KINGDOM FOCUS Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness-Matthew 6:33 CHRISTIAN BIBLE FELLOWSHIP NEWSLETTER Sharing and Caring with the Community of Believers May, 2017 CHOOSING TO COME HOME TO THE COVERING OF COVENANT MEMORY VERSE FOR MAY, 2017 MALACHI 4:2-3 FOR YOU WHO FEAR MY NAME, THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WILL RISE WITH HEALING IN ITS WINGS; AND YOU WILL GO FORTH AND SKIP ABOUT LIKE CALVES FROM THE STALL. YOU WILL TREAD DOWN THE WICKED, FOR THEY SHALL BE ASHES UNDER THE SOLES OF YOUR FEET ON THE DAY WHICH I AM PREPARING, SAYS THE LORD OF HOSTS.
CLOCK TIME CAN BECOME HOLY TIME Be Still and Know That I am God. Here s a simple question for all of us to think about; are you watching the seconds, minutes, hours and days of your life blur together into a frenzied, selfmotivated, self-compelled list of activities that have very little or no spiritual motivation or eternal value? The days we live in are filled with stress and anxiety and a lot of it is because we as believers often do not prioritize and set aside clock time that can become holy time. We need to spend time in the presence of the Lord of Eternity! Choose the good thing which will not be taken away from you! Make time to sit at Jesus feet! OLD TESTAMENT PICTURES, TYPES AND FORESHADOWINGS Coming Home to the Covering of Covenant- by Linda Timco Ezekiel 16:8, Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became mine, declares the Lord God. The above words are spoken by God with the careful use of bridal language. The context here notes God s role as a husband for Israel. The gesture of a man covering a woman with his garment was symbolic of a new relationship and the symbolic declaration of the husband to provide for the sustenance of his future wife. God was taking Israel for His own while at the same time, putting the reputation of His holy name at stake by entering into marriage covenant with His chosen people. Israel is sometimes described in the word as a faithless wife and even as a harlot, but Holy God always remains faithful to covenant. Today God is calling His people, Jews and Gentiles, to choose to come home to the covering of covenant. Our prayer should be as David s was in Psalm 17:8 Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Thy wings. The Hebrew word for garment cover kanaph is the same as the word for God s protective covering of Israel with His wing. I have been spending a great deal of time this month gleaning truths from the book of Ruth. Similar bridal language is used in Ruth, chapter three, verse nine; He (Boaz) said, who are you? She answered, I am Ruth your maid. So spread your covering over your maid, for you are a near kinsman. Before we get into what was occurring in this verse, we need some background information on the book of Ruth. The book of Ruth took place in the days when the judges ruled. This was a turbulent period in Israel s history. The last verse in Judges says it all, in those days there was no ruler in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes. This could be a description of the day and age we live in! In Ruth 1:1 the bible says, Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. The word day is the Hebrew word yowm. This word is connected with the sovereignty of God. God created time and it is under His control. So even in these turbulent times, God was at work. God is interested in time and human events. According to the Hebrew-Greek Study Bible the phrase the days when introduces events with particular importance in the history of salvation.
The book of Ruth is a love story. Everybody enjoys a good love story. In Boaz and Ruth s love story we will discover the roots of the family line of Jesus, the Redeemer, and our Kinsman Redeemer. The journey begins when a Jewish family of four chooses to leave Bethlehem-Judah (the house of bread) due to severe famine to sojourn in Moab and remain there about ten years. The word sojourn means to take up ones abode as a stranger or to live among people who are not blood relatives. Remember, our choices have consequences. As believers we must realize that we are pilgrims and sojourners in the world. We are in the world, but we are not to be of the world. This family began to be very comfortable in Moab. The boys married wives in Moab. Israelites were not to marry unbelievers, but the Faithful and Holy One of Israel, the God of covenant was at work even in these bad choices. He began working all things together for good. Bitter circumstances begin to happen in this family. Elimelech, the husband and the two sons died in Moab. Noami, the wife, was bereft of her husband and two sons. As believers we must acknowledge the sovereignty of God in all our circumstances, good or bitter. This implicit trust in the goodness of the sovereignty of God will always woo us back home to the covering of covenant. We must come back home to the Lord empty so that He can fill us. Hear Naomi s words in Ruth 1:21, I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty. Naomi told all of Bethlehem-Judah; Call me Mara for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. The Almighty has afflicted me. Ruth, one of Noami s daughters-in-law made the good choice to be loyal to Naomi and the God of Naomi. Hear her words in Ruth 1:16 Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Ruth decided to turn her back on the heathen gods of Moab and enter into covenant with Israel s God, the true God. God began to work in this good choice to lead Ruth to Boaz, the one who would be her Kinsman Redeemer. The Hebrew name Boaz means In Him