#cant wait to get ark in a world later so i can see what it looks like with a person

[risingsunresistance]

goodbye.

[banana-milk-enthusiast]

So the Shining Nikki early access was a week ago surprisingly they chose Canada for once i was so happy so thought I'd make my points before global drops

I figured that they would give us the skin options for free from the get go and I'm happy that they bothered but I will admit that having only 2 darker options is a bit of a let down. They rarely have a shade of brown close to match me but thats a personal nitpick I'm sure over time they'll hook us up.

On that note I hope we get more natural hairstyles sooner rather than later, from what i remember we starting get them in Love Nikki last year or so, which was years after release. I understand its much harder now seeing as how they'll have to actually model the hair and give it texture but I'll hold out hope it doesn't take too long.

I do dislike that the makeup options are locked behind the guild, i was looking forward to this feature but knowing that I'm limited in how quickly i get the items due to my guild contributions sucks.

The voice acting was a surprise, I didn't expect most of the story lines and cards to be voiced but its not bad. Admittedly at first I was verry iffy on the English voices but they quickly grew on me. They're not super anime to the point that its annoying but theyre not super realistic in their delivery either. Nikki's soft spoken tone and demeanor sounds really great imo. And the other voice actors are great in their delivery and inflection too though admittedly Joy does sound fairly nasal . The translated songs dont hold up too well though.

The soundtrack is amazing Love Nikki already had a great soundtrack but somehow Shining Nikki is even better. They're so catchy and beautifully arranged. Starheaven is my favorite theme so far.

The story came outta left field to me lol. I havent played Love Nikki in quite some time and I admit after what happened to Lunar the story became a blur to me, everything just started happening so fast out of nowhere. I barely remember the details just something about Nidhogg being cursed for what he did and the countries descending into chaos, Bobo being a traitor out of nowhere and going missing and honestly I cant recall much else. So imagine my surprise when I started up Shining Nikki and she's telling me the world had ended and she traveled back in time to try and stop it. And it's been a rollercoaster since then characters are pulling out guns and explosives?? a child had a knife!? I'm fearing for my life over here I just wanted to play a dressup game. Personally the story tone feels way more at place in MLQC (aka mr.love queens choice/ love and producer, a supernatural/sci-fi otome game made by the same company). Tone wise it feels like such a sudden shift thats pretty out of place imo. The writing isnt bad, its great it'll just take some getting used to personally, Its hard for me to imagine Nikki in such situations.

The graphics on the other hand whew boy. Every item is so lovingly modeled with great textures and shading that i cant handle it. Their lace, tulle, metallic, gem textures specifically are breathtaking. I do miss being able to dye duplicates though. Having to unlock diff color sets through the ark cards is super annoying.

The fact that accessories can move to accommodate your hairstyle is great too, and the layering of some accessories is a neat option. The suits we have now are great and I cannot wait for more to come (I have my wallet prepped for that Cardcaptor collab). I dont think we can change the nails yet but thats another feature i cant wait to see in the future.

I will say that the game is ALOT. As in they will hit you with feature after feature after feature and I'm sitting here like I only have so much time and stamina to keep up with all this. The current suits are less of a pain to craft thankfully the blueprint/set system is much better this game. But with set crafting, arena, intel, guild stuff, stylist academy, colours newsroom and the ark its hard to keep up with everything.

Cant think of much else to talk about rn, if anything I'll edit some thoughts in. I hope you guys are enjoying the game as much as I am and I look forward to Global Release.

[concentrated-mug-of-me]

okay im gonna try ur welcome. one ask. all from memory. if i fuck up i fuck up.

good morning heartsville this is tank comin at ya the voice of reason the voice of the season here at WLUV the student run radio station here at heartsville high the heart of america its 7 am on the dot and a perfect 68 degrees out there to start the school year off right. just a reminder folks heartsvilles annual community picnic is this weekend so guys grab ur guy and girls grab ur girl and head on down to lookout lake. and if u dont have anyone to grab sounds like youve got some extra love on ur hands and i know one magical matchmaker who just aint gonna let you get away with that. so go get em zanna this ones for you!!!!

when the alarm clock rings u know ive got to start to sing thinkin bout the joy the days gonna bring love is all around it just has to be found my job is making sure ig gegs spread around. i knew the day of my birth that i was put on this eartj to make sure no one suffers extra love so you can leave it to me its my responsibility to pass it on to someone without enough. i seek out the truth im a love sleuth im goin undercover for a lover who might not find another and im lookin for clues and they might point to you so come on gimme ur extra love. hey cindy! who do we got on the schedule today? steve buckman a quarterback i dont know him he must be new well im sure he is feelin a bit lonely ill see what i can do.

two by two just like noah had to do the only trick to love is finding who belongs with who so come on lets start the arks about to depart we gotaa pick up some extra love. (mornin mornin hi hi whatever have a good day) whos got wxtra love? i spy (call call me see ya later whatever) mornin officer klotsky! mornin zanna was your date w dr green a success ohh you bet hes the perfect guy for meee yeah i thought he might be my gratitude to you i cant express all in a days work! we walkes thru the park holding hands hntil dark such a guy i jever thought id meet yeah life is so sweet when extra love is complete so now im keepin the beat down on love street.

zanna karla hi roberta zanna hi (ahatever) whos got extra loce? not i because we got some hreat news uh huh you wont believe this uh uh tell em karla yeah! i forget what it is we’ll be govethee forever oh yeah our loves here to stay uh huh i cant believe we met only yesterday ! e just wantes to thank you fof makinv us fall in love zanna! u know karla i cant actyally make two people fall in love. i can merely favikitate! good morning everyone good morning principal cooper. now zanna i trust you wont be meddling in anyones affairs this year now will you? now principal cooper would i ever meddle in anyone elses affairs? yes you would. ur darn right i would!

