Emy Oliveros

Q4. Why should we continually ask forgiveness? How can unforgiveness on our part block God's blessing? How can unforgiveness block God's forgiveness? We should continually ask forgiveness so that our prayers will not be hindered. For the Bible says that "If we regard iniquity in our hearts, He will not answer us". God will only forgive us as we forgive those who sins against us.

Q3. Why do we seek to be independent of asking anyone for help? Why do we seek to be independent of God? Why should we ask God to "give" us daily bread so long as we can earn a living for ourselves? We do seek to be independent of asking anyone for help for reasons sometimes we don't even want to admit. Like we don't want to appear poor, giving the impression that we can manage whatever comes, not showing them our weaknesses. Same is true with God, we do seek to be independent of God, as if we can do all things without God in our lives thru our own wisdom and strength. We should ask God to "give" us daily bread to show our dependence of Him. That apart from Him, we cannot do anything. our sustenance is dependent on Him. we should only concern ourselves for today because our tomorrows are already in His hands. Like the manna in the desert given to the Israelites, they are asked only to take food enough for them for a day, more than that it gets spoiled. God knows what we need but wants communion with us so we need to go to our Abba everyday!

Q2. In what sense are we asking that the Father's kingdom should come? Why are we asking for the Father's will to be done here on earth? How should this prayer affect our living? We are asking that the Father's kingdom should come when we do ask Him to reign and have a full control of our lives, trusting and believing that this is what should be the reality if only sin has not entered in the garden and man did not fall short of the glory of God. We are asking for the Father's will to be done on earth (because something is already settled there in heaven, that's why we say... as it is in heaven), when we ask Him to let His glory and power be manifested in our midst. Adding your word from the lesson: "When we pray, "Your kingdom come," we are asking God to manifest the power and glory of his kingdom in us, and throughout our world. What a prayer! We are praying that Christ might reign over all. We are also asking the Father to hasten the return of Jesus Christ to this earth. Amen!" We should look forward to this time with expectancy as we pray to the Father to hasten the return of our Lord Yehoshua Ha Mashiach to the earth, our hope of glory!

Q1. What about our lives and words "hallows" the name of our Father? What desecrates and besmirches it? How should we "hallow" the Father when we begin to pray? Answer: Our lives and words "hallows" the name of the Father if we give Him the due respect that His name deserves as a holy God even in knowing He is our Abba, Father! Give Him the highest praise for who He is, for what He can do, and for what He has done as He alone is worthy, there is none else! Using His name in vain desecrates and besmirches it. Not just the words "Jesus!" or "God!" but also the word "Gee" or "Jeez" as an expression used with disrespect (in ignorance?). Also in whatever way we use God's name lightly like swearing in the name of God. I begin to pray by saying, Oh Father, I give You praise, I give You glory and honor that You alone deserve! King of kings, Lord of lords... The Great I Am! I worship You. How I love You! Mighty God!... Of course it varies from time to time as it depends on what you have experienced of Him from everyday life. What have you known about His character, about His greatness? You know why I like the New King James translation? Because of their use of capital letters to every word, pronoun that refers to God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit. That's already showing reverence to God, hallowing His name! Amen!

The scope, and extent, and boundaries of "everything we need for life and godliness" is all in all. It includes our lives right now and the life eternal. His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue. Whatever we need to live this life given to us here on earth were already given and provided for....all things, everything. Even to live a life for God was already given us only that we have a responsibility to fulfill, obligation to do and for all we know it is all by God's grace. Knowledge or knowing God have a lot to do with this promise, it is the only way for us to understand the things that the Lord had prepared for us. "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God had prepared for those who love Him." But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 1 Cor. 2:9-10. If we know God, we will receive Him in our hearts and with that His Holy Spirit will reside in us and He will teach us into all His truth. Our faith grows and we trust God's promises and these promises will keep us through times of testing and as our verse says: that we may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through ****. Amen!

