CCO WORD STUDY

2016-2017 Season

In the study in the Epistle of James, we see revealed many practical life principles that we need to learn to live by. As we explore this Epistle, we will soon gain a new perceptive on how to live a dedicated life to Jesus Christ, our Melchizedek High Priest who is the wisdom and power of God.

This Epistle will give us the tools necessary to live a life of faith, asking each of us to test our faith and prove ourselves doers of God’s word and not just hearers. We are challenged to put our faith into action. James’ goal is to empower all believers to profess a walk in the spirit, to live in this world but not of the world.

Since James is the direct half-brother of Jesus, he is also called“James the Just” His name is a Latinized version of Jacob, in HebrewYa`aqob meaning supplanter (see Strong’s G2385). This is very telling, giving us a clue of what we should be looking for as we study the spiritual aspects of this epistle.

• Most likely James was not a believer until after the resurrection of Jesus.
• He was a prominent leader in the early church and became the Bishop of Jerusalem.
• The Epistle was written some time after Paul’s conversion and before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. This dates it to around 49 A.D. and makes it the one of the oldest and first Epistle’s written.

Chapter 1:1 of the Epistle of James is addressed to the twelve tribes of Israel which are scattered abroad, not to Christians? This is because Christian were called “The Nazarenes” or “The people of The Way.” This early movement was considered a sect of Judaism.

Today people that follow Jesus are called Christians and are recognized as Gentiles, and Judaism is for Jew’s, but upon further investigation, this is not exactly correct. The real question we have to ask is who Isreal? Can we assume that we are Israel?  And if the answer is yes,then how did we become Israel? The answer to this question is imperative, and we will be exploring this issue to learn who we are, and where we came from. We will be learning what priesthood we are under and the importance of why Jesus went to the cross for us.

James is writing to believers that are worshiping with the Jews scattered outside of Jerusalem. Not surprisingly, the church is being persecuted by the puppet priesthood in Jerusalem. His letter was meant to encourage and instruct, teaching us to walk by faith in the Royal Law.

In this study will learn what this Royal Law is James 2:8 ,  why it is so important and which priesthood administers this law. We will also explore the contrast with the Levitical law, and why the apostle Paul teaches we have been set freed from having a clear understanding of what law we are free from.

James’ also gives instructions on the intentions of our hearts,  how God answers prayer, as we learn to ask in faith not wavering in our prayers. We will also be learning how powerful our words are, and how they have the power of life and death.

James uses the word prayer not as something that is passive, but as something that can affect others. He says James 5:15, “The prayer of faith shall save the sick” and in James 5:16, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” He stresses the action of faith and the importance of prayer for every believer.  James also stresses obedience to God and his word, and how we can show faith in action.

See you every Thursday evening at 7:45 pm as we unpack Gods word for our everyday life.

Fr Leo

God’s Name ELoHIM

Genesis Chapter 1: 1

We can spend weeks or even years going over just the first chapter in Genesis for this study we are going start with a foundational concept when you have a clear understanding of God’s names it will help to unlock how God works in the other 4 books of the torah representing the 5 books of Moses, the Nevi'im meaning the prophets, Ketuvim the writings, as well as the Kitvei HaKodesh also known as the New Testament. Dealing with God in regards to his name and his character:

Let’s take a look at this by means of the four dimensions that makes up our physical universe length, width, heights, and depth. We live in a space where we are locked in time or in the space / time this is our reality, this is the reason why it is hard for us to understand God because we live in space and time. God does not live in space or time He created space and time and is not limited to His own creation. So we are only able to understand God by His names and his character. We can also know God in another way and that is by His Holy Spirit and this is a way of knowing God in another dimension, His desire to dwell in us.

As we rap our minds around this let’s look at how the rest of the universal religious world understands God. For one it said that when we speak of Allah, Brahma, or any other god for that matter it is said that we are talking about the same god and that is not true, not only are the names completely different but also the attributes and the characteristic are not the same.

The name that we are first introduced to in Genesis 1:1 is the Hebrew noun ELoHIM we need to understand that this is not Gods name it refers to His title and when you see EloH(IM) IM it is a masculine plural noun in Hebrew for more than one it also refers to majesty denoting greatness, the name also refers to the paradigm that GOD IS ONE Ehad in Hebrew with many manifestations and characters we don’t even hear his name till much later on in His Word this concept is foundational to understanding God and how he will reveal Himself through the study of His Word. This understanding that GOD IS ONE is the most basic foundational concept of learning to know Him.

ELoHIM denotes God as creator and Judge it's the plural of EL meaning God and used as a construct as we learn His attributes and character.

God said let there be light:

Genesis 1:1 -3

Let us first establish that when this first day of creation was set into motion is not the same as when we understand time. When Elohim created the heaven and the earth, the first day is not the way you and I understand time because time as we understand time was created on the fourth day.
This creation was created outside of time in fact, in the Hebrew Bible in Gen 1:5 it says “Echad Yom” meaning “One Day”. In other words, it was not the first day, it was ONE DAY. Time as we understand it is a process of decay. It denotes a beginning and an end. Remember God Elohim, is not bound by time. This is a concept that we cannot understand because we are finite beings and we only have the ability to perceive that which is in time & space as we spoke about in the last article. This being said, we can TRY to IMAGINE what it would be like and this is an important concept that we will go over at a later date.

Gen 1:2, the scriptures describe what is the foundation for the building blocks of the earth, which was “without form and darkness was upon the face of the deep”. It is very much like how a thought is developed in our own mind. For example, “darkness was upon the face of the deep” empty thought, the lack of conscious thought, or a total neutral state of nothingness. Then the Spirit of God the (Ruach Elohim in Hebrew) moves across the face of the waters. Water is symbolic of consciousness, Ready to receive the light, which is Gods thought in action, a thought is conceived.

Gen 1:3, God said, “let there be light”. The Hebrew word used here is “owr”. This is not the same word used in Gen 1:14 when he said “let there be lights”. In Hebrew, the word is “maowr”. This is where we get our Modern Greek word for meteor: which means shining object that emits light as in the sun and the moon. When we look up the word “owr”, it means to be “to be illuminated to receive instruction”.

John 1:4, “In Him was life and the life was the Light of men,” this can be interpreted by seeing that the Hebrew word used “owr” meaning to be illuminated to receive instruction. When we understand this Light is torah, torah is the instructions of God the Word of God.

Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning

Isaiah 46:10
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times [the things] that are not [yet] done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Could it be that the Lord is always recreating: and his counsel shall stand and he will always do his pleasure.

I think that we need to learn to see as God see’s and not see as man sees. He see’s all things outside of time He is the beginning and the end it’s not a time line as much as it’s a PERSON, He also says in JOHN 17:3  ”And this is life eternal {ETERNAL TIME LINE}, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” In other words when we read “In the beginning  God” it’s not time as we know time it is the PERSON of GOD that establishes all things so if we can break free of our liner narrow thinking we can BE new creations in Christ Jesus As it says in 2 CORINTHIANS 5:17   

“Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

In the Beginning God His essences is in all things.