Salome Ross

THIS IS A WONDERFUL QUESTION AND READING THE REPLIES OF OTHERS, I SEE THINGS I TOO FEEL. MY HEART FEELS FULL WITH LOVE WHEN I THINK OF WHAT I CAN REPLY. I GREW UP IN A CHURCH THAT PREACHED HELLFIRE AND BRIMSTONE - NOT LOVE. OH I DID HEAR THAT JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS, BUT THERE WAS NEVER REALLY ANY LOVE WITH THAT. IT WAS: "IF YOU DONT DO THIS AND YOU DO THIS YOU WILL GO TO hell!" AS A CHILD I ALSO ALWAYS SANG JESUS LOVES ME THIS I KNOW AND I ALSO WANTED TO BE A LITTLE STAR AND PEARL FOR HIM. AS I GREW UP NOTHING MADE ANY SENSE TO ME IN THIS CHURCH AND WANTED TO FIND A GOD THAT IS LOVE. I STARTED SEARCHING AND A FRIEND FOUND THE LORD THROUGH LOSING TWO LITTLE GIRLS AND THROUGH THE DEATH OF THESE TWO LITTLE ONES SO MANY FOUND THE LOVE OF JESUS/YESHUA. I NEVER REALIZED HOW MUCH THE LORD LOVED ME AND IF I WAS THE ONLY ONE ON THIS WORLD HE WOULD HAVE DIED FOR ME. I CAN TRULY SAY I WAS LOST AND NOW I AM FOUND AND WASHED CLEAN BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB. I HAVE CHANGED A LOT AND THE LORD IS STILL CHANGING ME. THE ONE THING THAT SEEMS TO BE VERY DIFFICULT IS NOT TO SAY "WHY DO THEY DO THAT?" I WANT TO SAY AND REALLY MEAN IT WITH MY WHOLE HEART "THERE BUT BY THE GRACE OF THE LORD GO I." SO THAT IS A LESSON I AM DEALING WITH RIGHT NOW. HOPEFULLY I WILL LEARN IT QUICKLY AND NOT FORGET IT SO THAT I WONT HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS LESSON AGAIN AT A LATER STAGE. THANK YOU FATHER FOR LOVING ME AND SENDING YOUR SON TO DIE FOR MY SINS! NO OTHER WAY COULD I EVER HAVE MADE IT! I LOVE YOU LORD AND PLEASE PUT THE LOVE IN ME THAT I NEED TO LOVE OTHERS AS YOU LOVE ME!

EVERYTHING HAS BEEN SAID AND MY HEART AND CUP IS JUST FLOWING OVER, READING ALL THESE UNBELIEVABLE ANSWERS. ALL I CAN ADD IS THANKS TO THE APOSTLE, ALSO THOSE THAT BROUGHT THE WORD OF GOD TO US AND THE LEADERS OF OUR CHURCHES THAT BRING US THE TRUE WORD OF GOD AND MOST OF ALL - THANK YOU LORD JESUS MY PRECIOUS SAVIOR THAT I MAY DRINK THE CUP OF LOVE OF YOUR COVENANT!

THERE ARE SOME BEAUTIFUL AND AWESOME ANSWERS ABOVE. HOWEVER TO PUT IT SIMPLY I THINK THE OLD COVENANT MEANT WE SHOULD LIVE ACCORDING TO THE 10 COMMANDMENTS. IF WE SINNED WE HAD TO MAKE A SACRIFICE TO SHED BLOOD. WHICH MEANS SIN COSTS A LOT AND WE CAN NOT CLEANSE OURSELVES. IT TOOK BLOOD, OVER AND OVER TO GET FORGIVENESS FOR SINS IN THOSE DAYS. ALSO THEY WERE NOT SURE EVEN IF THEY DID THAT, THAT WE WOULD HAVE A PLACE IN HEAVEN. WITH THE NEW COVENANT ALL OF US WHO ACCEPTS JESUS CHRIST AS SAVIOR AND ASKS HIM TO FORGIVE US OUR SINS AND CLEANSE US, WILL BE IN HEAVEN WITH HIM ONE DAY. HE WAS THE SIN OFFERING FOR US, THEREFORE WE NO LONGER NEED TO SHED BLOOD. HIS BLOOD WAS SHED FOR OUR SIN! NOTHING MORE IS NEEDED. GOD PROMISED THAT WE WILL BE HIS CHILD AND WE NOW CAN CALL HIM FATHER IF WE LOVE AND ACCEPT HIS SON AND WE WILL BE WITH HIM ONE DAY. NOT BECAUSE OF THE SIN OFFERINGS WE MADE BUT BECAUSE OF WHAT HIS SON DID FOR US. OUR RESPONSIBILITIES ARE TO LOVE GOD WITH ALL OUR HEARTS AND OUR NEIGHBOR AS OURSELVES. THAT IS THE DIFFICULT PART, BECAUSE MOST OF US DO NOT REALLY LOVE OURSELVES, SO IT IS DIFFICULT TO LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS THE WAY WE SHOULD. IF WE COULD DO THAT IT WOULD BE A WONDERFUL WORLD TO LIVE IN.

