Preparing the Bride of Christ For His Return By Janet Van Hierdan
A Tale of Two Brides is now available on Amazon.com:
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Another
Coffee Break:
Christmas
December 26, 2014
It has been a constant source
of amazement to me that Jesus has always been painted as poor and indigent --
never mind what the Word clearly states.
Ever since the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, error after error after
error has crept into the body of Christ, and promulgated with traditions that
have no validity in the Word. The
compromises that Constantine made with church leaders in order to bring the
Roman Army into the church and declare them to be "Christian" have
contaminated the truth ever since.
Before
we launch into some Biblical and historical facts, let me strongly recommend
the following DVD to you and a good site where you can purchase it. Christian Book Distributors (CBD) sells THE
STAR OF BETHLEHEM (here's the site: http://www.christianbook.com/star-bethlehem-dvd/pd/806763?kw=dvd%20star%20of%20bethlehem&mt=b&dv=c&event=PPCSRC&p=1018818&gclid=CPn6kcOBhcICFSVk7Aod7X4AXA) produced by
attorney, Stephen McEveety. My reason
for recommending this DVD to you is that it provides extremely accurate
astronomical data in demonstrating just when Jesus was born and when the Magi
visited Him.
We've
all been contaminated throughout the generations with the idea that Jesus was
born on what amounts to December 25th on the Julian calendar. The problem with the Julian calendar is that
it is totally out of sync with God's calendar -- the calendar everyone likes to
refer to as the Hebrew or Jewish calendar.
It misses completely the Word that was given at Creation when God
specifically said:
Genesis 1:14-18,
KJV:
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the
heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for
seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the
firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the
greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he
made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the
heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the
night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was
good.
The
key here is that God specifically made the Sun, the Moon and the Stars -- NOT
just for a division between day and night, but for His signs, for seasons, for
days and for years! That's critical to
our understanding as we move forward.
With
this concept firmly planted let's look now at some specific days that God
ordained to be set aside as His days.
First
is the Feast of Passover.
"And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded,
your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in
haste: it is the LORD’S Passover."
(Exodus 12:11)
"And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye
shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep
it a feast by an ordinance forever." (Exodus 12:14)
"And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread;
for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore
shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance forever. In the first month, on the
fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the
one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no leaven
found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that
soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a
stranger, or born in the land. Ye
shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened
bread." (Exodus 12:17-20)
What
we see with this Feast is that this was an event to be celebrated
"forever!" That word in the
Hebrew text is 'olam -- a word which can be
translated: throughout
the eternity of the eternities.
This was not just a Jewish feast, or one that Israel ONLY was supposed
to keep: this feast was kept by Christians continually until Constantine's
"Edict of Toleration" in which Christians were forbidden to honor it.
Let's
continue.
In
the seventh month on God's calendar, He specified the following feasts:
Leviticus 23:24-25,
KJV: Speak unto the children of
Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month,
shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy
convocation. Ye shall do no
servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto
the LORD.
The
first day of the seventh month, therefore, begins with what we know as
"The Feast of Trumpets." Then
we see the following:
Leviticus 23:26-31,
KJV: And the LORD spake unto
Moses, saying, Also on the
tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of
atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict
your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And ye shall do no work in that same
day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before
the LORD your God. For
whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he
shall be cut off from among his people. And whatsoever soul it be that
doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his
people. Ye shall do no manner
of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in
all your dwellings.
Thus,
on the tenth day of the seventh month, we see the Day of Atonement. There's a term that appears here that gets
missed in the English translation out of the Hebrew, the word, dor (which comes from the root, dur) and is translated
"generations." In fact, the
word more properly translates as: a revolution of time. The root word, dur,
means: to revolve, to move continually in a circle. While the translation,
"generations," certainly applies, our English word loses the picture
of revolving continually without end -- hence, time
without end! I'll talk more about this momentarily.
But
we're not done with the seventh month.
Leviticus 23:33-41,
KJV: And the LORD spake unto
Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day
of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for
seven days unto the LORD. On
the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
Seven days ye shall offer an
offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy
convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the
LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.
These are the feasts
of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer
an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering,
a sacrifice, and drink offerings, everything upon his day: Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and
beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill
offerings, which ye give unto the LORD. Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh
month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast
unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on
the eighth day shall be a sabbath. And ye shall take you on the first day
the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick
trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God
seven days. And ye shall keep
it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a
statute forever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh
month.
During
the early years of the body of Christ -- in fact, during the first couple of
centuries -- Christians kept these feasts.
