DEUTERONOMY 5: A REHEARSAL ON HOLINESS, A CALL TO FAITHFULNESS

Contributing commentaries by pastors Sonny Islas, Albert Lopez, and James Fire

DEUTERONOMY 5: “HEAR, O PEOLE OF GOD AND DO” by Albert Lopez, check out the complete teaching here!

INTRODUCTION: Sobre aviso no hay engaño. There’s no deception if you have been warned. Don’t let it go in one ear and then out the other. Key: It’s to observe; not hear and do nothing. At the end of Deuteronomy 4 in verse 39-40 The Lord is preparing his people for the 10 commandments which we read about in Exodus, and we will review once again in this chapter.

Deuteronomy 4:39-40
“Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am giving you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may live long on the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.

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WALKING The COVENANT WAY: PART 4 of 8: the ABRAHAMIC Covenant

~ by James Fire

This next covenant, like the Noahic covenant, is an unconditional covenant, with nothing for Abraham to perform or contribute, except that he simply believed GOD – which he did, and that brought about the reckoning of righteousness attributed to Abraham (ROM 4:2-3).

We see Abram’s name first in GENESIS 11:26; we learn there that he was the son of Terah, and the brother of Nahor and Haran. This man from the land of Ur of the Chaldees was obviously a Gentile (there were no Hebrews then; he becomes the first!), and more than that, a Babylonian.

Yet by grace, GOD called Abram out of his father’s house, out of his native land and directed him to a far distant land which he would eventually inherit. Abram at seventy five years of age heard GOD beckoning and responded to Him (GEN 12:1-4).

In those verses GOD promised to make of him a great nation, grant him a great name, and that he would be a blessing (vs. 2). He also promised to bless those who blessed him and curse him that cursed him; GOD reiterates that He would bless all the families of the Earth, through the life of Abram (vs. 3).

The LORD manifested Himself to Abram in Shechem and declared that He would give the land (he was now standing on) to his descendants; GEN 12:7.

There are two primary chapters that teaches us about the Abrahamic Covenant: GENESIS 15 and GENESIS 22.

So without any further delay, let’s dive into GENESIS 15 and see what this reveals to us!

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DEUTERONOMY 4: A REHEARSAL ON HOLINESS, A CALL TO FAITHFULNESS

CHAPTER 4 - Parts ONE & TWO

Contributing commentaries by pastors Sonny Islas, Albert Lopez, and James Fire

DEUTERONOMY 4: “TRINITY of TRUTH, TRIUMPH and TERROR” by James Fire

To hear a teaching on DEUTERONOMY 4, listen to pastor Sonny of SHINE BRIGHT Church!

INTRODUCTION: The revelation that GOD has provided for us within the completed canon of Scripture brings to us a progressive understanding as we traverse from GENESIS to REVELATION.

We learn that the Creator is “GOD” in GENESIS 1, and then He is referred to as “LORD GOD” in GENESIS 2 (but take note that Satan doesn’t refer to Him as “LORD GOD” but only as “GOD”.
As we proceed, we learn of Him as the Holy Judge, and then as Redeemer, and the fullness of this revelation is brought before us in the Person of Jesus Christ. This is why the last book of the Bible is referred to as “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”: Observe:

REVELATION 1:1a
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants…

In this fifth and last book of the Torah, the LORD reveals all the more about Himself, His intentions with Israel, their unfortunate response, and in spite of all this, the LORD’s faithfulness to them because of His promise (and oath HEB 6:13-18) to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the 12 patriarchs (GEN 15:18; 50:1-33; PSALM 105; DEUT 7:12; ACTS 7:8). We also get some insight into the very nature of GOD!

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THESE THREE GIFTS FOR GOD, IMMANUEL, The HOLY CHRIST CHILD

THESE THREE GIFTS FOR GOD, IMMANUEL, The HOLY CHRIST CHILD

~ For a SHINE BRIGHT presentation, delivered by pastors Sonny, Albert and James, check this out!

1) GOLD

Of the three gifts the first is gold, which represents divinity and kingly wealth and dignity. Long before GOD the Son took on humanity, He was (and is) GOD eternal and King of Heaven. Yet He did indeed take on humanity (JOHN 1:1-3,14) and the wondrous mystery of Majestic GOD and sinless Man came to be – we beheld His glory, the glory as the Only Begotten of the Father!

As we know the Old Testament is full of foreshadowing and types of Christ from GENESIS to MALACHI. In the visions that Moses received on Mt. Sinai concerning the building of the Tabernacle and all the details revealed to him on how everything was to be built, the ark of the covenant (essentially a box that would hold the ten commandment tablets, Aaron’s rod that budded and a jar of manna) was to be made of acacia wood and overlaid with pure gold. The mercy seat, the lid that covered the ark was not made of wood covered with gold, but solid, pure gold!

