PassoverWritten by Terry Dashner
Faith Fellowship Church…PO Box 1586…Broken Arrow, OK 74013…Pastor Terry Dashner“Appointed Time: Passover” This is a continuation of study on “Appointed Time(s).” This series concludes after studying seven festivals of Messiah. Why do I detail these seven feasts? I do so because they illustrate life and reign of Jesus better than spoken word of Prophets of old or written word of Apostles of New Testament, in my opinion. You will have opportunity to judge this for yourself after concluding this series. I pray that Father God Almighty will open your eyes to see Jesus more clearly today than yesterday. This I ask in Jesus’ name! Introduction: And ye shall observe this thing [Passover] for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. …And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is sacrifice of Lord’s Passover, who passed over houses of children of Israel in Egypt… (Exodus 12:24,26-27). God declared Passover to be a permanent celebration for all eternity. Historically, Passover celebrates God’s deliverance of children of Israel from bondage in Egypt, where they were slaves to Egyptians. The spiritual application that God wants us to understand is this: Egypt is a type of world and world’s system. Its ruler, Pharaoh, was a type of Satan. The bondage people are in when they live according to ways of world’s system is sin. Historically, children of Israel were delivered from bondage in Egypt by putting blood of a lamb upon doorposts of their houses. Spiritually, this is a picture of Messiah and how those who believe in Him are delivered from bondages of sin and rule of Satan in their lives. Yeshua (Jesus) is Lamb of God (John 1:29). He is also our Passover (I Corinthians 5:7). Those who follow Yeshua are house of God (Hebrews 3:6). The doorposts are our hearts. It is only through trusting by faith in shed blood of Yeshua, our Passover, that we are free from bondage of sin (Galatians 4:3-5,9). During Passover, head of each household was to take a lamb of first year on 10th day of first month known as Nisan and set it aside until 14th day. In evening of 14th day, at exactly 3:00 PM, lamb was to be killed. The blood of lamb was to be sprinkled on lintel and two side posts of household door. The lamb was to be roasted with fire, with bitter herbs, and with unleavened bread, and entire household was to feast upon body of lamb. The people were instructed by God to eat lamb with haste and to be dressed and ready to leave Egypt at midnight hour. This would be 15th day of Nisan. At midnight on that fateful evening in Egypt, death passed through land. Every house that did not have token of blood on doorposts and lintel suffered judgment of God. The Hebrew word for Passover is Pesach, which means “to pass or hover over.” This word speaks to us about two things. First, it shows passing over in judgment from death and sin to life in Yeshua. Second, it tells us about allowing, by faith, blood of Yeshua to hover over our lives and give us divine protection from evil one. Significant Points About Passover… 1.Passover was beginning of months. Just as receiving Jesus into our lives is beginning of a New Covenant, Nisan was to be first month of religious calendar. Repenting of our sins and believing in shed blood of Jesus is our first step in our relationship with God. 2.The lamb was hidden for four days. Messianic fulfillment—God commanded Israel to take a lamb on 10th day of Nisan and set it aside until 14th day. These four days were fulfilled by Jesus during Passover week. Remember, Jesus is Lamb of God. He entered Jerusalem and went to temple, which is house of God, and went on public display there for four days from Nisan 10 to Nisan 14. Regarding Second Coming of Lord (Eschatology), these four days that Lamb was hidden is prophetic of people’s expectations that Messiah would come 4,000 years from creation of Adam as part of 7,000-year plan of God to redeem both man and earth back to how things were in Garden of Eden (Mishnah, San Hedrin 97-98). These four days are prophetic of Messiah being hid from world and not coming to earth for four days or 4,000 years from creation of Adam. A day is understood to be prophetic of a 1,000 years, based upon Psalm 90:4 (II Peter 3:8) to each day in creation. God ordained each day in creation to be prophetic of a thousand years of time and entire redemption to take 7,000 years to complete from fall of man in Garden Eden (Genesis 1:1, 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; 2:1-3).
| | The Essence of Worship (part 2)Written by Terry Dashner
Faith Fellowship Church…PO Box 1586…Broken Arrow, OK 74013…Pastor Terry Dashner“Essence of Worship” (continued) The essence of worship is where it’s at. I think you will agree with this statement if you read first part of this document. So let’s move on. We’ve been talking about localized and institutionalized worship of Old Testament having been delocalized and deinstitutionalized in New Testament because saints worship God in spirit and truth. We see further evidence of this in Paul’s ministry. Paul calls his own ministry a “priestly service (of worship),” and he calls converts themselves an “acceptable offering (in worship)” to God (Romans 15:16; cf. Philippians 2:17). He even calls money that churches send him “a fragrant aroma and acceptable sacrifice to God (in worship)” (Philippians 4:18 JP). And his own death for Christ he calls a “drink offering” to God (II Timothy 4:6). This is what it means when we read things like, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to glory of God” (I Corinthians 10:31). And “whatever you do in word or deed, do all in name of Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God Father” (Colossians 3:17 NASB). This is central New Testament action of worship: to act in a way that reflects glory of God—to do a thing in name of Jesus with thanks to God. But New Testament uses those greatest of all worship sentences without any reference to Sunday worship services. They describe life. Again, essence of worship is not external, localized acts, but an inner, God ward experience that shows itself externally not primarily in church services. The fundamental reason for this is probably that Old Testament was mainly a “come see” religion and New Testament fulfillment is a “go tell” religion. Now let me address question: What is essence of that inner experience which we call worship? Worship, whether an inner experience of heart or an outward act of body, or of congregation collectively—is a magnifying of God. That is, it is an act that shows how magnificent He is. It is an act that reveals or expresses how great and glorious He is. Worship is all about consciously reflecting worth or value of God. Paul’s passion is that what he does with his body, whether in life or death, will always be worship. In life and death his mission is to magnify Christ—to show that Christ is magnificent, to exalt Christ, and demonstrate that He is great. That’s plain from verse 20, that Christ shall be “exalted in my body, whether by life or death.” Paul knew in his heart that God willed his life to continue after his Roman imprisonment, he would be more determined than ever to minister to saints. That would be good for all churches that Paul ministered to. But, on other hand, if God called him home that would be gain also. Death would take him into a deeper intimacy with Lord. And that is especially good.
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