is Strength, or Comes in Strength. In Israel the Kinsman Redeemer served, among other things, to father an heir for a brother who had died, and to secure family property that would otherwise be lost due to death. (The Levirate Marriage) This had to occur through very specific God given procedures. Naomi knew the law and instructed Ruth in what to do. Boaz and Ruth became the parents of Obed, the father of Jesse who was the father of David. These two covenant choosers were in the direct family line of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Boaz is regarded as a type or foreshadow of Jesus. He depicts Jesus as our faithful Kinsman Redeemer. When Ruth came to the threshing floor and uncovered Boaz s feet, she requested him to cover her with his prayer shawl. She became a picture or type of the church coming to Jesus for the covering of covenant. The garment Boaz covered Ruth with was the prayer shawl or tallit. The word tallit in Hebrew means to cover over. This garment was for the purpose of remembering all the commands, statutes and judgements that God commanded Israel to do and which only Jesus kept perfectly. By spreading his prayer shawl over Ruth, Boaz was foreshadowing what Jesus would do for us. Jesus is our protection. When he spreads this covering of covenant over us by our choice and His calling, we come under His protection. He is our Kinsman Redeemer. In conclusion our Jesus became the mediator of a better covenant. Let s examine the benefits of this covenant recorded for us in Hebrews 12: 22-24, You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to
myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born (Jesus) who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood,(jesus blood) which speaks better than the blood of Abel. Do not refuse to hear the voice that speaks clearly from Heaven to us through God s word. Will you hear this call to respond willingly and joyfully to come home to the covering of covenant? Jesus, our Kinsman Redeemer is waiting in gracious love for us to come home to Him! KINGDOM ADVANCEMENT FLOWS FROM INTIMACY WITH THE KING! THE PARABLE OF THE UNMERCIFUL SERVANT THOUGHTS OF A REPENTANT SINNER Unforgiveness-by Russ Timco Unforgiveness is resentment toward anyone who you believe has hurt you. It can be real or imagined, but it is the feeling that someone needs to pay for the hurt you are feeling. It is a burden that can destroy your life. It is a feeling that you have a right to feel the way you do because you have been hurt. It will hinder your relationship to God and those around you. Hear wisely, Mark 11:25 tells us, And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. Unforgiveness is a sin that needs to be dealt with. It will hinder your prayers and can be destructive to your health. You need to lay your burden of unforgiveness down. Matthew 6:15 reads, But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. You need to lay your burden of unforgiveness down and choose to forgive. By forgiving those who have hurt you and praying for their betterment you can get rid of a heavy load you do not need to carry. Forgiveness benefits you every bit as much as the person you are forgiving. Many times people think they have a right to be unforgiving. Jesus died for all our sins and has given each of us the opportunity to receive forgiveness for our sins. He gave His life for our sins and we do not have the right not to forgive others. In Matthew 18: 21-35 we can read about a conversation
Jesus and Peter had about unforgiveness. It has been entitled, The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me, up to seven times? Jesus answered, I tell you not seven times, but seventy-seven times. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. At this the servant fell on his knees before him. Be patient with me, he begged, and I will pay back everything. The servant s master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. Pay back what you owe me! he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, be patient with me and I will pay it back. But he refused. Instead he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant in. You wicked servant, he said. I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart. There are consequences to our actions; unforgiveness is a sin against Jesus. We are accountable for the way we live our life. Before we were saved we did not have the light that our risen Savior has shown us. When He shines His light on our life, our sins which were not evident to us before we were saved become known both to us and those around us. As Jesus shows us the sins which are in our life, we need to acknowledge them and repent of them. Repentance is not just saying I am sorry. It is also turning from them and not doing them anymore. John 8:12 tells us, Then spoke Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world; he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE FORGIVENESS IN NOT AN OPTION, IT IS A REQUIREMENT. IF WE WANT TO BE FORGIVEN OF A MUCH GREATER SIN, WE MUST FORGIVE OTHERS OF A MUCH LESSER SIN. BENEVOLENT CORNER-We would like to start a new benefit in the Kingdom Focus. If you have an item that you do not need or want, we would like to list it along with a phone number so that someone who needs it can benefit from it. No items will be sold. They will only be given away. Contact Linda Timco with your listing at 412-276-0909-*One item per Kingdom Focus per person. Item-Hearing Aid Batteries P13 1.4V- (412-276-0909)
ONE LAST THOUGHT Man is not justified by works, yet no justified man is without works.-john Calvin