Shalom! "Received a faith as precious as ours" means that we have received a faith that is very much as privileged as Peter's -- equal in honor or value through God's standard. Our faith is equal to St. Peter's faith in a way that we have received this from God. It is a gift from God, a received faith due to God's righteousness. Now, considering another aspect of St. Peter's faith, our faith is not equal to his because our experience with God is different from his. He walked with God, witnessed the mighty works of God, performed the works of God and learned directly from the Master. Though he had failures, he learned from them well. As Jesus told him that Satan had ask to sift him like wheat but Jesus said, He already had prayed for him and if he overcomes this sifting, to strengthen his brothers. I can personally say that his faith is very much grounded on his deep knowledge of his God and of Jesus, his Lord on which he is trying to impart to us through this letter, though having an original audience it could all be true to our time and lives. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. My faith is growing everyday. Praise the Lord!

The significance of the fact that in heaven "God himself will be with them" is that no longer is man be separated with His Creator. The full communion of man with God is restored. The tabernacle of God is with men, and they shall be His people, and He will be their God. And this will be our destiny to come if we continue to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. The promises in 21:4 will only be fulfilled in heaven because this is what God had said in His word and as the former things will pass away, God will make all things new then. Paradise is restored. Hallelujah. I look forward to all these promises of God. In God's presence there is fulness of joy. Maranatha, Jesus!!!

Right now we are still living "in the world" where generally speaking is about our living together with all kinds of people from all walks of life with different kinds of views and beliefs - believers and unbelievers at that. Not "of the world" means that as professing Christians, we should not live as the world lives who doesn't know Jesus in their lives, satisfying their fleshly and worldly desires without the fear of the Lord. Rather, we should serve as salt and light to them, sharing the good news of salvation through Jesus the Christ - the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We should live our lives by example - what we confess, we also do and act on it by God's grace. There should be a difference shown from a life "taken out of darkness into His marvelous light" - a life "in the world" but not "of the world". Hallelujah!!!

I have learned that appropriate worship is praising and worshipping the Lord in spirit and in truth. The message is about WHO God is and WHAT He had done. It is all about their experience of God in their lives. The same truth that we apply today in our songs of praise and worship unto the Lord, thanking Him for WHO He is and for everything that He had done for us, still doing and will still be doing. Glory to God!!!

Everlasting punishment is so difficult for us Christians to accept because we cannot imagine how a God of love can do such thing that will contradict His attribute as a God of love. But we forgot that as He is the God of love, He is also the God of wrath. Eternal punishment is considered a just punishment because He is our just Judge, He knows what He is doing. Hebrews 9:27 says "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the JUDGEMENT." Where we want to go will be decided on how we live our lives here on earth, who have we worshipped? Is it the only one True God? Or a false god? It is our choice to make. But let our choice be to worship the Lord and serve Him with all of our being. Praise the Lord!!!

The 144,000 provide an ideal for all Christians to emulate because they gave us a glimpse of the greatness to be an overcomer and to be faithful to the Lord. They gave us an example to follow as redeemed from the earth: they were chaste, followed the Lamb wherever He went, they were the firstfruits of the harvest wholly dedicated and given as an offering to God, they were spotless and blameless and truthful. From them and by the grace of God we will know how to live our lives while still here on earth for the glory of our God.

What I have learned from these two passages, Rev. 13:1-18 and 2 Thes. 2:1-12, about the Antichrist and the False Prophet are: 1. The first beast is the Antichrist. The second beast is the False Prophet. 2. The Antichrist exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped - he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. The False Prophet demands worship for the Antichrist from those that dwell in the earth by deception. 3. The Antichrist will show power and signs and lying wonders and will make war with the saints and all people. The False Prophet has the same power and will deceive those that dwell in the earth and caused them to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads. My prayer is that we may not let anyone deceive us in any way, let us know our God and His word and test every spirit that comes our way. May we continue to overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of our testimony and remain faithful witness until the end. May our God help us!