They understood that God's command to keep these feasts 'olam -- throughout the eternity of the eternities -- didn't just
apply to the Jews under the Mosaic Law, God's command applied to His people --
and there was no question that as Christians, they had been grafted into God's
select company.
Sadly,
Christians today have been stuck with the belief that to keep these feasts is
to be stuck with and caught up in legalism.
To be sure, we don't offer burnt offerings; WE are the burnt offering
unto the Lord, having been purified by the blood of Jesus and by the Holy Ghost
and fire!
Now,
I know many of you are looking cross-eyed at me and saying, "What in the
world does any of this have to do with Christmas?" My first answer to you is, "watch the
DVD, THE
STAR OF BETHLEHEM." My second answer is, "consider the
significance of the dates on the Hebrew calendar within the framework of Jesus'
birth, His death on the Cross, His resurrection, His command to the disciples
to NOT go forth to teach or to preach "until ye be endued with power from
on high" -- and event which began with Pentecost -- and, finally, His
promise that He would return to dwell with us again.
Consider,
now the following implications of these feasts, and how they relate.
On
the night that Jesus was born, Luke records that shepherds were in the fields,
watching their flocks during the night.
That is not a wintertime event in Israel. Because Luke tells us that the angel of the
Lord came to tell the shepherds of the birth of the Messiah, and immediately
following the sky was filled with angelic hosts praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward
men."
According
to all that we can ascertain historically, and considering corresponding events
in the heavens that are clearly recorded, this would have happened as early as
the fourth of September on our calendar (and the first day of the seventh month
on the Hebrew calendar, Tishrei), or as late as the 24th of September (also the
first day of the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar). This places Jesus' birth on the Feast of
Trumpets.
Using
the phenomenal work that Stephen McEveety did with his astronomical research as
it relates to the Star of Bethlehem that announced Jesus' birth, and the travel
time that it took the Magi to reach the young child after having seen the Star,
we know from the Greek text of Matthew 2:8 that by the time they reached Jesus,
that he was above two years of age.
How
do we know this, you ask? The Greek word
used in Matthew 2:8 is the word, paidion. This word is significant because it does not
describe a new-born babe. Consider the
five words in Greek that describe the growth and development of a person.
(1) Brephos describes a child in the womb
between conception and birth. (2) Nepios describes a child between birth and
the age of two when it is expected that the child has been weaned from the
mother's milk. (3) Paidion describes a child
after being weaned from the mother's breast until it reaches the age of 12 (for
a boy) or 13 (for a girl).
(4) Teknon describes a child who has reached
the age of accountability. [From a
spiritual perspective, Paul describes this in Galatians 4:1-2 as "being
under tutors and governors until the time appointed by the father."] The ceremony for a boy at age 12 is bar-mitzvah. The ceremony for a girl at age 13 is known as
bat-mitzvah.
(5) Huios is the word that describes a son who
has generally reached the approximate age of 30, has finished his tutoring and
has father's approval to act in his stead to operate father's business in his
name. Once "the time appointed of the
father" is reached, a general ceremony takes place in which father
announces to his friends and associates, "this is my beloved son in whom I
am well pleased."
As
is obvious, it takes no great imagination to see this same pattern unfolding
with Jesus. Tracking the position in the
sky of the Star of Bethlehem that led the Magi to Jesus in Bethlehem, we have
every reason to believe that they arrived at the home of Mary and Joseph to
bestow their incredible and lavish gifts on this young "King of
Kings" on December 25th, if you correlate it to the Julian calendar. Going back to my opening commentary on the
fact that so many Christians think Jesus lived His life in abject poverty, the
Magi came to see Jesus – either as kings themselves, or as representing kings
from major eastern countries – to honor Him as the King of Kings. Kings NEVER brought token gifts to other
kings, and in this case, the Magi would have brought lavish gifts. If we use the analogy of the Queen of Sheba
bringing what calculates in modern terms to the equivalent of $119 Million in
gold as a gift honoring Solomon, the Magi would have brought nothing less to
the One they were honoring as the King of Kings!!
I
have no problem celebrating December 25th as an important day in Jesus' life, but
it was not the day that Jesus was born.
Using Steven McEveety’s calculations from the signs in the Heavens, it
is most probably the day that Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb – the day that
the Angel, Gabriel, appeared to her and announced that she would be the mother
of the long-awaited Messiah! December
25th was a day adopted by Constantine in agreement with the various bishops --
a day that corresponded with a heathen feast, Saturnalia, on the Roman calendar. Constantine issued an edict in utter ignorance
of God's commands which forbade the Christians to observe what he called
"Jewish feast days," when in fact Christians had been celebrating
them continuously. Jesus kept the
feasts, and the feasts were signs of major events on God's calendar.
