The Feast: How to Serve Jesus in a Famished World

He put into words many of the emotions I have long struggled with regarding "my" community of believers. Above almost I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Above almost all else, he is kind in is indictments and compassionate in his suggestions. Jun 27, Robert D. Cornwall rated it really liked it Shelves: Great book for study groups. Josh is evangelical, but with a broad sense of God's purpose and grace. There is a nice study guide at the end, so groups are well equipped. The basic theme is rooted in the title -- "The Feast. Full of stories and examples, we are drawn into the flow of Great book for study groups.

Full of stories and examples, we are drawn into the flow of Christian faith. Nov 03, Lea rated it it was amazing. Aug 26, Bill Buckingham rated it it was amazing. Josh gives us great insight on the feast Jesus provides. A great companion read to Living Jesus by Randy Harris. Logan Key rated it it was amazing Jun 08, Mark Hadley rated it really liked it Feb 04, Blake rated it it was amazing Jul 25, Noel rated it it was amazing Sep 10, Tj Mccloud rated it liked it Apr 02, Steve Fortenberry rated it really liked it Mar 09, Marc Shoemaker rated it it was amazing Jun 02, David rated it it was amazing Jul 02, Brieanna rated it liked it May 21, Holly Barrett rated it it was amazing Dec 13, Andee Hart rated it it was amazing Apr 07, Amy rated it really liked it Nov 06, Randy rated it it was amazing Jan 21, Missy Eldridge rated it really liked it Feb 12, Matt Brown rated it liked it May 12, Jason Retherford rated it it was amazing Jul 26, Michael Jones rated it it was amazing Sep 20, Melissa Nunley rated it really liked it Oct 22, Alana rated it it was amazing May 23, Sarah rated it it was amazing Jul 06, Lance Bolay rated it really liked it Dec 03, Laura Green rated it really liked it Jun 18, Jonathan Storment rated it it was amazing Jun 25, Sara Barton rated it it was amazing Jun 07, Amy Brown rated it liked it May 10, WFK marked it as to-read Aug 10, Dana Germain marked it as to-read Mar 11, John Holland added it Apr 24, Heather marked it as to-read Jul 01, The Lid of Reconciliation was a cover on top of the wooden chest.

The Mercy Seat, as it is termed frequently, portrays the Presence of God himself. Beaten from the gold of the Mercy Seat, and overshadowing the Mercy Seat, were two cherubim. We begin the work of redemption at the Altar of Burnt Offering. This Altar represents Calvary. No human being can approach God unless he receives the blood of the atonement, the reconciliation to God, made by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.

Then, as we pray, read our Bible, and obey the commands of Christ and his Apostles, we come to the Laver of repentance; the Table of Showbread of the body and blood of Christ; the golden Lampstand of life lived in the Spirit of God; the acceptance of God's will at the Altar of Incense; the forming of our character into the image of Christ at the Ark of the Covenant; and finally untroubled rest in the center of the Presence and will of God. The seven dimensions of redemption are not experienced as if we were going from one grade to another in an elementary school.

Rather our progress occurs in a manner similar to going up a spiral staircase. Say we experience the Laver. Then as we make progress in Christ, going up the circular staircase, we come again to the Laver, but now at a higher level and possess a greater appreciation of its meaning. Then further up in Christ on the circular staircase to a more profound Laver at a yet higher level. The same is true of the other six dimensions of the one redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. A further discussion of the Tabernacle of the Congregation and its furnishings may be found in my book The Tabernacle of the Congregation. The second class of people, the great majority, is that of the people of the nations of the earth whom God has saved to eternal life on the new earth. Revelation, Chapter Twenty-one tells us that the Tabernacle of God is with men. If the new Jerusalem is the Christian Church, who, then are the "men" with whom the Christian Church is dwelling on the huge new earth?

Did you ever wonder about this? The "men" whom the Church is with are people who have been saved from among the nations but who are not part of the Church. I find this simple statement causes bafflement and confusion when I present it, but it is set forth in the last two chapters of Revelation as clearly as can be. Until the design that I have just presented is understood, much of the Bible remains unintelligible.

