Hello

[Zackuth]

My name is Jeff and I joined on the 14th of this month. I am the assistant pastor of my church and have been for three years. My church is True Grace Gospel Ministries located in New Boston, Texas. We have a Facebook page, please come and like us. I post a small devotional Wednesday nights (no specific time so you might want to look for it on Thursdays). We broadcast our services live on Sundays at 10:30am Central Time.
About me personally: I was born in the Chicago area and lived there until I was 13. My family moved to the Antelope Valley in California where I lived for 30 years. I moved to Texarkana Arkansas and been here for 12 years. I am married with three step-children and six grandchildren. I served 4 years in the Navy and currently work as the warehouse manager for a local electrical company.

 

[dirtfarmer]

hello Zackuth, dirtfarmer here

Do you prefer to be addressed as Zackuth or Jeff. Welcome to the forums. There is always room for another understanding of scriptures. You say you live in Texarkana, Arkansas, but attend a fellowship in New Boston Texas.

Must be a long drive from Arkansas to Texas. Of course if the lived on the "other side of the street", you would not have to drive out of state.

I lived in Mesquite Texas many years ago and have driven I 30 several times.

As I have stated: WELCOME.

 

[Eugene]

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Welcome Brother Zackuth to these Christian forums in Jesus' name. It's a pleasure to have you among us, and I do plan on tuning in to your broadcasted Church service if I can receive it where I live. By chance is it on you tube?
God bless you, and thanks for your post.

 

[Zackuth]

Dirtfamer, thanks for the welcome. I will answer to either name, chose your pick. That was one of the biggest thing I had to get used to here was the Arkansas/Texas sides. My wife found the church when they were looking for a music coordinator.

Eugene, we have not posted the services to you tube yet. You should be able to view the service, it is a live broadcast on facebook.

 

[Eugene]

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I'll have to wait then; I'm not on facebook.

 

[Zackuth]

I had a thought, Eugene. I write all my sermons out, is there a way to send you a copy?

 

[flyboy2610]

Must be a long drive from Arkansas to Texas.

I made it from Amarillo, Tx. to Little Rock in 9hrs. and 15 minutes when I was driving a semi. And that includes stopping to drop off the tire chains. Had to drop them off at a certain location so they would be available for the next guy.
Welcome, Zackuth!

 

[Eugene]

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Hi Brother Zackuth, can you send it over our private messaging on this forum (Is it typed?). I have heard of some form of copier sending and receiving messaging using longhand, but I don't have one.

 

[Zackuth]

I type them in Word, but I can copy and paste. I do that with the weekly devotionals I do for the church's facebook page.

 

[flyboy2610]

How does one go about sending private messages on this forum? I can't seem to find a link to do that.

 

[Zackuth]

Good question, I couldn't find anything either.

 

[JohnDB]

Good question, I couldn't find anything either.

Welcome.

When you have enough posts in then click on someone's name and a box shows up. At the bottom of that box a clickable link exists that says "start a conversation".

Click that link and the private messages will be flying soon enough.

It's a tool to keep spammers and self promoting and "please donate" people from taking advantage of our membership.

 

[Zackuth]

Conversations are limited to 10,000 characters, my sermon is 1990 words. I cannot copy and paste or upload the file.

 

[th1b.taylor]

Welcome aboard, Jeff.

 

[Eugene]

Conversations are limited to 10,000 characters, my sermon is 1990 words. I cannot copy and paste or upload the file.

I've even posted threads with probably fifty to sixty thousand characters by breaking them into five or six posts such as this following one. http://www.christianforums.net/Fellowship/index.php?threads/christian-sufferings.52898/

I'm not sure why, but I've used Windows 7 word count, and and when they come up with 10000 characters, these forums only allow me around 8000 characters per post.
.

 

[Zackuth]

To Fulfill the Law



Matt. 5:17-20

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.



