Crucial Relationship of Life

Crucial Relationship of Life

Crucial Relationship of Life

Guest Writer Alan Tai

Your most important relationships in life should be to whom you were from and to whom you will be with.

When you extend your life’s time span to your beginning on earth, and assume the biological consideration of the relationships to whom you were from, they were your parents!

Life is more than just biological aspect, there are also psychological and spiritual aspects.

Based on the revelation of the Scripture, I use a “Roadmap of Life’s Relationships” to share the four crucial relationships that not only can affect your life on earth but also the future life after your human life end on earth.

On the other dimension, beside the physical dimensions, there are spiritual considerations of the relationships with God, from whom your origin came.

Using a computer as an analogy to the biological and physical body of a human being, the body appears to be the hardware part only.

The body needs the software or the soul to function and behave as a human being.

The soul needs a lot of nourishment, education, learning, experiencing, and interacting with others to build even more relationships.

However, the source of the origin of your relationship is more than only the biological consideration.

Your spiritual relationship began with God, from whom you were created in the image of God (Genesis 1: 27 -28).

As described in the Scripture, God breath the breath (Spirit) of Life into Human (Genesis 2: 7), the best in His creation!

Roadmap of Life’s Relationships

Any serious relations can experience up and down. The most crucial relationship are with the Creator! We will have peace and joy when Christ became the center of our life relationships.

1) Creation: Beginning Relation

Relationship with God: Human Life was created in the image of God. God breath the breath (Spirit) of Life into Human, resulted in the best of His creation!

2) Fall: Judgement Relation

Broken Relationship: Law center Life under Judgement of God for sin in disobeying God’s Word.

Sin is like a spiritual virus that deceives and corrupt human life.

3) Redemption: Love Relation

Recovery Relationship: God’s Love in Christ to Sacrifice His Life in the Cross so that Christ gives His resurrected new Life to whoever receives Him.

Christ is like the spiritual vaccine/antibody that gives immunity to the power of sin.

4) New Creation: Forever Relation

Glorify Relationship: Kingdom of God with Christ center Life.

Christ’s Spirit and Word guild us to the Way, Truth and Life according to God’s purpose of creating Human in His image!

 1  Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name (Jesus Christ), he gave the right to become children of God—  children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1: 12 – 14)


 

** Video Interview With John Tarr and Alan Tai “About Crucial Relationship of Life” **

Crucial Relationship of Life

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What Are the Messianics?


What Are the Messianics?


What Are the Messianics?

Guest Blog by Lynwood Johnson

The Messianic movement or Messianism is as old as the days in which Jesus lived in Israel and identified Himself as Israel’s promised Messiah. It is also a contemporary and growing presence throughout Israel, the United States, and other nations.

Many Christians are surprised to learn that all the New Testament writers were Messianic Jews, with the possible exception of Luke.  None of them ceased being Jews active in their synagogue communities, but rather they continued living as practicing Jews who understood Jesus’ words and attesting miracles supporting His claim of being Israel’s Messiah anticipated by numerous prophets.  We read in Acts 6:7, “And the word of God kept on spreading; and the number of disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.”  Guess what?  These priests and the other ‘disciples’ were Messianic Jews.  Remember too, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were followers, and members of Judea’s highest religious authority, the Sanhedrin.

To summarize a lot of Messianic history, across the centuries there was a ‘faithful remnant’ of Jewish men (yes, men; for historic cultural reasons) who read the Hebrew Torah (the first five O.T. books) and the Tanakh (the balance of the OT) and quietly concluded that Yeshua (“Jesus”) was Israel’s promised Messiah.  To hold these views publicly meant heavy persecution and ostracism from their community. That outcome often meant loss of livelihood.

The modern Messianic movement began to take shape in the 1960s and 1970s, almost parallel with the “Jesus Movement” here in the US. A number of organizations and leaders emerged who sought to build a bridge between Judaism and Christianity with messaging appropriate to each.  To the Jewish, the message is that the concept of the Messiah was a hope and future that was alluded to in numerous places in the Jewish scriptures, and in the person of Yeshua HaNazret (Jesus of Nazareth) is the complete fulfillment of messianic prophecy.  Jewish people have only to read their scriptures for themselves to notice the connections.  Once they do, they start asking questions their rabbis would rather not answer.

To the Christian community the message is that the cradle of Christianity is Judaism. Where do we get the notion that God is One, there is no other; He has given His word and His word is authoritative?  Where do we learn our God has given His people numerous promises and He has not failed in the fulfillment of any?  The Jewish scriptures, of course.