Also, Gospel work can be ineffective if the workers are laboring in terms of a faulty concept. Actually, the correct design is simple and easy to understand. It becomes difficult to understand when we try to blend it with our traditions. Then there is confusion. The end product of much of God's working is His Tabernacle. God intends to plant his Tabernacle among the nations of saved people on the earth so He can guide and bless them.

That's all there is to it! Not so difficult, after all. Contemporary Christian thinking is that there is only one class of people, namely the saved. They are the Church. They are destined to live forever in Heaven. This idea is not scriptural. It does not at all fit the last two chapters of the Book of Revelation, or much of the writings of the Prophets, particularly Isaiah.

Until we understand that God is creating a Church that He will use as a dwelling place, through which He can have fellowship with the people of the world and become their God, their Father, and their Helper, how can we interpret correctly what God is doing with Christian people? And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. God is coming to the new earth to live in his Church, his eternal Temple. Then the saved people on the earth can come up to God's House and be blessed.

Can you think of anything more wonderful than that! Today the emphasis is on getting as many people of the world "saved" as we can, meaning, they will go to Heaven and not Hell when they die. Because of this emphasis, numerous pastors preach nothing but basic salvation. Perhaps every member of their congregation has been "saved" for fifty years. There always is the possibility that someone will enter the building who is not "saved. The remainder of the believers go without most of what is taught in the Bible. The result is churches filled with people who never have grown in the Lord.

The Feast: How to Serve Jesus in a Famished World

Tell me I am incorrect in this! Because the people of the congregation are not being fed, they are filled with adultery, hatred, meanness, unforgiveness, a desire to be preeminent, gossip, covetousness, jealousy, hatred, divisiveness, selfishness, and the love of pleasure more than the love of Christ.

They are starved spiritually. Are such people "saved"? No, they are not saved. They are revealing Satan in their personality rather than the Lord Jesus. But they will go to Heaven when they die because they have "accepted Christ," won't they? They may have received Christ at some point in their life, but then they did not keep on receiving Christ each day. Because they have not been taught this is what they are supposed to do. While the pastor is trying to get other people "saved," the flock under his supervision is not entering the Kingdom.

It is not the age during which the people of the nations are to be saved. It is the "Church Age. What is to be done during the Church Age? During the Church Age the Gospel is to be preached to every person. Those who believe shall be saved in the Day of Wrath. Then what is to happen? God is to choose, from among the people who have been saved, those whom He wants for his Church, his Tabernacle. God has given the Lord Jesus Christ absolute authority over all mankind. Then from among the people of mankind, God has given Jesus certain people that Jesus may give them eternal life. Christ does not pray for the world but for those whom God has given him.

You can notice the difference between simple salvation, and the determination of the Apostle Paul to attain to the resurrection. Paul had believed and been baptized in water. To what, then was he pressing toward? Have you ever thought about that? Obviously there are people who believe in Christ for salvation; and then there are others, the members of the royal priesthood, who pursue a mighty struggle during their discipleship as they seek to obey what Christ is commanding of them.

These people with whom God deals so intensely are the elect, the Church. If they do not submit, they will be judged for not using the talents God has blessed them with. Now, what is God's purpose in building up the members of the Body of Christ to the full stature of Christ? It is so that in the last days God can pour out his Glory on the mature saints.

When He does, the nations will come running to the light. That which the Church hopes to achieve by its own money and efforts will be done quickly and easily once the members of the Body of Christ come to maturity. Realizing this, would you say we ought to emphasize getting new converts, or should we emphasize building up the church members?

This is not really a difficult question, I think. There is one more point I wish to make. The Lord Jesus said when the people God has given Him from the nations of the world, the Church, his elect, have arrived at oneness in Christ in the Father, the world will believe that Christ is from God. With this in mind, should we be trying to get the world to believe, or emphasizing that the Christians become one in Christ? Instead, the denominations compete against one another.