two by two just like noah had to do the only trick to love is finding who belongs with who oh well i better go my friend is waiting and so ill see uou later later later later shes so great i know. (hi hi hihi bye bye bye whatever) whos got extra love? mike does! i dont but theres this new guy in town perhaps youve seen him around. mike has a crush on him i dont you do he does okay i do but let me make this clear zanna dont interfere oh please no please no please no pleas no PLEASE heres what im gonna do. (please no!) friday ill walk by and say hi next week we’ll start to speak and boah blah blah blah just be a man forget this stupid plan and quit the delay i dont wanna scare him awayyy no ur just a chicken ow chicken ow HEY NEW GUY wuit it oww. come on! good luck on ur chess match today mike!

excuse me olease but ut seems ive lost my way how bout a map ill explain another day hi im zanna im steve new quarterback of the team howd u know a little birdy told me oh i see what brings u to the midwest a mikitary request my two dads r five star generals in the army ooo im impressed. so we move place to place base to base unpack the suitcase try to make a few friends and then pack up and leave again wherever ive been ive never seemed to fit in. well never fear uts clear you fit in here! so keep up that chin. thanks for the encouragemnet ill see u in class!

oh excuse me. no no its my fault. hey hi zanna kate how are you wait i cant im running late. breakfast sure wnat som yeah what a pptatt would be great. thanks! let me uh uh find you pleae dont a girl no thanks im doing fine. it it wont will change will not ur world ive got no time ive got sats acts aps and gpas and college applications w all those tribulations to get to university then a medical degree so i just cant b distracted by loves triviality. no! yiu just havent met the right girl yet u can philosophize and rationalize but theyre just alibis loves all u need just take it from me okay u can set me up great! when im 33! ill get u yet.

hey zanna!! hey mr dj! wont you play this song for meee from the way that ur beamjn i see that ur schemin to turn somebodys dream to realityy you know me so well well its not hard to tell ur always happy making dreams come trhe its what i do! well in spite of ur list theres always one guy u miss i do who? you i know u got dreams too. no time my friend.

hi zanna. hi candi hi buck hey zanna. whats on the clipboard for today well the school board .. well as im sure you know the schoolboard is meeting with the ciry council to discuss whether or not the linrary should be allowed to carry a copy of hearher has one mommy and one daddy. in my opinion .. oh and if you can think of anyone we could sure use another guy for this years musical. come along buck. yes candi.

the schoop musical, huh? i think i have just the right guy! i seek out the truth im a love sleuth im going undercover for a lover who might not find another and im lookin for coues and they might point to you so come on gimme ur extra love. [i almost fucked up here] well u can cocer your tracks thats a fact jack but you aint gonna shake me to fake or make me take a break from chasin you can duck off the trail but im hot on your trail so come on gimme ur extra love now baby dont try to run from the love gun ive got the place surrounded and bounded the hounds r all around it you may be on the lam from the love caravan but u aint getting away w your love!

cause this is heartsville high where i dream of a love that will stay heartsville high where nothings ever gonna get in my way heartsville high where ive a feeling loves about to begin i hope that this time im gonna fit in. HEY you over there dont be shy come iver here i bet you got extra love what you hoarding it for? lifes got so much in store for someone w extra love. dont try to hide you cant keep it inside you migt as well give up ur extra love cause if u want love to stay you gotta give it away you gotta give up give up give up hive uo your ectra looooooove give up your extra love!

this took me over half an hour to type.

dee,,,,,,,other than the typos (and the whatevers) this is accurate as far as i can tell and how did that all fit in one ask i swear there was a character limit

[plainvanillapotato]

the 100 diaries S3 E3

quarantine diaries: june 25 2020

season 3 episode 3: “Ye Who Enter Here”

based on this title imma just assume that this episode is gonna be hell aka Dante’s inferno

this dynamic between lexa and clarke is very beauty and the beast vibez with how clarke is give lexa ‘i wont see you’

“I can do both (hate lexa and herself) ” clarke said. We love a multi-tasker

“I want your people to become my people” ..”join me” Is lexa proposing a political marriage with clarke????

wow clarke used bellamy’s “kill me” line

clarke also said “Go float yourself”....let these kids say FUCK

Ice queen!! love matriarchy!

Yesssss Lexa you kick that guy off the ledge. this is what i like to see but also that could have really killed one of your people down below 

chill kane its just a med kit. but also watch they need a med kit but kane is like noooo 

i still dont like this relationship between bellamy and this girl bc who is she??  the writers really didnt put any effort into making me like her. Did you tell her how you injured your leg bellamy? Did you tell her that you got it trying to save clarke??

“There was no room at the inn” did pike just quote the Bible??

but also this reminded me of this office scene

look at the prince his fancy new clothes. lol when hes said “what you really want” my mind immediately when to spice girls

Humpy dumpy sat on a wall. side note How did bellamy sense that Octavia was sitting up there like people dont naturally turn back toward the door they just went threw but i guess bellamy can just sense octavia’s vibez

aww look at bellamy being a supportive brother to octavia

Echo???? damn is my bellamy and echo ship still on??

Who is this assassin?? Highkey dramatic with that unwrapping of his weapons.

waht? Raven can crack the code now? since when? since fucking when?

Ugh again with this girl. its not like i dont ship her and bellamy cuz it looks like she makes bellamy happy but wtf the writers didnt build up the relationship at all so it just feels false to me

While on the topic of boos what ever happened to millers boyfriend?? Like they talked about it and now...what where is he?

i find it kinda funny how this grounder assassin has like primal weapons but has this kinda modern, cheap ass watch that you can buy at target or one that you would get at mcdonald’s. it could have been such a meme if the assassin pulled out this relic instead

lowkey this grounder marketplace looks like star wars land in disneyland

Free food?! and kane gives her a patch but what good is that patch?? 