I agree with the answers already given and would like to add: I never knew that Moses and those people ate with God! How awesome! How wonderful that Adam and Eve walked with the Lord, and spoke to Him! How wonderful that Moses and those people could see, talk and eat with the Our Heavenly Father! How could you ever be the same after that and how can one still sin after that? We find the Savior and yet we sometimes still go on sinning and He still LOVES US! We get out under the Rock and do our own thing. How it must hurt Him and yet He still Loves Us! Sprinkling of blood is now replaced by the wine we take at communion. The eating of the meat, replaced by the bread. The Lamb without Spot or Blemish died on the Cross and we take bread and wine as remembrance of our Savior. That is why we no longer can sacrifice any animals, because the Ultimate Sacrifice is done! Our Heavenly Father placed His Laws in our hearts when we accepted His Son as our Savior. How much MORE we have than what they received back in the old testament. How can we even try to understand His Love for us. Lord Please Help me to be all that you want me to be and be less like me.

READING THE OTHER ANSWERS, MAKES ME FEEL LIKE CRYING. IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL AND HOW HAPPY THE LORD MUST BE WHEN WE DRAW NEAR TO HIM AND LOVE HIM SO MUCH. IT IS A HEART THING. MUCH FORGIVEN, MUCH LOVE FOR GOD. IT THEN MUST NOT BECOME MUNDANE AND LOSE ITS MEANING. I DO FEEL THAT WE PROCLAIM THE LORDS DEATH AND RESURRECTION BY TAKING COMMUNION AND OH WHAT IT MEANS TO THOSE OF US WHO ARE FORGIVEN AND WASHED BY HIS BLOOD I AM SO HAPPY TO BE DOING THIS STUDY AS I DO NOT KNOW ENOUGH AND FEEL THIS WILL JUST DRAW ME CLOSER TO OUR PRECIOUS LORD AND SAVIOR.

SITTING HERE THINKING OF THE LORDS SUPPER SO MANY EMOTIONS AND PEACE COME OVER ME. PSALM 23 COMES TO MIND "HE LEADETH ME BESIDE STILL WATERS AND PREPAREST A TABLE BEFORE ME AND ANOINTEST MY HEAD WITH OIL, MY CUP RUNNETH OVER." AS JOSE SAID "CHRISTS DEATH IS THE BEGINNING OF LIFE FOR THOSE WHO ACCEPT HIM AND TO THINK CHRIST SAID IN LUKE 22:30 THAT YE MAY EAT AND DRINK AT MY TABLE IN MY KINGDOM. IT DOES NOT END HERE WITH COMMUNION. ME, REALLY EATING WITH THE LION OF JUDAH, MY LORD AND MY SAVIOR? WORDS FAIL ME! WHAT IS THE GREATEST PART OF COMMUNION IS DIFFICULT TO SAY. JESUS/YASHUA SAID IN VERSE 27 FOR WHICH IS GREATER, HE THAT DINETH, OR HE THAT SERVETH? IS NOT HE THAT DINETH? BUT I AM AMONG YOU AS HE THAT SERVETH. THANK YOU JESUS FOR YOUR BLOOD, LOVE AND SERVING ME! JUST TOO BIG FOR ME TO UNDERSTAND.

I THINK EVERYTHING IS SAID EXCEPT ONE WORD THAT COMES TO MIND AND THAT IS LOVE! AND JOHN 3:16 GOES WITH THAT.

I am not sure if it is extreme symbolic interpretation or not knowing The Lord thatcauses us to have too little respect for The Lord's Supper. When I took Communion I really did not understand it. I belonged to the church and knew the Savior died, but did not know Him with my heart. So the Lords Supper was a ritual and not an experience. When I realized He loved me and died for me, the meaning changed. It no longer was the Passover and Old Covenant for me, but a Communion Feast. The Lords Supper then to me was celebrating His Blood, Body, a New Covenant and repentance that brought me to the Lord. Now I know Him with my heart and not just with my head. To me His Supper is beautiful no matter where and no matter how! I belive He is there with us when we remember Him and partake of His Blood and Body. I hope that I will learn more about our Precious Savior and grow closer to Him through this course. Thank You Pastor Ralph. I do believe it will happen.