The Seven Feasts of the Lord

Here is the critical issue: In order to become one in Christ in God, a believer must trade his right to be an individual, not his or her uniqueness as a person, in order that he or she may become an integral part of Christ. We find this difficult, don't we? We find it hard to live every moment saying, "Not my will but yours be done. It is because God will not give his Glory to another person.

God will not give his Glory to another person, not even to the Lord Jesus if Jesus chooses to live as an individual apart from God. Now it comes down to us. Are we willing to trade our right to be an individual which "right" consists largely of our self-will in order that we may become an integral part of the Lord Jesus Christ? We cannot have it both ways. We cannot do our religious dance from the vantage point of our individuality, telling God what we are willing to do to gain his favor.

I like the story of the woman who washed Jesus' feet with very expensive perfume. She did not sell the valuable perfume and give the money to the poor, thus serving God on her own terms. Instead she "wasted" it all on Jesus. What a lesson this is for us, isn't it? Are we willing to "give up" as we realize we cannot make a success of life by our own efforts? Are we willing to give up and become part of Jesus; or are we going to say with Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face"? God is looking today for believers who will surrender all their hopes, ambitions, and plans to Jesus in order that the individual may be an eternal part of the Glory of Christ.

Are you willing to give up trying to be someone important? Are you ready to be nothing that Christ may be everything? I will tell you why Christian people do not abandon their own ways and walk humbly with God. It is because they don't understand this is what they are supposed to do. Why don't the believers know this is what they are supposed to do? Because their pastors and teachers all too often neglect them so that they can "get more people saved" who in term are to go out and "get more people saved" who are to set forth and "get more people saved" etc.

This is why the believers do not come to maturity and then take their maturity and wash Jesus' feet with it. No one ever told them that this is what God wants. I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly ruined.

Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. In the above instance, people from the nations are given the Kingdom of God because they ministered to Christ's brothers when they were in need. You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast.

For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. But the evil did not originate with the man and woman or the earth, but came from Heaven. Therefore making the central idea of the Bible that of bringing people from the earth to Heaven is not realistic.

God has a long-range plan. God's plan is to create a Kingdom in which His will is done and all sin and rebellion are removed for eternity. The Kingdom consists of human beings whom God has created in response to the rebellion of the angels. The Kingdom is both internal and then external. The Kingdom of God is conceived and formed in human beings as Christ is conceived and formed in them.

It's external dimension will be revealed when the Lord returns with the saints in whom the internal Kingdom has been formed. Thus God is creating His will in people, so they can maintain Paradise on the earth once God restores it. There are two classes of people in the Kingdom. First of all, there is the Royal Priesthood. This is the family of God and derives its name from the Father.

The Royal Priesthood is the government of the Kingdom. I refer to this second, much larger group, as the "sheep nations. The goats are those people of the nations who did not provide assistance to Christ's brothers, the members of the Royal Priesthood, when they had need. The Lord said to the "goats," "When you did not help My brothers when they had need, you did not help Me.

Measuring from the time that Satan rebelled, to the coming down to the new earth of the new world of righteousness, I would say we are about halfway through the program of putting an end to sin and rebellion. The creation of the physical world, including people, was the second step. Both the spirit worlds and the physical worlds and their inhabitants were created by the Father through His Word, whom we know now as the Lord Jesus Christ.

Next will be the return of Christ, the raising of the victorious saints, the catching up of the victorious saints into the air, and then the descent of Christ and His called, chosen, and faithful saints to work together in the task of establishing the Kingdom of God, the rule of God, on the earth. This will be followed by a thousand years, literally or symbolically, which I term the "Kingdom Age. This army is portrayed, I believe, in the second chapter of the Book of Joel.

Then Christ and His saints will rule the nations of "sheep" living on the earth, those who were not removed from the earth by Joel's Army. Satan will be in the Bottomless Pit.

See a Problem?