“Its up to the people.” we love a democracy except when majority of the population are idiots aka everyone on the ark

"aden is ready” so like do these people just base the next leader’s  readiness to rule on if they’re good enough fighters?? I guess that makes sense considering how majority of the population seem to be warriors. Lexa also mentioned something about a conclave..wtf is a conclave? 

look at lexa defending clarke against this baldy. damn she’s simping hard for clarke and its so obvious and yet baldy just suggested that she kill clarke.

also i cant help but laugh at the fact that when people finally meet wannheda they just see clarke. and ok sure she may do some badass stuff but come on dont tell me she doesnt look like a cinnamon roll

wait so what does bellamy’s girlfriend actually do? like is she an engineer or what??

yikes more neck deaths

“I’m not leaving my blade” neither would i octavia. also im curious on whether the grounders added the drawing of the gun when the space people came down with their guns because it seems like the space people are the only ones with guns that they would interact with (bc of the grounder lore surrounding guns and that they didnt seem buddy buddy with the mountain men)

ok clarke you pull that knife on lexa. but look at the intense eye contact damn. also that was such a dramatic knife drop. i gotta say that the background music during this was definitely a choice

also clarke can you please remove these ugly ass red hair extensions?

13th clan. huh? i dont like this. mostly because i dont like the world building and i just prefer bellamy and the rest of the spacers doing ‘whatever the hell they want’

ngl i thought that singer was clarke for a second. And i was like woah clarke can really sing?! but atlas it wasnt her. you know this made me think of all the other shows where they have that one musical episode...oh god i hope they do a musical scene later in the show. i would die happy. also did lexa really just hire a singer for this event?? 

How long is this assassin prepping like he’s been doing this seen the beginning of the episode?? who is his father, mother, brother, kin?? 

“how many floors”..”All of them” bitch if this mission were up to me everyone would be dead. but luckily its up to bellamy who always come thru

“Bear our mark.” when abby told kane that he should be chancellor it was more like i dont want to be marked so you should do it. jk also that’s not an honor that is a branding. and dont hate me but MARK-us because marcus kane. lol i dont care if you hate me that joke was for me. 

Yes bellamy you crash whatever this event is but also how the hell did climb up so fast! 

Are you kidding me echo? that two timing bitch ugh just when i rooting for her and bellamy she pulls this shit. 

the assassin is at Mount weather?! ugh. 

aww look at sinclair giving raven a pep talk

Oooo i called it Gina is dead. but the assassin really when for the abomin and not the neck..interesting choice. Why is this this assassin so much smarter than gina like he knew about that secret compartment and he had the codes also he got a tattoo with the codes. That’s some commitment!

you go sinclair. aww poor raven wabbling as fast as she can with that leg brace.this assassin must not be that good of an assassin if Sinclair can fight him off

Ofc they destroy mount weather. raven and sinclair were yeeted in that explosion

That stare that bellamy gave to Lexa and then that look between bellamy and clarke. ooo the tension is real

Also does bellamy know that this girlfriend just died or??? but i guess thats something that shouldnt be found out via radio

Who did Clarke’s makeup and hair or did she do it herself?? cuz it was definitely a bold choice. also the following image is not to mock clarke its just the most curse makeup image that ive seen and i love to share it with others

lexa bowing down to clarke...ship???

Is that Emerson??! bitch

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog issue 1

and now we’re onto mtmte proper! issue 1 today

ooh i love the cover w/everyone where rodimus is saying “wanna make somethin’ of it?” besttttt

god i forgot how twinky rodimus is at the beginning of mtmte

i love rodimus so much. charismatic frat boy idiot of my HEART

godddd the title slaps. ‘liars, a to d - part 1: how to say goodbye and mean it” so fuckin good 

HHHHH remember how the last chapter is called "how to say goodbye and mean it: part 2” I'm fucking inconsolable 

even ratchet looks kinda twinky here. I think nick roche just has a twinky art style 

RIGOR MORPHIS HBVHKSJHDBHFSKDFBJS THAT REMAINS THE FUNNIEST SHIT I HAVE EVER READ

bumblebee has it rough. I never read exrid or w/e but doesn't he die later too. Ls 

really love the detail of drift being rodimus’s speechwriter 

CYCLONUS TIME

sad gay old man. I don't even really remember cyclonus’s backstory tbh...but I love him

oughadbjfsdbfj I forgot abt this scene where prowl, chromedome and rewind are all in a room together...how awkward lmaoooo

prowl and chromedome passive-aggressively conversing like the petty exes they are while rewind sits on prowls desk looking thru stuff....iconic

prowl calling rewind “[chromedome’s] best friend” makes sense in the meta context of like, ‘we were easing into the whole ‘gay married robots’ thing so we started off w/that’ but w/the canon context of prowl absolutely knowing they’re married, that line is fucking hilarious 

prowl calling rewind annoying....hvbdskjufjsd sir we Get It ur not over chromedome 

prowl’s whole view on the war ending is super interesting....honestly so is everyone's, I love how nuanced the characterizations are in this series - it makes sense that there’d be a huge range of reactions to a 4 million yr civil war ending 

ICONIC PROWL TABLE FLIPPING SHOT

godddd i love how i actually understand what's going on since I've read the series already hbdsjkfbhsjkfkl

TAILGATE!!!!!!!!!!!! HHHHHHH MY BOY 

‘preliminary damage report: you’re an idiot” hvbhajjkshfdbsjk POOR TAILGATE. 

‘rungian’ I SEE THAT

ooooh man I love tailgate misleading the audience by saying that the ark’s launch is doomed without him - even we don’t get to know yet that he’s a waste disposal bot 

and then tailgate talks about detonating stuff, which lends retrospective credibility to his later claims of being a bomb disposal expert 

WHIRL!!!! I love whirl...he somehow ended up being one of my favorite characters after my second readthru 

also the first time I read mtmte I reaaaaaally did not pick up on the fact that whirl was trying to commit suicide here oof

when whirl says the title line - ‘how to say goodbye and mean it’ HHHH OOF

and then poor confused cyclonus barges in, inadvertently saving whirl’s life. poetry 

ah, i love that body horror reveal. so gnarly 

i feel like whirl attacked cyclonus for a bunch of reasons, like ‘who the fuck is this guy to barge in on my cool speech where i express emotion, he must die’ and ‘hey convenient outlet for my rage, nice’ and ‘oh maybe this guy will finish the job for me’ etcetc. nuance! 