I like to picture the Jewish/Christian differences in theology to an epic movie with an intermission.  The first part of the movie is a digest of Jewish history which tells a huge story of God calling out a man, a family, a nation a race – to be His chosen people. These chosen people reject Him repeatedly; and He in His grace rushes to forgive them, repeatedly.  We learn tons about God and His love in this first part of the movie. And we learn that the Jews are not the only ones who reject God, over and over.  We do it, too.  The Jewish story is ours, as well. 

However, come the movie’s intermission, the Jewish folks walk out.  They want nothing to do with this ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Most Jews reject the blossom, the flower (‘Lily of the Valley’) the culmination of the Father of Israel’s intention: “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” (John 1:29), our great Cohen HaGadol (Great High Priest) who entered the heavenly most holy place only once to remove the sins of all mankind. (Hebrews 9: 22-28)

But that’s not all.  While the Jewish people are leaving the theater at intermission, they’re passing another group coming in – the Christians!  For them, three fourths of their Bibles are somewhat interesting material, but the real juice begins at Matthew, Chapter One.

To put it succinctly, Jewish people and Christians could both strongly benefit from deeper study of both.  The ‘New Testament’ is an elaboration and fulfillment of the Old.  When one reads the Old Testament though a lens of pattern recognition it is amazing what God has implicitly put into His great story. 

A quick example:  Passover and the death angel passing over.  Fathers of Hebrew households were given specific instructions through Moses on what to do. (Genesis 12) The instructions included slaughtering the lamb, draining its blood into a basin, and daubing the lamb’s blood with hyssop on the doorposts and lentil of their doors (lentil is the horizontal part of the door frame.

Of course, some blood would drop to the ground beneath the two doorposts, as well as from the lentil.  3 puddles of blood.  Think: a crown of thorns and spiked ankles. Spiked wrists. Hyssop. Sour wine.

The death angel “passes over” every one who has put their faith, trust, life – in this Man.

For Messianics, Passover is our “Easter.”  The killing of the lambs foreshadows Calvary.  The “Lamb of God” took our place there, for us. Once. For all. By our faith in Him and trust in what He has done in our behalf, we find the complete freedom He promises.

As said, the above is just one of many examples.

So, what are Messianic Congregations like? Well, like 90% of Christian churches, they’re small – 30 – 150 people or so; with a few rather large assemblies.  There are an estimated 300 Messianic congregations or synagogues in the U.S.  Thirty years ago there where hardly any Messianic gatherings in Israel.  Now, there are about 200.  It is amazing what God is doing in these last of the latter days!

Messianic congregations are unified in the mission of seeing Jewish people come to embrace Yeshua as their Savior, Lord, and God.  God’s chosen people are our favorite people! 

The worship service itself is very similar to synagogue order of service. 

This is very comfortable for Jewish people checking us out. Christian visitors remark regarding the strongly Biblical message they are familiar with, and almost stunned by the added depth of the “Old Testament” foundations and parallels.  A remark often heard: “How come I never heard such depth of teaching in our church?”

 

Who would a Messianic congregation be a great fit for? 

For couples in which one is Jewish and the other is Christian. Both are comfortable in this space.  Also for Jewish people who have an awakened ‘itch’ that there is something more to their faith than what they’ve been hearing from their rabbis.

 And, similarly for Christian believers who have a restlessness wherein they sense the Spirit has something more. 

And, truly He does. 


Lynwood Johnson holds the Doctor of Ministry Degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and has pastored churches in Illinois, Michigan, and Phoenix.  He is a Messianic Teacher at Tree of Life Congregation, Scottsdale, Arizona.  In his spare time he cleans his garage.


**You Can Watch The Podcast Here.**

What Are the Messianics?

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Double Portion for the Firstborn

Double Portion for the Firstborn

Double Portion for the Firstborn

The concept of permanence is difficult for creatures as locked into temporal nature as human beings to comprehend.

The entirety of Ecclesiastes comments on the vaporous vain vexations of life under the sun, and it is not without its points.

However, even the wise old king Solomon had to admit that there was one unique exception to what is otherwise the agonizing reality of the entropy of all things and that is that is this:

“I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.” (Eccl. 3:14).  

David’s son goes on to conclude,  

“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” (Eccl 12:13). 

The Fear of God is an important thing, and at the center of these coming holidays.

