellow believers. Footwashing interprets the cross as Jesus having laid down his life for his disciples. Likewise, he commanded his disciples to lay down their lives for one another.
Footwashing offers an opportunity for the sinful to confess their offenses and receive forgiveness.James wrote, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed” (James 5:16). Too often, we have viewed confession of sin as private matter, a matter of concern only between the sinner and the Lord. However, confession and forgiveness of sin takes place within the community of faith. The sinner must seek forgiveness from and reconciliation with the offended person (Matthew 5:23-24). Within the community of Jesus’ disciples there had been a clash of egos and many examples of failure (Matthew 16:22-12; 26:47-49; 69-75; Mark 9:17-19; 10:35-41). But Jesus washed the feet of each one and commanded that they wash one another’s feet: “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you” (John 13:14-15). Footwashing demonstrates that the Church is a community of grace in which sinners are to be welcomed and restored.
Footwashing exemplifies authentic Christian ministry. The footwashing of the disciples was performed in the context of their apostolic mission. Jesus is the Divine Servant, the disciples are servants of the Divine One, and as such are servants to the world. The Apostle Paul twice used the metaphor of “feet” to speak of the proclamation of the Gospel (Romans 10:15; Ephesians 6:15). Among our greatest temptations is power and authority. Power intoxicates and corrupts the human soul. One would hope that those who serve the Church would not be so easily seduced. But we know that we are not immune. The first century Corinthian Church suffered from schism and turmoil. Many persons within the church challenged and rejected the apostolic ministry of the Paul. The leaders of this group were known as the “super-apostles” (2 Corinthians 11:5, NIV). The conflict between Paul and the super-apostles was due to their different models of ministry. The model of the super-apostles was that of persons of divine power who boasted in their charismatic gifts. Paul’s model was that of the “meekness and gentleness of Christ,” (1 Corinthians 2:3; 2 Corinthians 10:1). He seemed “unimpressive” and his preaching style was “contemptible” (2 Corinthians 10:10; 11:6). His ministry was characterized by “weakness and fear” and he suffered from many bodily ailments, one of which was a “thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan” (1 Corinthians 2:3; 2 Corinthians 12:7; Galatians 4:3). When the members of the Corinthian Church compared the two models of ministry, they favored the super-apostles. However, with all the apparent strengths of the super-apostles they lacked what is necessary to establish an authentic Christian ministry – a model of ministry that follows after the example of Jesus Christ! In fact, they were not super-apostles, but false apostles! (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). Authentic Christian ministry is not defined in terms of bold, charismatic leadership; but in the willingness to lay all garments aside, to take up the towel and basin in order to wash the feet of God’s people.
Published by Dan Tomberlin @ danieltomberlin.net
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God Can Do Anything But Fail
The difficult He does immediately, the impossible takes a little longer! So never give up, never take no for an answer, where there's a will there's a way, and nothing is too hard for the Lord. The Lord can do anything if you'll just give Him a chance.
"God can do anything, anything, anything,
God can do anything but fail!
He can save, He can heal,
Just believe and He will,
God can do anything but fail!"
We know, Lord, that You can do it, and we know You WILL do it if we'll believe and trust You! You always make a way, if we obey and do it Your way. If we do all we can do, Lord, we know that you'll do the rest, as much as possible. And if it even comes to the impossible, Lord, you're an expert at that. For with Thee nothing shall be impossible and all things are possible to those that believe. (Lk.1:37; Mk.9:23) So help us, Lord, to believe and do all we can, and trust You for the impossible! You can do anything but fail, and we'll never fail as long as we trust You, Jesus!
"Got any rivers you think are uncrossable?
Got any mountains you can't tunnel through?
God specialises in things thought impossible
And He can do what no other friend can do!"
-From Deep Truths_
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Timing Is Everything!
It is the expectation of every believer to not only be in the perfect will of God, but to stay in step with Him as well. We know in Ecclesiastes 3:1, that it talks about to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. At the beginning of this year, we talked about this being a season of abundance for those who have been diligently seeking God and for those who have been faithful to Him for many seasons. It’s like the farmer who has been diligent and faithful to overlooking his fields for many seasons and justly reaping the rewards.
This is a year of abundant justly reaping for the diligent and faithful believers, and it’s going to cause many who have not been faithful and diligent to take note of what is happening. Timing for the faithful and a time to take notice for the less faithful. Now, the purpose under heaven for all of this is to bring the Church back to its’ roots of being a true and faithful follower of Christ’s agenda and not mans’ agenda.
God provoked the Israelites to jealousy when they would not accept Him, but the Gentiles did accept Him. It moves the Father to action when you accept His word, His only begotten Son, and continue to accept Him day in and day out. The time to take action is now saints, and it has been since the beginning of this year. If you haven’t been whole-hearted in your commitment, make the commitment today at this moment. Don’t wait another day. This is one of the greatest times in the Church Age to step up and take the time to get to know how the Kingdom of God works. Now without question, this is something we should always practice, but I’m talking about those special seasons of harvest that have been purposed from above.
In Matthew 4:17-19 it says, From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. These were men who made their living at fishing in the natural for food, and Jesus said it is time to feed the multitudes supernatural food. Go and catch the attention of man to kingdom thinking, and the way to come into this was to repent – to turn away from your present carnal ways of doing things and turn to God. Jesus was the representative of heaven as He was God in the earth in a flesh suit. Jesus came to earth at just the right time to preach about the kingdom of heaven. 2013 is the right time to come into the abundance of the things of God by following Christ faithfully, turning from your old natural ways, turning to God and stepping into the supernatural.
The timing of this blog, I know, is going to touch a lot of viewers. You haven’t stepped up yet like you thought you were going to, but I’m here to encourage that it’s not too late. We’re heading into the middle of March and you can still get in sync with the cadence beat of the Holy Spirit. If you feel you need an extra shot of encouragement then tell us how we can help you by letting us know in the comment section. We will assist you as your spiritual personal trainer. Remember: Timing is Everything.
Posted on March 15, 2013 by John Powers