BRAINSTORM!!!!!! hes another one of my favs

brainstorm ‘joking’ that opening the briefcase would mean the end of the world....ah, foreshadowing 

‘autopedia’ hvbdjskhfjbjskf that always gets me

swerve’s bit about quests is so fuckgin good 

rungs serial code....eyes eomji

POOR RUNG I forgot he got his arm knocked off. geez

cyclonus flying in the bg of the drift-rodimus-magnus scene LMAOOOO

god i love magnus. Law Dad

magnus’s Law Vision(tm) god i forgot abt that hbvhjdabfjsd i love him

cyclonus just phoning this fight in lmao 

tailgate saying ‘sums’ just made me remember how British this series can be at times LMAOOO

chromedome don't be mean to ur husband its not his fault hes an adorable tiny flashdrive 

lov the poetry of tailgate kinda saving cyclonus’s life by accidentally blowing up whirl, who was about to kill cyclonus

tailgate immediately flipping shit then passing out...what a little icon

rewind: ok yall can deal w/all the bodies, i just have to go do one last illegal thing before we blast off

i also had no idea what rewind was doing here the first time i read this lmao

rodimus leaving bumblebee on read is pretty funny to me lmao

ah, i love that panel of the lost light blowing up right after bumblebee says ‘i thought you had a plan’ 

uh oh! a bunch of generic no-name dudes have been ejected into space!

��not a good start’ yeah that's for sure rodimus

HHHHH tailgate’s message from the future...SO fucking good. the continuity in mtmte is fucking stellar and so much of it went over my head the first time i read it...im so excited to reexperience it 

the dos and don'ts list HHHHHHH 

damnnnnn i cant believe mtmte issue 1 came out in 2011...bruh....i was still in middle school for part of 2011. mind blown 

anyways issue 1 fucking slaps. the start to one of my favorite series of all time. cant wait to read more!

[hohoz]

Lightning Returns : A

Hoperai game

I saw a few posts before playing the game saying that this is a Hoperai game (and how right you were) !!!

Okay, so I have an idea to write every moment that they have as soon as possible,because I'm starting to forget, so after I play I'll be posting the notes that I have here in my Iphone.

Obs: English is my third language*, please be aware of that when you see a mistake :v

By the way guys, both of them werent supposed to have feelings, a few moments in the game Light admits that she is unable to feel anything and that god probably made that to avoid any future problems/Hope is like this as well, but STILL, they demonstrate care for each other. (Later we talk about Lumina and Bhenivelze)

And another thing that gets me intrigade is how come there is not many post about LR here in the hoperai tag ? This game is amazing !! (like, it does have a few times that you get annoyed, but in general is amazing)

First moment: Okay, this is a simple one, after Lightning crash the Patron's party, she refers to Hope as "Mr Hope Estheim", hell yeah. (This is how she is goint to call him in bed) THIS HAPPENS IN THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES IN THE GAME, I do believe that this happens because she still doesn't fell really connect with him, its been sooo long since they were together in FFXIII, that she might think that Hope may not like her anymore, so she really is formal here.

Second: (Well, after I went to ark and saw a younger hope I was frustated, nevertheless, its possible to interact with Hope, he explains that he will be there to help us in this task and that he is in his younger body but doesnt know why.

Third: The loading screen saying that she sees Adult!Hope as an equal (Hell yeah) and I think this is quite nice, because Lightning would never engage a relationship if she doesnt see that special someone as a person beneth her, she is a woman of huge morals and we see that she belives that men have to be amazing (this is using her approval on Snow as info, where she said she would never giver her blessing if he was someone that didnt deserve)

Fourth: if you get hurt and dont use any potion Hope will say that he's worried.

Fifth: Welllll, this one I simpled loved, when we have to get fireworks for the play and Lightning is forced to say "Meow Meow Choco Chow" to Chocolina and Hope is listening and tease her.

"Something tells me you're not enjoying this as much as I am"

Sixth: ( mental note - I would pay for hear Hope complimenting her looks on that red dress - WTF WATANABE, WHY HAVENT YOU DONE THIS ???? ) but the fact that he was manipulated by Benivelzhe might have been the reason, because if he been himself (100%himself all them at that time, oh boy, he would fall from the ark -- I know that I would)

Note: Okay, so there is a cutscene where we see Hope, Snow and Noel deciding to save the world after the chaos spread, and Hope is an adult here, I wonder that happened --- Btw, I finished the game and Still dont understand clearly what happened to Hope, I know that there is a Dlc in FFXIII-2 that I havent played (it is in this DLC that adult!Hope see Lightning in Vahalla ?)

Seven(THEIR DAUGHTER): this is not a nice one, because after we see Vanille, Hope ask of her to Lightning and she tease him with something like "Someones got a crush" BUT not long after that we get a HUGE moment where Eclair is worried about the plan (where she will play a role in front of a crowd and it might fail) and Hope basically quotes her saying "Its not a question of can or cant" and then she asks if he is going to watch her back (PLEASE NOTE THAT THE GAME DOESNT SHOW HER FACE IN THIS MOMENT, I WONDER WHY ????? WE ALWAYS SEE HER FACE ON THE INTERACTIONS WHY IN THIS ONE WE CANT ??? ITS BECAUSE SHE IS WAITING FOR HIS ANWSER ??? I WAS NOT READY FOR THAT)

And guys, even tho Hope is there to assist the player to finish the game and keeps saying what we have to do (And I find this utterly annoying) they have some incredible casual talk, like, "I dont care if the whole world hates you Light, i'll be by your side"

Lumina cutscene

THAT WAS SUPER GOOD, HOLYYYYY.