To me the Lords body, the bread is His BROKEN body and for remembrance of what He did dying on the cross for me! I partake of the bread for nourishment and health, which I feel I get when I partake of His body the bread. When you have a blood transfusion you are meant to get life and health from that blood. The Lords blood, the wine is a way for me to remember that we get health, life, love, peace and joy through Him. The most wonderful thing is that He poured out His blood as a covenant for the forgiveness of my sins. GLORY TO GOD OUR FATHER AND JESUS/YASHUA OUR SAVIOR! I do not really care if people think the body and blood of the Lord is the symbol that I grew up believing and still believe or if it becomes His body. To me it is a remembrance of what He did and that is beautiful and Oh so wonderful!

In the old testeament several times we see the analogy of God as the husband and Israel as the wife who strays and is unfaithful. "For your maker is your husband ... Isaiah 54.5a "Return, faithless people, declares the LORD, for I am your husband Jer. 3:14 Blessed are they (we) who are called unto the marriage supper of the lamb Rev 19:9 As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you Isaiah 62:5 Not putting God first in everything - causes God jealousy. He wants us to love Him with our whole being! He is and must be the beginning and the end in our lives.

I can not answer the questions any better than the 4 above - beautifully put! The way I see it and not sure if this is correct, Jesus and the Father are one in the sense that we are three also, spirit, soul and body. Jesus was distinct from the Father as He actually gave up His place in heaven to come down to earth to die for our sins - Thank You Jesus/Yashua my Messiah! Yes I do believe that Jesus is God in the sense that the Father is God!

The concept FATHER in the O.T. teach us that He is referred to as FATHER in the creative (note exactly biologically begetting) sense only twice. Is He not your father, your creator, who made you and formed you? Deut 32:6 Yet, O Lord you are our Father, we are the clay, you are the Potter, we are the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8 As Otfried puts it: On the one hand, the father rules as head of the household and the person to whom most respect is due, having absolute authority over His family. He also has the responsiblilty of guarding, supporting and helping the other members. Both these charactereistics are present with God as FATHER. The understanding of father should affect our behaviour that we never turn away from following Him Jer, 3:19B I read this recently and think it is worth adding about our FATHER"S correction - My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction. Prov 3:11 If we are not willing to confront our own sin, or be confronted by others, we are not yet as spiritually mature as we should be. God may correct us through a friend, a boss, a coach, a pastor - or He may put the need for self-correction in our own heart.

Jesus certainly showed us that we could aproach God when He taught us we could say OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN! He was no longer just our AWESOME GOD but also our AWESOME FATHER! I do believe just as I can hear in the voices of my children on the phone, when they say Hallo, what the situation is in their lives - so our Heavenly Fathers attention is there when He hears when we really need Him. I have had prayers answered almost in an instant and knew that I knew the Holy Spirit/Abba Father knew that I needed Him right then! Thank you Father for caring so for me! Even if I was the only one on this earth Jesus/Yashua would have died for my sins! How awesome that is, that you loved a sinner like me, your child!!!

I want to dance for joy, knowing God is a spring of living water for me! As a tree standing next to the river I will never thirst again. There will never be a drought in my life again as long as my roots are in Him!

I don't want to go to the Lord with everything. I feel I should try and sort out my problems first and if I do not succeed, then to go to Him. Not always because of pride, but I do not want to be a pest and we should try and do things ourself as well. We have to relinquish our all to Him and to praise and thank Him in all things - good and bad. I loved how Pickledilly put it, I could not have said it any better!

The Lord has been many things to me, but foremost my SHEPHERD! Always there taking care of me. He carries me in His arms, close to His Heart. He Leads me to quiet waters where my joy and strength comes from. The wonderful Shepherd has gotten rid of many wolves, lions and bears in my life! When there was no one who could help me, not my parents, friends, family or anybody - I found the Shepherd! Only He could help. He called me by name and led me out and picked me up. I hit rock bottom and there was only one way and that was up and He took me by my hand and lifted me up. My Shepherd lay down His life for me and because of Him I am safe and saved. He healed the wounds that nobody could heal. Then I went astray and He left the 99 to bring me back to the fold. Such LOVE has nobody else for me!!! Even though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me and you comfort me. Thank you Jesus/Yashua!!!!

YES I do believe Abraham was really expecting God to provide a sacrifice! Why would He, God give them a child in their old age just to take him away from them. Abraham believed a sacrifice would be given - he was a man of great faith - therefore he could tell his servants that they would be back after they worshipped. I also believe that Abraham and Isaac did worship God and asked the Lord to supply the lamb and Yes He did! YES, YES, YES I have received many last-minute provisions - tooooo many to mention! Even as a child I remember the Lord providing to my parents at the 12th hour. I then knew that there was a God and even then loved our precious Lord and Saviour, my Precious Jesus who loved all little children. Only later in life did I really get to know Him and give Him my heart, body and soul. We can expect God to supply our needs in so many circumstances. HOWEVER it seems that we have to live a RIGHTEOUS life first. "But seek ye FIRST the kingdom of God, and His RIGHTEOUSNESS; and ALL THESE THINGS WILL BE ADDED unto you." Matthew 6:33, KJV "And my God WILL MEET ALL YOUR NEEDS according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Phil 4:19 Ask and it shall be given unto you! Knock and the door shall be opened! Search and you shall find! Give and it will be given unto you! Thank you Father for loving me first!

