Spiritual Gifts: Their Meanings and Structure

Here are some snippets from my book.  If you would like more, let me know.  If you want the whole thing feel free to follow this link to Amazon:  Spiritual Gifts: Their Meanings and Structure.  If you do not have an Amazon account, please leave comment (which will not be published) and I can send you a copy at the same price, $9, no shipping costs.  I have limited supply.

• From Introduction chapter:  Why do a study on the spiritual gifts? Because the gifts are something that the church was supposed to be using and I feel that we are falling short of what was expected. Without the gifts being used the church is not fulfilling all of its potential. We wonder why we are not reaching all the lost souls in this world, yet we are not doing all we need to do be doing. We are not doing the one thing that each of us has been called to do.
• From Cessationism vs Continuationism chapter: One major problem with understanding the gifts is that we have to know if the gifts are still available or not.  Some believe that the gifts have died out when the Apostolic Age ended.... When did Scripture end?  Was it perfected in 70 A.D. with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple like Preterism claims?  The Futurists think that Revelation, the last book in the Bible was written about 85 to 90 A.D.
• From the main part of the book:Why did the early church need apostles? They needed someone to carry on the miracles and message of Christ. The message of Christ was new to everyone. The whole world did not know what following Christ meant since He ascended into heaven. The apostle (lower cased) had to be the deliverer of the word and to take care of people who wanted to follow Christ. They chose local leaders to carry on the functions and leadership of congregations while they were away. They started churches and watched over them. They handled problems of doctrines and teachings. They gave authenticity to others. With this in mind let us define in detail the gift of apostle..... Greek-“apo” plus “stellos”. Apo means “from somewhere”. Stellos means “send out”. The word means someone who was sent from somewhere.  Hebrew- “shaliah”.  It means emissary or one sent on a mission, such as a missionary.  Clarification and meaning of this gift: One chosen by God to be sent out with a unique mission. A specific mission might be starting a church, acting and speaking on His behalf.

Each chapter is dedicated to a different gift and follows the same pattern; why did the early church have it, why does the church still have it, what are the types of this gift, what personalities and issues happen with this gift, the etymology, clarification, and some misconceptions.  Loaded with a full inventory at the end.  Great for class studies or personal growth.

For more here on my blogs:  Spiritual Gifts Overview and Gift of gifts

(97) Making a Name

After the global flood, Noah left the Ark. The very first thing that God said to Noah in Genesis 9 was, 

• 1 "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth."

And just a few verses later God reiterated this command when he said,

• 7 "As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it."

One of the commands from God that the human race was supposed to do was fill the earth. The only way to do that is if they started to migrate and move out to other areas. But as we read in Genesis 11 this is not what some certain pieces of the human race did. Some chose to settle in the plain of Shinar. That is part of the problem but what they did next is by far worse.

They were working together and they decided to build a structure that would reach to the heavens. They did this so that they would not be scattered over the earth. Their idea was in direct opposition of what God wanted. But there is even more to this story.

If we read deeper into this passage we know that this plain of Shinar is the Mesopotamia fertile crescent region. This is the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. The main city between these rivers is what is known today as Babylon. Hence the Bible calls it Babel, which means "confused".

If we notice how the scripture here is laid out, this story lies between one story about Shem, a son of Noah, and his decedents in chapter 10 and another story about Shem in chapter 12.  Why is it in between?

Shem can be translated as "Name". Jewish people sometimes call God, HaShem, or "the Name". So, why is this surrounding this story at Babel? If we go back to Genesis 10:8-10 we see a man with the name of Nimrod. It says Nimrod's kingdom was in Babel. Nimrod can be translated as "rebellious". It can be assumed that he is the one who was starting this tower to reach the heavens since it was his kingdom. What was his rebellion? Notice what they said when they were building the Tower, "Come, let us build a city for ourselves, and a tower whose top will reach into the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves". In other words, the name of God is not what they were worshiping. They were going to worship their own name.  Nimrod is the first shadow of the anti-Christ, someone who tries to raise his name above God's.

They were one language and were doing this, so God in order so save humanity from itself divided them. Only the name of God should be worshiped.  When mankind thinks their name is higher or just as important as God we can see that all they have is confusion.

(96) Two Meals

Genesis 3:1-6

• 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
• 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
• 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” 
• 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
• 5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
• 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

The woman, being Eve, saw that the tree was good for food and she ate from it.  After she was deceived by the serpent (satan) she took the fruit of the tree and ate it.  He added doubt to what God had said.  He did not tell the full story.  And because she fell into desire and disobeyed God and listened to satan instead of the word of God, sin entered this world.  Death came.  Disease took hold.  Hair started to fall out.  Skin could now be blemished.  Desires became evil.  Eyesight and hearing became impaired.  Hate entered.  Relying upon our own decisions over God's plan was now impacting all historical events.  When they took this meal the human race died.  All flesh was ruined.