Let
me wrap up quickly today by saying that at the exact moment during the Feast of
Passover at 3:00 PM in the afternoon (specifically on the Day of Atonement)
when the High Priest was slitting the throat of the sacrificial lamb, Jesus
expired on the Cross -- slain for the sins of the world as the once-and-for-all
sacrifice.
When
Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to hundreds of people over a period of
some 40 days, and then prepared to ascend into heaven, he instructed the
disciples to "tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with
power from on High."
Fifty
days from the day that He was crucified and died on the Cross, the Feast of
Pentecost was celebrated, and Luke tells us in Acts 2 that when the day of
Pentecost "was fully come" the disciples, their families and others
who had joined with them "were all with one accord in one place."
Luke
goes on to tell us of the unfolding of Pentecost as Holy Spirit appeared as
fire, tongues of fire sat down on the heads of those gathered, "And
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other
tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."
Thus, the Feast of Pentecost -- as a feast to be commemorated
continually among God's people -- took on the manifestation that Jesus promised
before He ascended into Heaven.
If
I understand anything at all regarding the Feasts being a fulfillment of God's
timetable for His people, then we can expect Jesus to return to fulfill the
Feast of Tabernacles in order to dwell with us continually. The Feast of Tabernacles is on the 15th day
of the seventh month, the month of Tishrei.
Thus
we see the pattern unfolding in Tishrei: (1) on the first day of the month, we
celebrate the Feast of Trumpets -- the day that Jesus was born; (2) on
the 10th day of the month, we celebrate the Feast of Atonement, when Jesus
became the sacrificial lamb -- the "Lamb slain from the
foundation of the earth"; and (3) the 15th day of the seventh month, which
is the Feast of Tabernacles – the Lord dwelling with us. Jesus was and is the pattern Son for us all.
That
said, Merry Christmas to you all!
We
have a little more to share on the baptism of fire, and we will return to these
discussions on foundations next week.
During the rest of
this Christmas holiday season, our Healing Prayer Calls have been
suspended. Monday, January 5th,
the calls will resume our normal schedule.
Once again, the number to call for our healing call is (805)
399-1000. Then enter the access code:
124763#. To get into the queue for
prayer, when Randy opens the call up for everyone, hit *6-1 on your keypad. Let
us minister to your need for healing!
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Email Contact: Admin@RiverWorshipCenter.org
Our book, A
Tale of Two Brides, published by Destiny Image, is available on
Amazon.com as an E-book: http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Two-Brides-Relationship-ebook/dp/B00BSV6HZC/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1363139096&sr=8-8&keywords=A+Tale+of+Two+Brides#_
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Saturday, December 20, 2014
Another
Coffee Break:
Going Beyond, Part 7
December 19, 2014
Most of the church world
treats this as the Christmas season, but this is not the season when Jesus
Christ was born. As it turns out, from a
historical and astronomical perspective, December 25th was the day on the Julian
Calendar when the magi came bearing their gifts to the King of Kings -- a
then-toddler of some two years of age.
Next week we'll take a short break from this series to talk about that.
Let's get on today with our
foundation series -- and today we will deal with the third kind of baptism --
the Baptism of Fire.
When
John the Baptist began prophesying of Jesus, he made a statement that was
inclusive of all three baptisms:
Matthew 3:11-12,
KJV: I indeed baptize you with
water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose
shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with
fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor,
and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with
unquenchable fire.
My
grandmother related what happened to her and my grandfather, along with a group
of folks from the Methodist church that Grandpa was pastoring at the time.
She
said that they were unaware of Pentecost per se, or speaking in tongues, or
even the term, “baptism in the Spirit.”
The secret was that they were hungry spiritually and in pursuit of ALL
that God had for them. They had no
preconceived notions or doctrines one way or another. They were just determined to have all that
God had for them.
They
gathered in their farmhouse (my grandparents were farmers) in Erie, North
Dakota one midweek evening with a few other families from their church. The year was 1921. My grandmother related how as they were
praying, she heard what sounded like an approaching tornado. The sound filled the room and the house was
vibrating with the sound of this “tornado.”
Living on the Dakota plains, the family was well aware of the storms
that bring tornadoes, and the devastation that often follows. She jumped to her feet from the chair where
she had been kneeling and went to look out the window.
Nothing! There was no sign of any wind or things
blowing so she opened the door and looked outside. It was as quiet as could be. The sound was entirely in the room. She headed back to her chair, and as she did
so, a tiny cloud of fire appeared in the middle of the room. It began to break apart into tiny little
pieces (or tongues) of fire which set down on the heads of each of the gathered
worshipers in the room.