Well, in one of the interactions with Lumina where she is trying to convince us that Benivelzhe is manipulating us with a Fake Serah, Lightning starts to belive her and gets really mad at her god saying that she was building a contigence plan and is willing to kill Bhenivelze, until Lumina says that Hope is a fake too...

Lightning reaction... DAMNNN

And then Lumina asks

"Would you be able to kill Hope if you need ?"

Lightning close every glimpse of feeling and answer:

"Do you think im not ?

Lumina is so clever that she reads her in a instant and starts to laugh --- BTW, Lumina is nothing but another part o a whole, she is Lightning aswell, WHY WE HAVE THIS REACTION by her part ?? (hehe)

Lumina says : "Answering a question with another question"

That was so good, after this we can interact with Hope but Light never says anything about him being a fake, but still he says that if she wants to betray god he will follow her no matter what. (Guys, do you understand that he is saying that if she want to go in a suicide fucking mission he will go with her ???? AGAIN)

And then, the last day finally arrives, we are going to Luxerion but before we leave the ark Hope says:

"It really feels like the end now. Soon it will be over now"

Lightning then anwser

"Its been dying for 500 years"

His tone of voice slightly change

"I wasnt talking about the world..."

"Then what?"

He accept that is not the time.

"Nevermind. Time is short. Every minute counts, lets no waste any"

BTW IN THE SAME ARK MOMENT, if you ask about Serah being stuck in the chaos (considering that all souls go to chaos after dying) Hope promises that if he dies, he would find a way to save Serah's soul...

(YOU HAVE TO LOVE A LOT A WOMAN, IF YOURE WILLING TO SAVE HER SISTER'S WHILE BEING DEAD - RIP HOPE)

FangxVanille moment in the cathedral (I know that this is my Hoperai post, but that was lit )

Hope (God Mode) I kind knew that he was going to be used by Bhenivelze as a vessel because I saw a few spoilers, but there is one thing that I dont understand --- WHY THE FUCK NO ONE SAYS ANYTHING WHEN THEY SEE HOPE ?? THEY WERE FRIENDS FOR FUCKING SAKE--- Even when is just Fang in the wildlands, Hope and her NEVER interact, she doesnt it even bother to ask " who are talking to Lightning in the phone?"

And finally the ending, Lightning defeat the evil god of light, and is willing to be the new Etro taking care of the darkness flow, but there is something here, a moment where she sees fake Serah and Lumina, and we discover that God never took her feelings, that was always her, she had shut down her feelings a long time ago to become stronger

Note: In the middle of the game we see that she is willing to die, and if you see the loading screens you see the same info.

And she fuse with Lumina, and after all the things she heard from fake Serah she is scared... Her feelings that she always repressed was back to her and she felt alone, darkness consuming her and there is tears, so many tears until...

"Hope : I can hear you Light "

FINALLY, FINALLY, the one who saves everyone was saved, he sacrificed his chance to be born in the new world with his parent, to save the woman that he lovessssss

I dont know what to say, this is just a bunch of notes of me bamblimg some things, but im so glad that she was saved, that she didnt feel scared, that he came back for her.

There is that quote from FFXIII where Vanille talk about Eclair.

"When the fear sank in, it tore us apart. Lightning was hurting but none of us could see it"

This is different now, he can see it, he knows that she was scared, that she deservs to be saved and loved, that she needs someone to watch her back !!!!

Hoperai is kind of Canon and I loved thst ending, most amazing CGI ever.

Side quests: I know that with the timer this game gets a little trick with the side quest, but there is some random moments here.

But these called my attention

Olga, the singer

I've encountered a quest about a woman looking for her lover, and we learn that she is a singer but cant sing without the lyrics of the man she loves , after we find him we complete the quest, there will be a song (requested by Lumina) and I saw Hoperai all over it, okay, Light says "Serah loved this song" but the lyrics were all about Hope and Light.

Btw, I can totally see mama Farron singing this to their daughters, and Lumina kind is Lightning, so she knows that this is her favorite song aswell.

The one that we have to find the special flower for the chocoboo

Ha, who would say that we would be hearing that Lightning sucks at cooking ? Well, she admits that the only thing she knows how to cook is Beheamoth steak in a campfire

And we get to hear she trying to talk to her chocoboo saying "Kweh Kweh" such lovely moment and Hope was hearing everything

Gordon Gourmet

Well, this quest has and amazing ending, like super wow, after we taste the the gourmet recipe Lightning is amazed, she says that is probably the best thing she ever ate, so, Hope got curious and they start a conversation: (my memory is not great, but it goes like this)

Hope: That food is that good ?

Lightning: Do you want me to pack some for you?(such a wonderful waifu)

Hope: No thanks, but sometime I want to taste something made by you

Lightning: Well, Im not the best chef... I never spent much time in the kitchen, but if you like, I do a Behemoth steak by the campfire that is really good.

(This is the SECOND TIME in the game that she says that she can cook Behemoth) 😂

Chocoboo clothes

After a lot of "Chow chow choco chow" we win a nice outfit from the Chocoboo girl, Hope got a little bit excited and says that she must look really good on it, they have a nice conversation after.

Adornments

Hope jokes that Light should wear a lot of endornemts, to attrack more people to save.

Here we see that Light is pretty humble when people say that she is beautiful, she doesnt see herself as the perfect looking woman that she is.

Sazhs quest / Kid who always steals shit from us

I like this moment for a reason, thoose quests make Hope and/or Light relate to their situation, I will make a super post about this later and this is pretty important.

After Sazhs quest, in Ark Hope stops Lightning and revels a little bit about his situation with his father and how he was raised, Lightning stands quiet and just listen.

After we see a kid (the little shit who steals from us) and deliver the letter from his father, Lightning says how hard was for her to lose both of her parents, Hope just listen.

Soooo, this is it, I loved the game (hope you loved too), I still feel that Watanabe was not brave enough, he could made Hope an a adult in the thirdy game and put some scenes where he save her with a KISS (FRENCH PLEASE) but he made Tracer of memories to make more clear that Hope really have feelings for her and that she is going after him in the new world.