Antichrist and the False Prophet will be in the Lake of Fire. Christ and His saints will govern the nations of sheep with the scepter of iron. The scepter of iron is the iron righteousness of the characters of Jesus Christ and the members of the Royal Priesthood. I might mention that the nations of saved people are the inheritance of the Royal Priesthood. This can be seen clearly in the twenty-first chapter of the Book of Revelation:.

The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. The new Jerusalem is the city of the Royal Priesthood. If my understanding is correct, throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age the saints who are governing the earth will have ready access to the new Jerusalem, which yet will be in the spirit realm.

They will minister to these less mature members of the Church, of the Bride of the Lamb, until they also come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, as the Apostle Paul promised. The less mature members of the family of God were not resurrected and caught up when Jesus appeared, prior to the Kingdom Age. They were not prepared to descend to the new earth and minister the Presence of God to the nations of "sheep. If my understanding is correct, the spirits of the less mature members of the Church, who were neither qualified nor competent to be raised to life and caught up to meet the Lord in the air, will be sent to the heavenly Jerusalem when Joel's army cleanses the earth.

Those who were Christians in name only and who practiced the sins of the flesh will be treated as though they were sinful people of the nations. There is no eternal life in them. One of the purposes for the thousand years between the return of Christ to the earth and the final judgment is to give the less mature members of the Church an opportunity to grow in Christ. I am not suggesting that a Christian can live a careless life here and then be brought to perfection in the new Jerusalem. We already, right now, have come to the new Jerusalem, which is in Heaven at this time. If we do not obey the commands of Christ and His Apostles, we will be removed from the city and be counted as an unsaved person.

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

• The Feast: How to Serve Jesus in a Famished World by Joshua Graves.
• !
• Gods Bible Code ELS Equidistant Letter Spacing by Rabbi Sollog.
• False Hope: Bone Marrow Transplantation for Breast Cancer.
• .
• The Feast: How to Serve Jesus in a Famished World - Joshua Graves - Google Книги.
• Vom Machtstreben, Verschleierung und Abzocken in der Gesetzlichen Krankenversicherung: Aber es geht auch anders (German Edition)!

If we, as a professing Christian, continue to yield to the works of our sinful nature, we will lose our inheritance in the Kingdom. We will be removed from Mount Zion and continue our life just as any unsaved individual, while still professing to be a Christian.

• .
• Mein Käfig: Autobiographie (German Edition);
• ;
• The Internet Police: How Crime Went Online, and the Cops Followed;
• Two Little Confederates;
• .
• Kyujin Joho Job Offer (Japanese Edition);

At the final judgment we will be judged according to our works. If our name is found in the Book of Life, we will become a citizen of the new earth. If our name is not found in the Book of Life, we will be assigned to the Lake of Fire. You know, because of the teachings of lawless-grace, the escape-by rapture, once saved always saved, the Christian people in many instances have lost the fear of God. We do not realize how dreadfully serious are the issues I am writing about. Yes, you can leave the way of righteousness and return as a dog to its vomit, according to the Apostle Peter.

There is nothing in the New Testament that remotely suggests we cannot lose our position at the right hand of God, except a few verses taken out of context, or a non-applicable analogy of some sort. I tell you the truth, in Jesus' name. We have been deceived. We have been told we can lead an ungodly life and still "go to Heaven" by "grace. According to the Apostle Paul, some can be saved by fire. This means a complete loss of inheritance, perhaps starting all over on the new earth as a small child. But Paul said also that if we persist in yielding to our sinful nature we are courting destruction and the loss of our inheritance in the Kingdom of God.

Even the Lord Jesus said if we do not bear fruit, which is the image of Christ in our personality, we will be cut out of the Vine; out of Christ. What are people thinking of when they teach eternal security? We are secure in Christ until we leave Christ by our behavior! After the thousand-year Kingdom Age concludes with the last judgment, there will be a new sky and a new earth.

The Tabernacle of God, the new Jerusalem, will be present on the new earth. The new Jerusalem is the government of the Kingdom of God. The saints of the new Jerusalem, the Royal Priesthood, will bring the Presence of God to the "sheep" who compose the nations resident on the new earth. If I am not mistaken, it is the saints who with Christ are the trees of Life from whom the citizens of the earth can gain eternal life and healing.