As Jesus gave His Sermon on the Mount, He told this passage to those assembled. Jesus was just starting His ministry and He was laying the groundwork that people would need to know for the coming three years. He had just finished telling the crowd to let their light shine before men so they could see the good works which glorifies God. Jesus then proceeded to tell the people about Himself.

Jesus told the crowd He did not come to destroy the Law and the prophets but to fulfill them. With this He made clear His position with regard to the Law. The teaching of the Kingdom, the Gospel which He came to proclaim, is a doctrine radically different from the teachings of Moses; the thou shalts and thou shalt nots of the Ten Commandments is very strict and rigid. We are told what is good and what is bad behavior. We are told what we have to do and what we will not do. We also know that God demands we follow the Law perfectly, not as good as we can, but perfectly. There are no degrees of perfection, no “yeah buts” in regard to following the Law, we have either followed the Law or we haven’t. We know we cannot follow the Law as we are required to by God, and this knowledge cannot make us happy or bring us any comfort. We see daily where we fail God and break His Laws, we understand that with each and every breaking of the law, we break God’s heart and we disappoint Him.

But Jesus told us He came to fulfill the Law. He came to live His life without breaking any part of the Law. As Jesus was born true man, He was subject to the Law, He was under the Law. But as Jesus is also true God, and He could live that perfect life. And He did from conception to death. Philippians 2:8 tells us “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Jesus followed the will of the Father, being obedient to His Father, to the cross and death.

The teaching of the Gospel is opposite to the teaching of the Law. The Law can only show us our sins, if can offer nothing but remorse and shame, all the Law does is condemns us. The only thing the Law can bring is death. The Gospel shows us our Savior. The Gospel tells us that God loves us so much that He does not want to be separated from us. The Gospel tells us that God gave to His creation a Savior, someone who would trade places with us in our punishment; take our sins as His own. The Gospel tells us our sins have been forgiven. The Gospel offers us a conscience that is at ease and free of guilt. The Gospel releases us from the burden of the Law and offers us life in Heaven.

 

[Zackuth]

While we are released from the burden of the Law, the Law is still in effect as Jesus told us, “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law, till all be fulfilled”. With a solemn oath Jesus announced the Law shall be kept also in the Church of the New Testament in the whole and fullness of its strength. The whole Old Testament is Divine revelation, and so its smallest teaching has religious significance which should find recognition and proper understanding in the New Testament. So long as the earth shall exist, the sacredness of the Scriptures shall remain absolutely untouched that not one dot of an “i” or one cross of a “t” shall fall to the ground or be changed. Here we are being told that the moral teachings of the Law remain in effect and we are required by God to follow them even though we have been freed from our sinful failings of the Law.

We are then told that whoever breaks the least of the Commandments and teaches those to do so will be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven. We have heard of those people who believe we should not be bound by “old fashioned and archaic values” and are calling for people to adopt “newer and more modern beliefs”. We hear that it is a woman’s right to chose whether or not to be pregnant, and for the most part that is true. However, they go on to say that if a woman has become pregnant and doesn’t want to be, she has the right to about the fetus. One show on Netflix (I don’t remember what the name is) has a scene where a man and woman are talking about her pregnancy and the man said “You already have a parasite growing inside you”. A parasite? Many people have already dehumanized the fetus to just a mass of tissue, but now it’s a parasite? We know that parasites are nasty animal that can make us sick, or even kill us, and we have to get rid of them. When Elizabeth welcomed Mary after Mary became pregnant with Jesus, Elizabeth’s child leapt in the womb being in the presence of his Savior. How can a six month old mass of tissue feel joy about being in the presence of a three month old parasite—it can’t!! But humans can!! And we know from the teachings of the Bible the life begins at conception. Yet, we are told that thinking of a fetus as human is wrong. It is interesting to note that the origin of the word fetus comes from the 14th century to mean “the young while in the womb or egg”.