The mercy seat, a picture of the throne of GOD with its accompanying cherubim, represents the pure deity of Christ, entirely GOD. The ark of the covenant represented the hypostatic union of His Deity and humanity in perfect unity and harmony because the gold still represents His Deity, but the wood, His humanity.

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A TTUF REVIEW of JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION – Conclusion To A Sensational Saga

~ By James Fire

I distinctly remember going to the school library in the 3rd grade and picking out a book about dragons; many of them looked nothing like your typical dragon, but as I continued to turn the pages, to my startled amazement, this wasn’t a fantasy book. It was a book on dinosaurs (which were referred to as “dragons” well into the late 19th and early 20th century. It was in 1842 that Sir Richard Owen, Britain’s leading paleontologist coined the word dinosaur meaning “terrible lizard”) – these were real creatures that once roamed the Earth (according to the book, over millions of years ago)!?

Thus began my love for these powerful beasts of mythic proportions who were a testament to the power of life!

Dinosaurs seem to always charm the hearts of children; I know they did mine! I would tune in to television shows and movies in the 60’s and 70’s that had dinosaurs in them, but they were rather cheesy looking. Puppets or Claymation models that moved stiffly and unrealistically – still, they were as much fun to watch as that man in a rubber suit that trashed the miniature city of Tokyo in the many iterations of the Japanese films of Godzilla.

It wasn’t until 1993 however that the novel Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton* hit the silver screen to enthrall and enchant us all. These animatronic beasties looked (and sounded!) very real indeed!

*Dr. Crichton was a medical doctor that decided not to go into practice, but turned his attention to writing, and wrote The Andromeda Strain. Timeline, Sphere, Pirate Latitudes, Congo – over two dozen novels in all including JURASSIC PARK (JP)).

The story line was genius: DNA from the blood of dinosaurs was harvested by scientists who procured it from amber-encased mosquitoes which feasted on their reptilian blood way back in the day. They mapped out the genome and filled in ‘the empty spaces’ where gene chains were broken with similar DNA from present day frogs and reptiles, and through the miracles of modern science – voila! A new age of dinosaurs was born!

But as Dr. Ian Malcolm (played by Jeff Goldblum) said with almost prophetic portent: “…your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should”.

That warning has been sounded in replete fashion, both in the films and in the real world regarding the use of technology, which can be either a benefit or a bane (we’ll touch on this later in this article)!

Let’s get a synopsis of this marvelous film of JURASSIC WORLD (JW): Dominion first and then go from there…

SPOILER ALERT!!! [Note: content in brackets are my own statements, and or editing]

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STUDY In The Book of NEHEMIAH - Part ONE: TRIUMPH by TRANSFORMATION

INTRODUCTION: I have always been fascinated as a child by stories of transformation, whether the person in question was Scrooge or the Wolfman. The idea that a person could be found in one particular state, only to come under some other influence and be irrevocably changed by it was captivating for me.

Truly, any good story will follow the life of the protagonist from the beginning and witness how they’ve changed by the end of the story

Here in the book of Nehemiah, we see the transformation not of a person, but a nation and a city: where once they were displaced from their homeland and lived as refugees, they were brought back to the land of their fathers, according to the promises of GOD.

Whereas the city of Jerusalem was in ruins by the judgment of GOD that was justifiably rendered upon His rebellious people who refused to repent, we see some fifty thousand of these Jews returning back to their “City of Peace” only to be confronted and discouraged by seemingly insurmountable circumstances and relentless enemies.
Nevertheless, GOD raised up His man, Nehemiah, and gifted him with such spiritual accoutrements that were effective in getting the job done, a restored Jerusalem!

I love this book because it’s a book about a restored conviction in the undeniable promises of GOD, a restored hope, a restored city!
These promises involve not just the Jewish people and their personal and national prosperity but include the panoramic view of the overall Kingdom of GOD wholly restored in this world, righteously supplanting the satanic rule in this “war of the ages”, and replacing it with that of the Messiah, Who shall reign over all nations from the world capital of Jerusalem!

Thus the TRIUMPH Of CHRIST will be fully realized when all the Earth is TRANSFORMED to the holy world that GOD envisioned to begin with!

Let’s delve into these pages and discover what GOD would speak to us regarding this book and the person of Nehemiah!

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HOW TO “BIBLE STUDY” - T. A. McMahon - The BEREAN CALL

November 1, 2022

Watch the video here.

We are clearly in a day that majors in fulfilling the prophecy of 2 Timothy:4:3-4 
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 

Examples abound. Many churches that profess to be Bible-believing fellowships do not live up to their claims. They say they believe in the inerrancy, the authority, and the sufficiency of the Word of God. However, in practice they have mixed what God has said with the so-called wisdom of mankind. Here’s how that plays out, starting with the sufficiency of the Scriptures.

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