It means that the people of God were able to overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony and for not loving their lives unto death -- holding on to what they have believed since they were born again, their confession of faith to God, and surrendering their everything even their lives into the hands of God believing that God will honor His word and fulfill His word and His promise to them that believed. Hallelujah!!! The enemy is overcome. Satan is defeated. If we die in the process, we have the victory in the sense that knowing who our enemy is, we fought a good fight, kept the faith and pressed on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus. We remained faithful witnesses even in times of hardships, trials and persecutions, by God's grace. Glory to God!!! The blood of the Lamb was the sacrifice for the atonement of our sins and we were made at-one with God. We can overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb, he (the enemy) can no longer accuse us of our sins because Jesus took them all by dying on the cross for us. Hallelujah!!! Loving our lives prevent spiritual victory today because we will not be able to do the will of God fully. We can't go freely where God wants us to go spiritually. We can't fully trust God to do His will in our lives.

What this vision tells us about the cosmic battle in Jesus' day and in our own is that satan will always go after the people of God. He will still go his way to deceive God's people. Satan is already defeated so he has no power over us for greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. We should know our position in Christ Jesus, that holds the key to our victory in Him, through Him and with Him. As disciples, we should understand that though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. (2 Cor. 10:3-4) Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Eph. 6:12) We will overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony and not loving our lives so much unto death. Praise the Lord! (Rev. 12:11)

The positive characteristics I see in their actions that we should emulate are their obedience to god and their faith in Him and holding on their testimony until the end. They were given powers to do miracles and although the beast attacked, overpowered, and killed them and the whole world gazed at their bodies for 3 1/2 days, they were brought back to life by the breath of God after that and then they were called up to heaven at the attention of their enemies. Glory to God!

The great multitude which no one could number is of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands. They are the ones who had come out of the great tribulation, who were able to stand firm of their faith in Jesus. Their spirits within them caused them to cry out to the Lord with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb". They are praising and worshipping the Lord that had loved and saved them. Amazing grace was and is and will be God's gift to each one of us who had overcome and who is overcoming and who will still overcome the enemy through God's word and our testimony. It is the blood of Jesus that washed us, still washing us, and will wash us white as snow. Truly amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretched like me, I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life! Hallelujah!!!

From what I understand, the 144,000 is literal Israel. God's dealing with Israel and the church is separate. The church never replaced God's plan over Israel. True, there will no longer Jew nor Gentile but that's when it comes to those who believed in Jesus Christ and received Him as their personal Lord and Savior and so now they belong to the church. But how about those who had not given their lives or received Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior? They are still Jews and Gentiles whom God is going to judge and in that from the 12 tribes of Israel 144,000 will be sealed. There are prophecies that should be interpreted literally and figuratively. Considering most of Israel's prophecy being fullfilled literally and so this is, as far as I am concerned. From 7:1-4 we learn that God protects His servants who love Him with all their heart, mind and soul and are not willing to compromise their beliefs. As God is the God of love , He is also the God of wrath. God is faithful to His promise. The seal marked on the foreheads of the 144,000 will serve as their protection against the wrath of God. Nobody can come near them or no harm will be given to them. Hallelujah!!!

What we learn about the Church from what is revealed in the fifth seal is that persecution and martyrdom is inevitable in the end times. Christians will be slain for the word of God and for the testimony that they hold, as it is happening nowadays for we say we are now living in the last days. At the time of this scene, these "souls" are "under the altar" seen as a sacrifice to God. They were killed for the word of God and for the testimony which they held, not loving their lives even to death. Praise the Lord! They ask vengeance for justice on what they've been through and for the blood shed on those who dwell on the earth. I think that's a Christian prayer, to let them know that there is God who avenge for His people and honor those who had given their lives for His name sake. Revelation 3:5 says: "He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels." The white robe represents victory, they are overcomers and faithful witnesses of God and they were made worthy to be in the presence of God. We learn from their instruction to "wait a little longer" that both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who would be killed as they were is not yet complete. And this means that we have to be prepared for persecutions even unto death in our time and remain faithful and committed unto the Lord because as they suffered, we will experience the same. Only we are asked to hold on to the Word of God and to our testimony of Him, and we will overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and not to love our lives even unto death. May the Lord strengthen us and guide us and give us wisdom everyday as we do His will here on earth and in our lives. Amen!

Jesus, the Lamb initiates this great storm of destruction represented by the Seven Seals. It is directed to those who dwell on the earth. Yes, it is just. (Hebews 2:2-3: For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him.)