We can probably say without hesitation that those who hold to this belief are not believers in God and won’t be going to heaven, therefore they cannot be thought of as least, but what of those who are believers and teach the breaking of God’s Law is acceptable. There has recently been something that is happening in Christian Churches today that is gaining momentum with this “modern beliefs’ acceptance and that is the ordination of openly gay pastors and preachers. This practice has been happening since the 1970’s but it is gaining in acceptance. While clearly the act of homosexuality is against God and His Laws, there are at least six Christian denominations here in the States, and many, many more across the globe, that not only accept the practice but anoint those of the LGBT community to teach and preach God’s Word. Not only have these Churches turned their backs on God’s Word, but they have delegitimized His Word. How can these Churches teach the importance of following God’s Word when they abandon it? Most assuredly these will be considered least in the kingdom of Heaven.

 

[Zackuth]

But, thankfully, most Churches do remain loyal and faithful the God’s Word and the Bible. Whatever their person opinion may be, they look at God’s Word for direction and guidance. These Churches are not concerned with being accepted by the world but staying true to the Word of God. We will accept the insults and shunning by the world and all who follow its teaching for the Word of God. We realize the Bible does not contain antiquated ideals but rather God’s rules for us to live by.

The above is Christ’s view; therefore it is God’s view as well. Those who change a small part of God’s Word to suit their needs or to find approval from the world will eventually have no problem changing a large part of God’s Word for the same reasons. This will lead to only one road, the abandonment of God altogether, like those of the Universalist churches, who started as a Christian church but now less than 20% consider themselves Christian. These shall be called least in Kingdom of God, the least, or the rejected, and shall miss the glories of Heaven. On the other hand, those who teach not only the Gospel but the Law in its great purpose of preparing the hearts for God, who does not take away from or add to the Bible, they shall inherit the promise of faithfulness. Since this is God’s view, He is bound to take His stand with transgressors and bless those who are faithful to this rule.

Jesus then said “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven”. This was a bit strange for many times during His ministry, Jesus chastised the Pharisees and scribes for their lack of faith. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes cared more for the writings of the Elders and teachers of the Law than what was recorded in the Scriptures. But in doing so these people were able to put themselves into a position of sinlessness. They found they could keep the Law as it was interpreted and put themselves about the rest of the population. They would let their self-righteousness shine for all Judah to see and tell the Jews just how good they were. With the slavish observing to the Traditions of the Elders, the Pharisees and scribes, who were accepted teachers of Scripture and part of the sect of the Pharisees, gave to them a great show of holiness before the rest of the people. This was an impression the Pharisees were careful to promote.

But Jesus told those assembled that their righteousness had to exceed that of the Pharisees and scribes, meaning not even they were good enough to enter into Heaven. The aspect of their doctrine and life was they set aside the great for the little and the divine for the sake of tradition. The Pharisees and other teachers of the Law had put their hearts far away from true faithfulness and righteousness. Jesus needed to make them understand, and give a warning to all people; false righteousness cannot earn anyone Heaven. When there is no faith, no true devotion and worship of God, there can be no entering into the kingdom of Heaven.

During His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave the groundwork to the topics and information He was to base His ministry. The most important understanding given was the task Jesus can to earth to do, and that was the saving of all people. To tell us He came to fulfill the Law let us know that the necessity of perfection has been completed for us. Jesus also made us know all Scriptures are not to be changed at all, not one jot or tittle, and all Scripture is to be treated as a whole. I have been told the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. This is how closely we are to treat them. And He also showed the futility of self-righteousness over God-given grace and forgiveness when He told us He was to fulfill the Law. Amen.

 

[Eugene]

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Brother Zackuth, I enjoyed your sermon. I believe you're going to become one of God's true teachers of His word, and bring many souls into glory. Keep up the good work in Christ and let's watch it prosper to where our Lord directs it.
Blessings in Christ Jesus.

 

[Zackuth]

Thank you.