One of the greatest things a congregation can do for their pastor is to pray for him. Pray that the Word and message that is inside of him will come forth clearly and that the hearts of the people will be open to receive it. When we pray for pastors or other ministers, we are actually asking God to bless us as well, because we will benefit from what is coming forth.
The boldness that Paul is referring to in this verse is the anointing. The anointing is directly related to prayer.
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By going to the cross, shedding His blood for us, taking our sins, our sicknesses, and the curse that was upon us, Jesus fulfilled the sacrificial requirements of the law. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He meant both the law and the sacrifices. The shedding of His blood ended the requirement of the law to sacrifice the blood of bulls and goats for the sins of the people. Jesus was the sacrificial Lamb of God who became sin and shed His blood that we might become the righteousness of God in Him!
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Jesus was not so spiritual that He could not talk of natural things to the people who followed Him. Neither was Jesus so natural He could not immediately pray for a sick person or offer a word of supernatural wisdom. Jesus could flow from one realm to another at a moment’s notice.
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Two men are contrasted in these verses of scripture - and how different they are! One brought sin into the world and the other brought righteousness. One brought death and one brought eternal life. One through disobedience condemned the world and one through obedience to the will of God freed us from the wrath of God.
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David, who wrote the first Psalm, was a man of intense happiness. In fact, the Bible tells that David was a man after God's own heart. He found out how to be happy with God. (That's not to say that he was perfect - David also had times of intense misery when he was out of fellowship with God.)
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People today are talking a lot about God's power and that we have the greater one living in us and we are more than conquerors. If we do have the greater one living in us, why are Christians giving up? Why are they fainting and ready to give up?
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Bible scholars often use these passages to substantiate their belief that the Bible contradicts itself.
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Where Satan is concerned, there are two dangerous extremes which we can fall into in the Christian life. One is to think too highly of him and to see him in everything we encounter and everyone we meet. The other is not to take him seriously at all and to disregard any knowledge of him or his kingdom. We are told twice in the New Testament that an understanding of Satan’s kingdom is essential to our spiritual success.
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A believer should have no fear of physical death. One of the reasons Jesus went to the cross and died for us was to redeem us from the fear of death: “…that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (Hebrews 2:14, 15)
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Hebrews 2
vs. 1 “Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard.”
This is comparing New Testament saints to the Old Testament saints. Old Testament believers had a good covenant, but we have a better covenant. The end of that verse says, “Lest at any time we should let them slip.” The actual meaning of this is, “lest anytime we should drift by them,” and it is a picture of someone in a boat that just happens to drift by the port. They missed their port, they missed the mooring.
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The ministry of angels has changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament. This is the theme of Hebrews, but especially the 12th chapter. We will compare the law under Moses and grace under Jesus Christ, Mount Sinai where the law was given, and Mount Zion which is so typical of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Angels desire to look into the things we look into but they cannot understand it. In fact, more is said about angels in the New Testament than was ever mentioned in the Old. From the moment the New Testament begins in the book of Matthew, angels are on the scene. And throughout the Old Testament, they appeared from time to time, but more is said in the book of Matthew than just about all of the Old Testament combined about angels. Much less Mark, Luke, John, Acts, into the New Testament.
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Where Can Wisdom Be Found?
Many people are full of the “in Him” truths — full of righteousness, healing, salvation and authority truths — but they don’t take care of the things in their natural life. We do live in two worlds: natural and supernatural. We still have to live on the job, the righteousness of God still has to change the oil in the car, and the joint-heir with Jesus Christ still has to make dinner. The prosperity and protection truths are a reality, but we still need to have wisdom in the natural, everyday life. That’s where the book of Proverbs comes in – wisdom for the nitty-gritty existence. The greatest man of wisdom in the Word of God apart from Jesus Christ is Solomon, so we’re going to study his writings.
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“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful…” Literally, all things are necessary. All things are not profitable. But he does say, “All things are lawful to me… all things are lawful, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” The word power actually means the rulership or domination. “I will not be brought under the rulership or domination of any.”
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The anointing with oil was very much a part of the Jewish culture. When Jesus talked to the disciples about anointing with oil, they were very familiar with the practice. Anointing with oil was found throughout the Old Testament but was not reserved for the sick.
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It is good to know that even though we are part of a large family, God has not forgotten us as individuals.
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When Jesus went to the cross and died for the sins and iniquities of the world, he left one debt to the Christian. This debt will never be paid as long as we live. It is the debt of preaching the gospel to the world.
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Jesus has been raised from the dead eternally. He was given a resurrection body and now He is the Great Shepherd of the sheep. The One Who was raised from the dead is the One Who can supply all of our need.
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The Bible is generally silent on the time period when dinosaurs roamed the earth, however, there are several scriptures that may give us some insight. The flood of Noah’s day was actually the second flood that has come upon the earth. Both floods were sent as judgment from God
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The story is of the rich young ruler. He was like a lot of religious people today, proud and arrogant. Religious people are the hardest to witness to because of their pride. Jesus had his best results with people off the streets, publicans, and sinners. Publicans were tax collectors and sinners were prostitutes. His worst results came from religious people.
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