The significance of the same quality of worship being offered to both God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son is that they both deserve all the glory and the honor and the power - to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb that was slain. God the Father and God the Son are one, as Jesus said it in John 10:30: "I and my Father are one". They are equally God in two persons. The significance of their relationship to us is that Jesus is now sitting on the right hand of God ever interceding for our every need to the Father in heaven. Having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:21-23)

Our destiny as believers include reigning by enduring all things for the sake of our love to the Lord. Let us overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony and not to love our lives to the death. (Rev. 12:11) We are the head and not the tail. We are overcomers and victorious in Jesus' name! 2 Timothy 2:11-12 say: "This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He will also deny us. We do serve as priests by ministering to the Lord. By worshipping and waiting upon the Lord. And from there God will show us how to minister to His people, our brethren and to the world. We are a kingdom in the sense that we are in the Kingdom of God. We are worshipping and serving the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He had made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the on the earth.

What made Jesus so worthy of opening the scroll and thus bringing history to its consummation is that He was the Lamb of God that was slain and has redeemed us to God by His blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Why was this act so noteworthy and praiseworthy? Today is Yom Kippur here in Israel. It is the Day of Atonement, one of the feasts of the Lord written in Leviticus 23 and explained in Leviticus 16 and further explained in the book of Hebrews. This is the only time in a year wherein the High Priest will enter the Holy of Holies to bring the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. So he shall make atonement for the Holy Place (after bringing the blood of sacrifice for himself and his house) because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their trangressions, and for all their sins. Heb. 9:22 says: "And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission". Verse 24-28 say: "For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another - he then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him he will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation." Heb. 10:12-14 say: "But this Man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from the time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." Hallelujah!!!

The things/elements and concepts/insights that I've learned from Revelation chapters 4-5 about Christian worship are: 1. how they picture the throne of God in heaven 2. worshipping God in the Spirit 3. the beauty there is in heaven, what is it like? 4. about the worship in heaven day and night 5. the order of worship in heaven with the four beasts and the 24 elders 6. the humility they have in worship as they exalt the Lord, the elders fall down before Him, worship Him and cast their crowns before the throne 7. the worthiness of God to receive all the glory and the honor 8. God created all things for His pleasure 9. The Lion of the tribe of Judah 10. the Lamb that was slain 11. we are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb that was slain 12. all creation worship Him, from every kindred and tongue and people and nation. 13. how we are made kings and priests and reign on the earth. 14. how we worship God together with the angels 15. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory and blessing 16.Every creature in heaven, on the earth, under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them will say, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto Him that sits upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever. 17. our worship starts here and now 18. The Lamb deserves all the glory and honor and thanks for the things He has done 19. we worship God for who He is in our lives 20. we shall all behold His glory. Hallelujah to the Lamb that was slain!!!!!!! Worthy is He!!!!! Amen!!!!!

A lot of great hymns and songs are already mentioned but I would like to add up a few of my favorites here like: Hallelujah to the Lamb by Don Moen Worthy is the Lamb by Hillsongs Salvation belongs to our God by Integrity Music Majesty Worthy, You are Worthy To Him Who Sits on the Throne Kadosh, Kadosh / Holy, Holy To God be the Glory No Other Name / His Name is Exalted Come into His Presence Take Me In (to the Holy of Holies) God bless you!!!!!

:)The churches are criticized for leaving their first love, for compromising their Christian faith and witness, immorality, fornication, adultery, works found not perfect before God, indifference and apathy, and for being lukewarm. They are praised for their works, patient endurance, holding to sound doctrine, loyalty to God - not denying their faith, charity, service, faith, perseverance and though with little strength they kept God's word and did not deny His name. These observations should shape the twenty-first century church by learning from their mistakes and be strengthened by the things that God praised in them. God knows everything, our works, our strengths, our struggles, even our weaknesses. What God asks from us is to acknowledge our sins and weaknesses and repent and then renew our commitment to Him. Truly that apart from Him we are nothing, let Jesus be the center of our every objective in life and in the ministry. Let us hold fast to the sound doctrine of God. "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for He is faithful that promised and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." (Hebrews 10:22-25)