Note : im making a super post about them and I just want to thank this amazing tag/fandom, I know that this game is old and not so many are here now, but you all left soo many good things here and im really thankful.

[shikai-the-storyteller]

CYBERVERSE WATCH: Season 3, Episodes 15, 16, 17, and 18!

MAN IM SO SAD THERE’S ONLY 4 EPISODES LEFT IN THIS SEASON....I’m really glad we got confirmed for a Season 3, but the thought of this show ending period makes me sad. I’m having so much fun watching it

Episode 15: Wiped Out

Alright enough moping around, let’s get down to business and actually start this episode

The Ark looks like Samus’ ship!

Omg Roddy and Bee complaining about their chores, they’re so cute....”I can’t believe Dad is making us scrub his car, ugh”

“I’m gonna buff the ugly out of you!” THERE IS NO UGLY, THERE IS ONLY CUTE

Optimus with his hands on his hips is so cute

Oh no is Rodimus going to go surf on the asteroids like in MTMTE--HE FRICKIN IS IM SHRIEKING!!!!!!!

RODIMUS PRIME ID DIE FOR YOU, YOU BIG DUMB JOCK

I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t want to join them though lmao, that looks fun as heck

Seeing Roddy flame out is so soul-soothing, Cyberverse was absolutely made with me in mind

OMG CAT ON A SURF BOARD “Behold! I am awesome!” YOU SURE ARE BUD

Oh no is that a sharkticon THEYRE TOTALLY SHARKTICONS

THEY’RE CALIFORNIAN IM SOBBING

CHEETOR IS SO NICE “Is this all of it?” PFT that dramatic zoom was great, I love the humor in this show

This means Bee and Rodimus probably got picked up by the other gang huh

“Yeah our world got destroyed but at least we still have this sick skate park left”

Omg it’s the Californians vs. the New Yorkers, I’m cryin

RODIMUS COME ON BUD, HAVE YOU GUYS LEARNED NOTHING FROM YOUR OWN GIANT CIVIL WAR

I love that Cheetor gets recruited and he’s like “Um I really don’t wanna”, Bee went with and even got painted all fancy but went “Cheetor! :D” upon seeing his bud, then Rodimus zooms in decked out in paint like he’s the king of the gang like “Yo back off from our skate park noobs” Hot Rod you’re terrible and I love you

“Wait was that one of my snouts” RODIMUS

LMAO WAY TO BE RACIST CHEETOR

They’re gonna get back to the Ark and Rodimus is gonna be like “WHAT’S UP OPTIMUS guess what we did? We joined a gang” and Optimus is going to be like [deep sigh]

Uh Cheetz what are you doing OH SNAP HE’S FIXING THEIR WORLD aw way to go Cheetor

Episode 16: Ghost Town

Oh no are they going to get to Cybertron finally and find it empty...or wait Cybertron is dead in this show already isn’t it. Are they gonna find out the ‘Cons already got to Cybertron and shoved Percy in a locker?

Oh snap what’s up with Windblade Oh no is this Starscream in disguise or something WHAT’S GOING ON

LMAO TELETRON X IS SERIOUSLY OUT HERE GIVING STARSCREAM THERAPY IM SCREAMING

“HOW DO YOU THINK THAT MAKES ME FEEL!?”

Where is Rung when you need him

Is some kind of MetroTitan speaking to her or something, calling out for help?

oh absolutely this city looks like it’s part of some giant Titan, I AM LOVING THIS PLANET man whoever does the background drawings in this show does an awesome job

I I love that Optimus specifically says “We must help her” and not “we must stop her” or something, nice distinction

GO RODDY GO!!!!!!!

“I’ve determined you have an emotional need for someone to trust you” JUST STAB ME THROUGH THE HEART WHY DON’T YOU CYBERVERSE, IT’D BE LESS PAINFUL

*Flashbacks to Starscream on one knee, offering Jetfire his hand* GUHHHH

LMAO Teletron gave him more cell space and Starscream is immediately like “Haha IDIOT”

Well that can’t be good

YEAHHHH HOT ROD AND BEE WATCHING EACH OTHER’S BACKS, I LOVE THAT

METROTITAN METROTITAN METROTITAN METROTITAN!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! I KNEW IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Croatan!!!!! YOOO

“My citizens were taken from me” QUINTESSONS???

THAT BACKGROUND HISTORY ANIMATION IS SO PRETTY

AHHHH I CANT STOP GRINNING, I CAN”T BELIEVE THEY ACTUALLY HAD A METROTITAN IN THIS SHOW, THAT”S SO AWESOME, THIS IS SO COOL I”M LEGITIMATELY GETTING SHIVERS

Just goes to show not all red-eyed things are evil

Oh yeah Starscream escaped OH SHOOT HE’S WITH A TITAN NOW OH MAN??? OH MAN!?!?!?!?! I don’t know who I’m worried about more, Starscream or the Titan--well no, the Titan, Starscream is a menace and there’s no way he’s not gonna show up 10 episodes later using it as his latest new death machine to kill Megatron 

Episode 17: Perfect Storm

Optimus sitting in his chair looking bored.....cute......

AW ARCEE IS SO CUTE Finally we get to see her do something. And she and Grimlock are buddies!! That’s sweet

Gosh that red nebula is GORGEOUS

Oh no is this going to be like some kind of storm that knocked everyone out while they were all gone

LMAO I love that they’re not even worried, they’re just like “UGH something happened while we weren’t here! >:/ ”

I LOVE ARCCEE SHE’S SO CUTE

OHHH I don’t know what those things are but they look pretty and dangerous

LMAO SHE JUST SHOVES HOT ROD OVER

ARCEE MIMICKING THEIR CRIES...THAT”S SO CUTE

LMAO THEY REALLY CANT CATCH A BREAK CAN THEY

GRIMLOCK AND ARCEE ARE JUST STANDING ON TOP OF THE SHIP FRICKIN MACHINE-GUNNING THESE COMETS DOWN IM CRYING

PEAK ARCEE CHARACTERIZATION RIGHT HERE I love that she’s snapchat girl AND machine gun warrior girl

They’re just hitting Cheetor on the Allspark....I love these morons....