Passover and the feast of unleavened bread are commemorative event instituted by God to remember Israel’s salvation from Egypt, but we must remember that these things are prototypes of the future anti-type of Christ.

Paul says it another way:  

“These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” (Colossians 2:17) 

The original Passover is the climax of the event of salvation in the redemptive story of God over Egypt’s gods.

The background of this entire ordeal is the Spirit of God moving through Moses to bring curses and plagues.

This was a gross display of power to destroy any opposition to the rebellious angelic and demonic forces that were at work in that area— Pharaoh’s magicians were able to replicate multiple of the plagues at first!

This was hostile enemy territory controlled by powerful and malevolent powers, both earthly and within the realm of spirits.

And Passover was the ultimate blow: God takes the firstborn of Egypt (livestock included!). 
 
Let’s first remember the religious context: Pharaoh was a man treated and believed to be a god. One way to understand it was that Pharaoh was an incarnation of the God Horus, or at least his legal representative. Never forget that Satan loves to mock the Lord. 

So, in this marriage of religion and government, Egypt losing her firstborn son completely desolated her.

And because it is so easy for us vaporous creatures to forget, God has instituted a  permanent celebration of this holiday; a permanence on par with the tree of life’s fruit, the rainbow, God’s promises to Abraham, or the Sabbath.

It was this Holiday that the Lord Jesus Christ was celebrating and was crucified directly prior to. There are countless similarities, the counting of which extends much farther than the scope of this blog.

However, I believe the most important is the cost of the life of the firstborn. This is why God declares ownership of all firstborn when He declares that the tribe of Levi fulfill this roll, which was why John the Baptist had to baptize Jesus.

Moreover, He requires the people to redeem their firstborn sons.

However, Israel’s ultimate firstborn was not be spared. 

Jesus is firstborn in the traditional sense, but He is also the first man to be born of the Spirit, exemplified by His miraculous birth by a virgin. Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, was celebrating this holiday. 
 
This firstborn of Israel was not spared, but there was even more spiritual warfare going on in the midst of this Passover.

The first good Friday (or Wednesday if you are like me and consider a Wednesday crucifixion more likely) marks the beginning of the 3 days and nights act as the turning point of all creation, the moment that God made checkmate against the old spiritual forces He defeated back in Moses’s day.

Easter Sunday was Jesus’s birthday as not just Israel’s firstborn, but the firstborn of the new Creation that he might be pre emanate in all things.  

The ultimate firstborn was not spared, but can never die.

 

Double Portion for the Firstborn

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Alone and Afraid in Phoenix

Alone and Afraid in Phoenix

Alone and Afraid in Phoenix

When God gives us “divine appointments,” they are unmistakable. They usually challenge us to step out of our comfort zone and into His hands of grace.

Here’s how He recently reached out to a “missing person” and to me as well:

I combine my love of walking and my love of architecture and construction with routes that feature the newest construction here in metro Phoenix. This past Wednesday took me to the Central and Indian School Road area. It ended up being a divine appointment, God putting me in the right place at the right time.

As I was getting ready to cross the street, a very thin young homeless person approached me, or at least I assumed he was homeless. Somehow that didn’t add up. He had on nice clothes and yet had mud on his hands and shoes. I immediately realized he was way too young to be living on the streets.

He asked me if I knew where the BNO bank was and with his dirty hand pulled a muddy rolled-up check out of his pocket. He handed me the check; I unrolled it and saw that it was from a school in the valley.

It was for $40 and dated November 1st. His name was Quincy.

Immediately the Holy Spirit began to speak to me about this kid and his circumstances, so I began to ask him some questions. He seemed very weak… he limped, and I knew it was too far for him to walk to that bank’s location.

I was about four blocks from my car, but it was still closer than the bank location. I asked Quincy if he had any identification on himself, and he said that he didn’t. Realizing that he would not be able to cash the check, I pulled $6 out of my pocket because I knew that he was hungry.

As I handed him the money, he fell into my arms weeping. He was so appreciative at this very small gesture. I knew I needed to understand his circumstances. I began to ask him questions so that I could better know how to help him.

I knew he needed food as soon as possible, and so we headed to a pizza place near my car. He was very, very thin. 

The story he began to share was heartbreaking.