The River of Life will come from the Bride. This is why it is written, "The Spirit and the Bride say come and drink of the water of life. Such is the Divine plan from the rebellion of Satan to the new world of righteousness. God thus will make an end of sin and rebellion. I mentioned previously that in the present hour we are about halfway through God's plan to create a righteous Kingdom. I think it is true that the final battle between good and evil has commenced.

Christ, who formerly was seated at the right hand of God, waiting until God made His enemies His footstool, is now standing on Mount Zion with His called, chosen, and faithful warriors. Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him , who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.

The next step in the Divine plan is the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish observance of the Blowing of Trumpets, and the Day of Atonement. The Blowing of Trumpets is occurring as Christ, the King, is coming to His saints and announcing the beginning of the Day of the Lord, the time when the Lord alone shall be exalted. It is announcing also the time of judgment and reconciliation to God, the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish Day of Atonement Yom Kippur.

Christ is beginning with those who are listening to Him. He is telling them to confess their sins, as the Spirit points them out, and by His wisdom and power to renounce and turn away from them. This is an eternal judgment. Judgment has begun in the household of God. Every sin must be confessed and renounced. Every bit of worldliness must be confessed and renounced.

Every bit of self-will and disobedience to Christ must be confessed and renounced. All that is not of the image of God must be put to death by the Spirit of God. With the present teaching of lawless grace, the "rapture," and eternal security, I wonder how many Christian people are going to be able to hear what the Spirit is saying! But if we do not hear the Spirit, and do not make an effort to hear the Spirit, we simply can forget about being a member of the Royal Priesthood; of being resurrected and caught up to meet Jesus in the air and to descend with Him in the work of establishing the Kingdom of God on the earth.

If you do not prepare yourself today, cleaving to Jesus with all your might, I do not know what will happen to you when the victorious saints go to meet Jesus. You will be left on the earth. Perhaps when Joel's army cleanses the earth you will be sent to a place of preparation in the spirit world.

Account Options

Or you may be sent to the outer darkness because of not having used your Kingdom talent diligently. Christian teachers, in their imagination, have presented the picture of the world continuing as usual after the unscriptural "rapture. After that, Christ and His saints and warrior angels will destroy the armies of Antichrist and take over the nations of the earth. Have these teachers never read that when Lot and his two girls were removed from Sodom, sudden destruction fell on the helpless people?

So it will be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. I have said, we are about halfway through God's plan to remove wickedness from the creation. The Lord has His "mighty men" who will return with Him and exercise the Divine judgment on the people of the world.

Two armies will come with Christ. There will be the victorious saints. They will perform the judging of wicked spirit and wicked people. Then there will be the army of warrior angels. They will do the fighting at the direction of the saints. Let the saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds. May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, to carry out the sentence written against them.

The saints wield the double-edged sword, the Word of God. The warrior angels carry out the sentence handed down by the saints. Thus there are two armies mahanaim. This is why we are exhorted to endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ.

If we are to govern with Christ, iron righteousness must be formed in our personality. It has been given to us to drive all unrighteousness from the creation of God. Today, in anticipation of the battles of the Day of the Lord, we are being prepared for the war against evil. The eternal moral law of God is being written in our mind and heart. Thus we are the flesh becoming the Word of God. The purpose of the Gospel of the Kingdom is to prepare soldiers of Christ who can return with the Lord and bring everlasting righteousness, love, joy, and peace to the multitudes of people whom God has created.

This is to bring Paradise back to the earth where it belongs. It is Christ and His victorious saints who will restore to us the peace and joy of Paradise, and Christ and His victorious saints who will maintain Paradise on the earth for eternity. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.

Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. I believe it can be seen clearly from what I have written that the contemporary lawless-grace and escape-by-rapture are entirely inappropriate and misleading. Of these four major types, I use the feasts of the Lord most frequently.