UHHH ARCEE THAT SEEMS LIKE A BAD IDEA

LMAO “NO IM GONNA SACRIFICE MYSELF FIRST”

Wheeljack what were you doing back there

MEANWHILE THE SUPERNOVA’S ABOUT TO KILL THEM ALL gosh I love these dummies

I really hope they both just wind up powering it with botht heir sparks, that would be a nice middle-finger to the Soul Gem thing that happened in Endgame

LMAO I love the ominous music when Teletran X knocks on the window

That was such a cute episode :’)

Episode 18: The Crossroads

OHO SPACE BRIDGE

“I’m no Quintesson!” SO THERE ARE QUINTESSONS IN THIS SERIES....I BET THOSE ARE GONNA BE THE BIG BAD GUYS IN SEASON 3 also Wheeljack could you have said that in a way that was even SLIGHTLY less suspicious

CHROMIA CHROMIA CHROMIA CHROMIA!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH

Oh so Cybertron is still alive GOOD TO KNOW

UNSPACE?!

GASP there’s another autobot ship!?!

OH MY GOSH IS THIS GOING TO BE THE SHATTERED GLASS VERSION OF THEM!?

“I wish that made me feel good” Grimlock you’re so cute

Wheeljack PLEASE don’t touch it

THIS IS JUST LIKE MTMTE IM SCREAMING

OPTIMUS NO!!!!!!!

Oh ok they’re fine

OK BUT WHY WAS THERE ANOTHER ARK THERE

HOT ROD AND OPTIMUS

Is this some kind of weird time-space thing going on where they’re stuck in an infinite loop

“Grimlock hurt Grimlock feeling :(” THAT MADE ME SO SAD???? GRIMLOCK BE NICE TO YOURSELF

“Are you my Bee, or are you the new Bee?” MY BEE...THAT’S PRECIOUS

CYBERVERSE YOU CAN’T KEEP THROWING CUTE STUFF LIKE THIS AT ME, I CAN”T HANDLE IT, I’M GONNA GET TOO USED TO QUALITY CONTENT

Rodimus please don’t hit on yourself

IT”S A MULTIVERSE IM CRYIN. THEY REALLY DID DO AN “INTO THE CYBERVERSE” GOOF, I LOVE YOU CYBERVERSE WRITERS

I’m still so worried a Shattered Glass version of them is gonna pop up

But won’t that mean all of them will pop out in the same universe?

THERE”S SO MANY ARKS

All of them saying “Autobots Roll Out!” is so sweet...

OH NO THEY HAVE CHROMIA.....CHROMIA WHAT HAPPENED

EXTREMELY RARE BLESSED OPTIMUS SMILE....HE LOOKS SO SWEET.....

Dang boy Cybertron looks jacked up

NOOOOO IS THAT IT??? AM I REALLY GOING TO HAVE TO WAIT TIL NEXT YHEAR FOR SEASON 3??? Man those were such good episodes though, I can’t even get mad I LOVE CYBERVERSE SO MUCH Y’ALL......... :’) I’m so glad we have a series like this

[subterrenianofficeworker-blog]