Born to a drug addict mother, Quincy was raised by his dad until the age of five. His dad died from a drug overdose, and since his mother had lost custody, he went to live with his grandparents in Show Low, Arizona.  He spoke very fondly of his grandfather and grandmother. He told me how his grandfather taught him how to hunt and fish; his grandmother was so good to him as well. As he spoke, I realized he had a developmental challenge of some sort, and I assumed that possibly it was from being born to a mother who is addicted to drugs. He had the maturity level of a nine-year-old kid even though he was 16. There was a sweetness and an innocence to his demeanor.

Quincy spoke fondly of his grandparents taking him to church and Sunday School every Sunday, and he said that he believed in Jesus. He asked me if we would we be able to see Jesus when we got to heaven, and he smiled a sweet smile.

His story continued with his grandfather dying from cancer and then his grandmother dying from breast cancer. Quincy was then put into the foster system about four years ago. He was in several group homes and ran away from one because the kids were abusing him, and I could see how easy that would happen because he would be an easy target. Imagine this kid trying to survive on the street. There are so many evil people who would take advantage of him.

Then he shared with me that his current foster parent, a female, got angry at him because he wasn’t cleaning the house well enough; she picked him up and threw him out the back door and onto the concrete. He hurt his back and was bruised. I cannot verify most of his story. But he had blisters on his feet.

This kid said that he walked from Buckeye all the way to Central Phoenix, which could have been as much as 30 miles. Quincy had no money, no ID, nothing but that little check. He said he spent the night in a house that was under construction and that his clothes got wet from going across the fields because he was afraid the police would arrest him.

I could barely say anything to him…on the inside, I was weeping for this kid. I got him a good pizza, and he ate the whole thing. While he was eating, I called a dear friend to see if he could help me find out who could take him, other than the police.

I discovered there is a national organization called Safe Place where children can be dropped off to a QT filling station and some other locations; the Safe Place representatives will come and pick up the children.

I would have adopted Quincy on the spot, but of course that was impossible. Because of his minor status, I knew he needed to get back into the system.

I drove him to the nearest QT gas station and found the manager. The process of finding someone to come and get this teenager took over an hour.

There were calls back and forth.

I’m assuming they were able to verify he was in the foster system. While we waited, we had an enjoyable time talking about his love of hunting and fishing. He said he was an outdoors guy.

Finally, two ladies from the nonprofit organization came over and took him away to a safe house that night—at least that’s what I hope and pray they did. The teen said he had a new case manager who was in Casa Grande, Arizona.

He didn’t know what her name was. He also said he had an aunt who lived in Phoenix, but she is a long-haul truck driver and was on the East Coast.

Quincy thanked me over and over again for being kind to him. I felt an extraordinary presence of God the whole time, and I felt as if he were a very special child to God Almighty.

I wept for hours and barely slept that night thinking about how many children there are in his circumstances.

Quincy could have been your child.

I’ve literally pleaded and begged with God to intervene in his life and get him into a foster home that would be safe and nurturing. Quincy said that when he turns 18, they will help him find a job and move him into a group home for disabled adults.

When Quincy left, he gave me a hug, and I told him that I would see him in heaven—I believe that with all of my heart. In the state of Arizona, there are 14,000 kids in the foster system and only 5,000 families hosting them.

I’m sure there aren’t enough caseworkers to keep up with all of these kids. In 2020, they lost 300 children in the system. I pray that God will help me find a way to volunteer and help these kids.

I also pray that God will find a way for me to help Quincy again. I’ve been learning more about the system.

If you think about it, pray for Quincy. And don’t miss those “divine appointments” when God hands them to you—you don’t want to miss the blessings He will give to others and to you.

 

Alone and Afraid in Phoenix


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Pondering Existence Considering God’s Perfections

Pondering Existence Considering God’s Perfections

Pondering Existence Considering God’s Perfections

Sixty-seven years of life on earth – my current state is one of…

The results of living on planet Earth under the effects of fallen man, broken man, rebellious man, dying man, needy man, unfulfilled man, fragile man, men motivated in positive and negative ways, coping man, an enslaved man, deceived man, fantasy man, expectation man.

A heartbroken man, resentful and spiteful man, jealous man, lusting man, addicted man, immature man, pleasure-seeking man, controlling man, the man who lives vicariously through others, success man, obsessive, compulsive disorder man, fearful man, anxious man, seduced man, enslaved man, ignorant man, impulsive man, inattentive man, indecisive man, inhibited man, insecure man, angry man, clumsy man, grumpy man.

An argumentative man, blunt man, crafty man, abrasive man, aimless man, artificial man, boring man, careless man, condemnatory man, judgmental man, destructive man, irresponsible man, killjoy man, lazy man, foolish man, malicious man, mechanical man, narcissistic man, paranoid man, shameless man, unrealistic untrustworthy man, tactless, tasteless, temperamental man.