The human race lost its path to God.  Reconciliation was now needed.  People like Noah, Abraham, Issac, and Jacob had faith and God kept them safe in His arms.  But the rest of the human race became slaves to our desires and each generation died more (if possible) than the generation before.  Even God's people, the chosen ones of Israel, eventually succumbed to the evil desires of this world and become slaves to Egypt.  God heard their cries but reconciliation was still needed.  God gave them the Law but they still could not bring the reconciliation by these works.  The human race was still dead.

All because of one meal.

Matthew 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:14-23 (combined)

• While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.”
• And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, “Take this and share it among yourselves. This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins;
• do this in remembrance of Me.
• Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in My Father’s kingdom.”

Almost 4000 years after Adam and Eve ate from the tree, Jesus Christ came and gave up His life.  His life will be the reconciliation that the human race needed.  His life will give us life renewed.  To undo the damage that Adam did, Jesus came.

To reverse the curse, Jesus added a blessing.  To heal the ruined flesh of the human race Jesus offered His flesh.  To bring back life, Jesus offered His blood.  Because of Jesus the human race is alive again.  The pathway back to God was complete.  The truth by the word of God was given back to man and turned back the deception of the word of the serpent.

All because of another meal.

This meal is communion.  Take and remember His sacrifice.  This Resurrection Sunday remember all that He did for us.

(95) The Secret to Creation

The very first verse in the Bible says so much.  Not only does it show how the whole universe was created, such as universal laws, the physical world, and how all life began, Creation Thoughts and Creation Lessons, it also shows who created it all.  But there is a secret hidden in the verse that many will never see.  In English, the most common translation is of course, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth".  As most sane people would know and understand, the Bible was not written in English.  It's original language for the most (for we have to remember it wasn't all written at once) is Hebrew.  So let's look at the text in Hebrew.  Genesis 1:1

• Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'aretz.

Here is a breakdown of this verse:

1. Beresheet means in the beginning.  Time is referenced here.  The beginning of all we know.  And all we know starts at one point...in time.
2. Bara means out of nothing.  Absolute void.  This is referencing the big bang.  All of a sudden out of nothing comes everything.
3. Elohim means God.  But it is a plural noun with a singular (bara) verb.  This is referencing the fact that God is omnipresent but also that God is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.  There is a strong meaning here that emphasizes a Trinity.
4. Hashamayim means heavens.  Space is referenced here.  This is a plural noun.  All that is out there beyond our existence is hashamayim.  Yes, that could also mean the place where God dwells.  But in this instance it is talking about creation of a physical universe.
5. Ve'et is translated as "and".  This goes without saying what it means.
6. Ha'aretz means earth.  Matter is being referenced here.  At first the earth did not have a shape and no dry ground was here.  This means earth as in "not space".  Our physical planet.

All of that has been referenced before and written about.  Most Christians would understand all that has been said above, at least understand it.  But there was one word that was skipped over.  No one really ever discusses it.  The word "et" is never talked about.  The reason why is probably because it cannot be translated, until now.  In Hebrew it is never translated in English.  Look at this example:  Genesis in Hebrew.  In all references this word is never translated.   Why?

The letters are et in English letters.  But in Hebrew they are actually alef and tav.  Alef is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and tav is the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet.  So why is it there and what does it mean?  If we understand that this term is not a real word we can figure this out.  Alef tav means the beginning and the end.  Does that sound familiar?  Jesus said in Revelation He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.  That is translated from Greek.  In Hebrew it is I am the Alef and the Tav, the beginning and the end.  Jesus is right there in creation.  But even more fascinating is the placement of the word.

If we understand the symbolism in the Bible, numbers are very symbolic.  Such as 3 is unity, 5 is grace, 12 is completion and so forth.  Seven is the number of God, perfection.  That is why Menorahs have seven lamps.  Revelation is filled with signs of sevens.  Jesus told Peter to forgive 70 times 7.  There are many other references to seven.  Now go back and read the passage in Hebrew.  There are seven words.  The word in the middle is Alef Tav.  Jesus is in the middle of creation.   What's even more interesting is that if you go through all of the first chapter, each part that describes a piece of creation--light, animals, and plants, the word Alef Tav is in the middle of each verse!!!!

John 1:3:

• All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.