God loves us so much and wants us to love Him in return. He knew before we were even born who would one day love Him and accept Him as Savior! I believe that is why He chose those to be His children. God made us with a blue print! He gives us all a free will. We choose what we want to do with that blue print and change and erase it with, pride, hate, worshiping money, idols etc. We start rubbing out the blue print with our sin and we become less like the Lord and it is replaced by what we have become. All those that come to Him, He will in no way cast out! Nothing or no one can take us out of His hand, when we accept Him as Savior. That is what it means when we say God is our Keeper. We then become His children and He will keep us from harm until we are with Him one day in Heaven. He will never leave us nor forsake us. That is what it means that He will guard us! God is Love! WOW! It is almost too much for my heart to think He could love one such as I.

In what ways is God a Rock? 1. The Lord is my rock 2. My God, my rock in whom I take refuge 3. Blessed be the LORD, my rock 4. Be my rock of refuge 5. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I 6. My God, the Rock my Savior 7. He is the Rock, His works are perfect 8. For the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal. 9. There is no other rock; I know not one 10. Look to the Rock from which you were cut A Diamond comes to mind when I think of the Lord as a Rock! What functions does a rock perform in Palestine? A rock in Palestine performs the same function as it does in the rest of the world! Just as the Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, my Stronghold, my Shield and the Horn of my Salvation in South Africa, the U.S.A, China or anywhere in the world.

God is my shield when He protects me in troubled times. God is my Glory in that He reveals His Holiness and Righteousness to me and through me when I obey and stay close to Him at all times. It is easy for me to hang my head when I am feeling down, tired or losing. He is the lifter of my head by giving me His Hope and Joy when it is difficult to get up and dust myself off and start all over again.

If you know the Lord, you can in times of danger make the Lord your habitation and refuge. I believe we can call upon Yahweh in Jesus/Yashua's name and will be saved. I have been in situations where I have read Psalms out loud, sang praises to the Lord and prayed. I always pray "I plead the blood of Jesus Christ the Son of the almighty God around me and Lord I ask for Your hedge of protection around me." I have asked the Lord to have his Angels around me to protect me also. Or all of it at the same time and I did not stop until I felt at peace and knew that the Lord heard and I have His attention. If the woman could worry the judge until he heard, then I have the freedom to ask until my Heavenly Father hears and answers. If it is Abba Fathers will for me not to be safe here, then I have the assurance that I will be safe in His care in Heaven one day! I love the metaphor that draws the picture of the bird providing protecion to its children. I have seen an ostrich sitting on its nest with an eagle overhead and the little chicks ducking under the big wings for protection. "He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge." Ps 91:4a

When Jesus really is your Lord, you WANT to confess that He is LORD. You want to tell the whole world to find what you have found. Peace, Love and Joy! That empty space in your life or in your heart that nothing and no one but Jesus can fill and satisfy. I love where it says: Thus the confession "Jesus is Lord" really means "Jesus is Yahweh, God Himself" If you believe in your heart and confess it with your mouth that Jesus is Lord you will be saved! Even a child can understand that. It is the best thing that can happen to you! We can not pay for it, we can not work for it. We can just open our heart and accept Him as Savior.Thank you Jesus for shedding your blood for my sins.

If we could all live by the 10 Commandments, what a wonderful world it would be. We need really to pray that people turn back to God. Governments should seek to rule on behalf of our God so that their Countries will be blessed. God's servants need to do good and rule with justice and righteousness. There are some that want God out of everything, it seems the more they squeek the more they get. We as Christians need to speak up when we see wrongs being done and not just sit back and accept what is happening.

The Personal Implications of Yahweh being our King is that we have more freedom to go to Him as Father, we being the child of the King. Jesus being Messiah sent from God - How He must LOVE me! If I was the only one in the world, He still would have died for me and my sins. How can you ever even try to describe such LOVE? No one else could ever LOVE me like that! The advantages of being the subject of Yahweh as King is that we can enter the Throne Room at will. Because I love Him with all my heart, I want to submit to Him and follow His Law. To reject Yahweh as King is to reject Jesus Yashua as Savior.

[/b] Oops Sorry! I made a mistake that answer was for question 1.