My
grandmother related to me how that as a tongue of fire or flame would touch the
head of someone, they would immediately burst out speaking in an unknown
tongue. It followed in quick succession
until everyone — including her — was speaking in tongues. It continued nonstop throughout the evening
and into the early morning hours.
No
one left the house without their lives having been radically transformed in
every way from that moment forth. Some
of those who were there that night left their farming, disposed of their farms
and in the months and years that followed became “missionaries” — apostles —
who went forth abroad ministering in African countries, South America and other
places as well.
My
grandfather up to this time had been noted for being fairly quiet and a retiring
sort of guy. His preaching and teaching
had been “nominal.”
Never
again!
The
transformation that took place in my grandparents caused Grandpa to become a
kind of firebrand — certainly by the standards of the Methodist church at the
time! They kicked him out of the pulpit
and stripped him of his ministerial status as a “heretic.”
He
decided that the structured church just didn’t fit with what God was doing and
saying. His ministry continued, but in
his home instead. For much of the next fifty
years of his life, he ministered out of his home, both there in Erie, ND, then
in Detroit Lakes, MN, and finally in Madison, WI until the health of my
grandmother began to fail.
My
grandparents not only experienced the “Baptism of Fire” in a visible sense on
the night that they were baptized in the Holy Spirit, they shortly thereafter
began to experience the fire touching the family. Months after their initial experience with
Holy Spirit, their then-six-year-old son, Alvin, came down with double pneumonia
and died.
Grandma
felt that she needed something more. The
thrill, the passion, the fire that had accompanied them the night they were
baptized seemed to be lacking so, after taking six-year-old Alvin’s body out to
the barn, she went into her bedroom, closed the door, pulled the shades and got
on her knees. As she waited on the Lord,
she made a promise to Him.
“Lord,
if you’ll raise my son back to life, I’ll give him to you for the
ministry.” It was a kind of “Hannah”
dedication — the same kind that Hannah did with Samuel.
Grandma
stayed on her knees praying until she was assured in her spirit that God had
heard and answered. She got to her
knees, raised the shades, opened the door and went out to the barn just as the
nurse was arriving by horse and buggy from Fargo to certify Alvin’s death.
Together
they went to the barn, arriving in time to see the color flooding back into his
face and him beginning to breathe normally.
The
next day, young Alvin was back playing like any normal six-year-old. Though he had been dead for the better part of
a day, the Lord had raised him back to life, instilling in him at the same time
an apostolic destiny that would begin to play out in the years to come as he
took our family to the far north to bring the message of the Kingdom — against
all odds — to native communities.
The
event that began to play out that night in 1921 in Erie, ND with the Baptism of
Fire would repeat itself in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s in Barrow, Alaska
with a fire that would reach from the eastern coasts of Siberia to Greenland as
Eskimos from virtually every native tribe in the arctic received Jesus Christ
as their Lord and Savior and were baptized in the Holy Spirit with signs
following.
We’ve
already talked about the purging that takes place with the fire. Consider the event that took place with
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
The
king, Nebuchadnezzar, had ordered that everyone bow down to his image. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow
to anyone, any image or any god besides the Lord God. The king, in his anger at their refusal,
ordered that the furnace he had prepared be heated to seven times its normal
heat. He then ordered that the three
Hebrew companions be bound and cast into the furnace.
A
rather unique and very prophetic picture unfolded. The three companions were thrown into the
fire. Their bonds were consumed in an
instant but they were completely unhurt to the point that there wasn’t even the
smell of smoke on them. Those who bound
them and threw them into the fire died themselves by virtue of their having to
get so close to the fire in order to obey their orders.
Here’s
the best part! Nebuchadnezzar was
astonished because, not only didn’t Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego die, they
were walking about in the fire with the Lord and enjoying the fellowship with
Him. It is precisely the picture we have
with the day of Pentecost and the baptism of fire.
The
baptism of fire isn’t for our hurt or our destruction: it is for our fellowship
with the Lord. The fire only burns away
the things that keep us in bondage.
Remember
what put Adam and Eve in bondage to the Serpent and brought them under the
curse? Yup. You got it!
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Not only did Adam and Eve suffer the bondage
of the Serpent and become subject to death, they lost their ready access to
fellowship with the Lord. The only way
back to that place of fellowship, and access to the Tree of Life, was going to
be through the sword — the Word of God — AND the fire!
Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego refused to allow the intimidation of death, or the fear of
the king, or the social stigma of not “following the herd” and bowing down to
the image along with the rest of the people, to alter their fellowship with the
Lord. So confident were they in their
relationship with Him that they could boldly say to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are
not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we
serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver
us out of thine hand, O king.” (Daniel 3:16-17,
KJV)
They
were not afraid of the “baptism” of fire — and “baptism” is exactly what it
was. They were immersed, covered over,
“whelmed” (to use J.H. Thayer’s description) by the fire.
There’s
another prophetic picture with these three “princes” that we need to pay
attention to. Shadrach (whose Hebrew
name was Hananiah), Meshach (whose Hebrew name was Mishael) and Abednego (whose
Hebrew name was Azariah) were all — along with Daniel, their contemporary —
seed, descendants of the royal household of David. They demonstrated for us just what it means
to be of royal seed. Despite their
captivity in the natural sense, they showed a spiritual authority in God that
was superior to the earthly authority of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar.
The
"immersion" in the furnace of fire did not destroy them; it only
purified, it removed the cords and the bonds that had held them captive.
Some
of you have heard me share this before, but take a quick look at something that
Paul writes to Timothy:
II Timothy 2:15-16 (RAC Translation
& Amplification):
"Be instantly responsive
to the Lord, making yourself available to Him in the midst of the crucible, a
tried and tested laborer who has no fear of being examined – one who, by virtue
of God’s testing and the time spent in the crucible with Him, knows the proven
Word of Truth.
"Stand aloof from, and avoid the
untested, untried “word” which comes forth from those who would propagate
speculation and create their own doctrines. These profane speculations and
so-called “words” are empty babblings which will only serve to advance
ungodliness;
"And those who spread these doctrines will only yield a gangrene
pasture – a source of poison to those who ingest their “word”….."
Let’s take a little deeper look at this instruction by
Paul.
“Be instantly responsive to the Lord.” That’s a mandate for all of us ALL the
time! But look where the requirement for
responsiveness comes: in the crucible!
This is another picture of being in the fire — and this is very
distinctly a part of the baptism of fire.
“Be instantly responsive — making yourself available to Him!” The baptism of fire is not just for our
purification and/or for the removal of all of the residue or contamination from
having eaten of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, it is that process
in us by which we listen ONLY to Holy Spirit’s voice and “make ourselves
available to Him” for a multitude of opportunities, ministry, giving, sharing,
etc., ESPECIALLY WHEN WE LEAST FEEL LIKE DOING SO, OR WHEN WE LEAST FEEL
QUALIFIED!!
Consider something that Paul wrote in his second letter
to the Corinthian Ekklesia.
II Corinthians 11:21-31 KJV: “I speak as concerning reproach, as though we
had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am
bold also. Are they Hebrews? so am I.
Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they
ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant,
in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
"Of
the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with
rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have
been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of
robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils
in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among
false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and
thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are
without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
"Who
is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? If I must needs glory, I will
glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. The God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.”
And
we think we go through stuff? The list
of things that Paul experienced is enough to last any of us several lifetimes —
and he’s writing about experiences that took place within a 20-year or so time
frame. ALL of these events took place
because he responded to the Lord, went where Holy Spirit directed, and preached
the Kingdom, laying foundations where none had been laid.
Paul
did not allow the sequence of events, the disasters, the perils, the
persecutions, the weariness of the constant travels, or even the loss of his
family to stop him.
Consider
this: before he could become a Pharisee, Paul had to be married. It was part of the sign of maturity and
responsibility for every Pharisee. Yet
we see from his writings that his wife had to have left him, and he says,
“Art thou
bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not
a wife. But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she
hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare
you.” (I
Corinthians 7:21-22, KJV)
Everything
we see recorded in these passages from Paul’s letters to the Corinthians came
in the midst of his total, unreserved, unabashed responsiveness to the
direction of Holy Spirit. The fire that
bathed Paul allowed him to lay the same foundations and patterns for growth and
development in believers that we walk in today!
We
have a little more to share on the baptism of fire, and we will return to these
discussions on foundations the week after Christmas.
During the rest of
this Christmas holiday season, our Healing Prayer Calls have been
suspended. Monday, January 5th,
the calls will resume our normal schedule.
Once again, the number to call for our healing call is (805)
399-1000. Then enter the access code:
124763#. To get into the queue for
prayer, when Randy opens the call up for everyone, hit *6-1 on your keypad. Let
us minister to your need for healing!
!
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Email Contact: Admin@RiverWorshipCenter.org
Our book, A
Tale of Two Brides, published by Destiny Image, is available on
Amazon.com as an E-book: http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Two-Brides-Relationship-ebook/dp/B00BSV6HZC/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1363139096&sr=8-8&keywords=A+Tale+of+Two+Brides#_
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CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry.
Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this
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or visit: http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.
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