Above is a list, a “scratch the surface.” 

A list of the types of people you will meet during your lifetime. 

I did not list positive character traits for the sake of the point that I want to make. 

People are made up of good and bad for sure, but I believe that the very fact that humans can identify negative, bad, evil, “less than the standard.”

Character traits are one of the great proofs of a Being we identify as God and Christians identify as Jesus Christ (God on earth), God the Father, and the Holy Spirit.

And so, when you describe a person with a negative character trait or you describe the consequences of that negative character trait, oh, it simply illustrates the truth that on this planet you will meet and experience the lives of these people with these traits are combinations of these traits. 

You cannot deny that they exist. 

You suffer the consequences of those negative character traits in yourself and others. 

You are almost compelled to do the things you do not want to do.

Vast chunks of your life can be spoiled because of one negative Character defect.

The defective suggest a standard of ineffective or of right, positive, good.

We have found that there is one cohesive standard and one alone that everything is weighed by, compared to, judged by and described by Christians as God Almighty Himself.

There are no glitches, blemishes, no broken or misguided circuits, and the Hardware, no design flaws – he is the only, ultimate, perfect, perfectly working standard that exists.

We can conceive of a being that is perfect because we can conceive of, for example, a perfect ultimate computer. 

A computer that works perfectly because it does not have one design flaw, either and its software nor Hardware. 

Now God is not a computer, but this illustrates perfection two our immature minds.

Imagine a good computer and a bad computer. 

A bad computer would miss the mark, must be corrected continually, tweaked, etc. A computer that was perfect would 100% of the time do what it was designed to do.

 

Pondering Existence Considering God’s Perfections

 

Now imagine a self-existing computer that was immutable or never changing, self-sufficient with no needs, Omnipotent with all power, and everything exists because it exists, omnipresent meaning it is in and outside of space and time, wise and full of complete, unchanging wisdom, infinitely unchanging true.

Now here is the kicker… good, infinitely unchangingly kind and full of Goodwill, infinitely unchangingly right and perfect in all it does, merciful, unchangingly compassionate and kind, gracious, infinitely inclined to spare the guilty, loving meaning to infinitely unchangingly love someone outside of itself, holy in that it is infinitely unchangingly perfect and glorious, infinitely beautiful and great.

This very idea of “imperfect” proves the necessity of a “perfect,” and the very existence of imperfect man proves ” perfect God”. 

Without the perfect imperfection would have no meaning.

We have a concept of negative character oh, that of missing the mark, being corrupted, broken, not up to the standard, inferior, incomplete, worthless as is, gives us the concept of the perfect man or the perfect being. 

The finite gives us the concept of the infinite.

We think about God more in terms of cartoonish Superman powers and less about His character traits. 

The trait of humility would not exist if it weren’t for the concept of something superior to measure oneself to.

Every good thing, trait, or idea we can conceive of existence because it is from the very nature of God. 

Everything good and everything contrary to his nature and character is a counterfeit mainly and probably connected to Satan and his Rebellion. 

The idea of good and evil could not exist without an infinitely good being, a perfect standard to measure everything by.

All evil is anti-God. 

It doesn’t have to be the opposite but can be even a slight Corruption of his good. Using the computer as an example again, one small line of incorrect code can corrupt the entire program.

Adam and Eve took over the programming and severely corrupted the very nature of the program, and we see the results all through history.

Perhaps we can’t conceive of God’s state or Essence? It is impossible for us to conceive of a state that is not broken or ruled by our lust, cravings, self-rule, self-righteousness, or of the fleshly desires for pleasure and its millions of forms. 

Mankind is tempting to live apart from the infinitely perfect, and I have only been able to produce death and destruction.

There is only one solution to fix the problem. 

The Perfect, Jesus Christ, becomes one with the imperfect mankind, and imparts His perfection, removing the corrupted software, eventually making it perfect, and finally, replacing the Hardware itself with something transcending the original design. 

We have existence because He exists.  

We as Christians, through Jesus Christ, will have eternal, perfect existence never to be corrupted ever again, thus enjoying infinite, perfect unity and love with the Creator of the universe.

I haven’t included any Biblical Scriptures even though these ideas are supported Biblically. 

My purpose was to illustrate these ideas and truths from a slightly different angle.

 

Pondering Existence Considering God’s Perfections


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