this is affordable

Hark back to pre ark marksmanship at your local car dealership saying well only if i can get it cheap and then maybe perhaps we’ll bother to save the sheep, oh poor poor old thing how dare you weep, as if to dismiss the cracks and the bleak, well theres still something at all. Warned in private history to keep yours a mystery cuz thats the only way youll get any of them to listen. But lending an ear i remembered for once i aint got naught to say ahah, well how do me! Princeton talking like principle walking, my government rules the world and are so far above me i dont even know anymore what governmeant. You can class and ask and pretend and make amend and change your stakes in ten but at the end of the night its still just hurtful and uninteresting, but remember to remind me in the middle of forgetfulness so i can hold it in just right to feel bad but on outside onset just stupid and silly. Facts and fools say look at me! And i tell that really brother i cant see at all, for brother im a know it all and you cant laught cuz sister (i see by new school, youre a doctor now, you got nothing to fear and everything scares you you tell the world!) and yes yes everything crosses my mind except for what really is and i like it that way. I know knothing at all! See i told you i know it all. I still wake up with my hand asleep and my lower spine deeply annoyed but you know its simply and simply best put underfooot and forgotten. I never dream of waking up havent you heard? The new word order requisites seventeen by this afternoon and if you dont i mourn you already in fact backstage they keep all signs of sugar clean and clear so no one comes near and no one cares at all and you learn that hah ha ha no one cares afterall but six months later you learn afterall was just a dream or an afternoon and you cant get mad cuz i hate afternoons i hate them so much nothing good can get done in them alone, they practically force humanity on me and humanity is still recovering cuz lets be frank they all find me rather rank and prudish so ill not come out at all you heard my dear she could sing and the boy from under the hill with a father unfortunately and untimely killed he was so happy, well at a young age he knew better than most that he cant speak for anyone else and i was jeaslous cuz all i knewd at that age was basic arithmatic and that im bad a t basic arithmatic and that i dont want to grow older anymore cuz i was afraid of life and working at such a young age geez my momma shoulda known geez it not her fault but im still not sure if i forgive her. Should i get coffee? Im not sure if i want the pressure or if i want the effort i know for a fact sleep is good for me but the only man who ever thought me fashionable whence sleep is gone gone and probably dead somewhere inside your head and youre deaf to all the shouting of other mans voices that youve been and known. God help me. God make me a home. One with love and kindness (or in life very least laughter) all holding sincerity. And none at me for charity. No i do not want a crown what else can you offer me and does it mean anything what else can you show me. Real love is at the heart and i hate all the death i see, all the death of your feelings and crooning, do you still mourn? And if so, done sexlessly i must ask? As i know how you think its rolling. Freud is lost on you. But me too so what can i say? Well really? What on earth. Nobody finds appeal or fancy in a silly boy with no shoes saying his life is better led in dreams in dreaming. Well a week ago he wasnt waiting for you anymore nae he werent waiting for anyone. Sure life was only in his hands, and sure life was alone. Life is alone? I have always been begging and as you know gagging for you to prove me wrong you stupid stoner. Hah. well love, it was changed and pointed and instead of waiting for his guts to be handheld rushing past danger well off the cliff he was jusst waiting for his heart to throw himself off the parking garage because he knew it was always painful he knew too well and through tthe bone he was no fun and neither was life ah ah if only i was him poor boy. Well he got a call from his cuzn down the hall and he sayd well maybe if you aint to embittered by what the past should say you may want to come with all of us and move north. He said yes in an instant, even though it may not even work. He said yes. Well moving on never to forget what it was but really i dont understand as it wwere and as like was the feeling but only what it said. And on blank page it can be read (as we choose to invalidate the unwanted as if it were never writ). Blueberry trees seeping tea in coffee just as a dream to what cloulour if it would fix my hair? A d it in s a old cocoanutt oil jar to really suit my head and jaw please make me cool and please please me was playing in a dream in a doorway but you see the record changed but is still in the collection dont you see what dreams are and dont you see what im looking for, far back of my mind i find that nobody else is looking and i go on i hear, alone in a room boy go on go on go on. But nobody is reading and nobody is hearing. Im only testing im only teasing. Oh you cunt on the hunt why you always croonign and brooding I I I I I II I  I I I I I I I yes we know I is a very important person to you well she certainly is to me some rooftop is said but never tread or read, for i am proudly forty six hyears old and illiterate aha take that mom! No dont actually reading back up a little… nobody dares yet so eager to lend me things and im not yet sure the ultirior motives! Ah is it for me to tell the man you love that youre a good person and you like to share? Is it because what you have you really love and you in genuine heart want to share it? (do you know what words 13 and 14 in sentence even mean?) i feel sick to my stomach all the time. You know me. Or at least im told so. Is it because you canttttteeadbjbaajkdadjasjdksekjdsjkdsjdsadassadfmfnsdndasfnewdfwdsdfeeesfftwdffwedsdkfrlfse efsnfsdfksdfnsfdffilewnferkenrfreknfrfenfrfnfsjaenae ewsjrngerjgke.wFJWGBGUGJG NSEFENAWDNLK or a little pity for my poor corpse to be! Do you follow me? I know you dont want to. None of the people reading this  are the you in question yes i alone am not you even though you use that word sometimes it means something totally different and i dont mind. Im very sad.

[johnchiarello]

C.U.- Mass

C.U.- MASS

Habakkuk 2:1 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.

Habakkuk 2:2 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.

Habakkuk 2:3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

Church Unlimited- Mass - https://youtu.be/DiRNv2hp3aU

https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/5-28-17-c-u-mass.zip

https://ccoutreach87.com/5-28-17-c-u-mass/

[I talked from the verses used in the Sunday Mass- and the verses from Church Unlimited]

 ON VIDEO-

.Ascension Sunday

.Cathedral city

.We are the 2nd book- Bishop Mulvey

.Dead words versus life in the Spirit [manifested thru us- the Logos made flesh once again]

.Tertullian ‘Have we chased God into a book’? https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tertullian

.Gnostic writing in the first few centuries

.Pseudepigraphy https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pseudepigraphy

.Life in community

.Logos

.Watch Tower

.Theresa of Avila http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=208

.Catholic Mystics

.Contemplative prayer

.Hebrews- James- context

.Paul and James

.Faith and works

Correction- On the video I mentioned a quote/book from Theresa of Avila- the book was called ‘The Interior Castle’ written in 1588 - the quote I used was ‘Cathedral of the mind’.

 PAST POSTS- [Past teaching I did that relates to today’s post- C.U.- Mass]

https://ccoutreach87.com/galatians-links/

https://ccoutreach87.com/hebrews-updated-2015/https://ccoutreach87.com/hebrews-updated-2015/

https://ccoutreach87.com/romans-updated-2015/

https://ccoutreach87.com/james-2015/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/06/01/acts-13/

 CHAPTER 11: [see commentary on Acts 21]

END NOTES-

JUSTIFIED BY FAITH.

TORTURED- BY FAITH?

REJECTED MONEY- BY FAITH?

THEY ALL WAITED FOR THE CITY- THE CHURCH.

   ‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, FOR BY IT THE ELDERS OBTAINED A GOOD REPORT [JUSTIFIED]’ This is the key verse to the chapter. Paul will go on to prove that all the Old Testament figures that ‘pleased God’ did it by faith, and not by works! ‘Through faith WE UNDERSTAND that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear’ Faith is not ‘blind’. It informs and gives understanding. This understanding is real! Let me show you what I mean. All of the universe and creation had a beginning point. Science did not always know or believe this. Today science teaches this. It is called ‘the point of singularity/density’. Science has traced back the origins of all things and has found scientific evidence to prove that all things had a ‘beginning point’. Now if you were to ask science ‘what did you have right before the beginning point’? They are stumped. Some of course believe in God and will boldly proclaim him at this point. To the others they can not answer this question. Why? Because they realize, thru science, that matter is not infinite.

 Some have theorized that either all things always existed [which science has now disproved] or that at one point nothing existed [which science also teaches that if this were true then you would have nothing today. You can not get something from nothing!] So all true science has gone back to this ‘point of singularity’ and can not see what is right before ‘the point’. The Christian ‘sees’ God at this point! He ‘understands’ that by necessity there has to have been something that existed before creation, science teaches this. This something can not have been created also, because then where did the ‘being’ who created ‘it’ come from? So science teaches us that whoever got the ball rolling [Saint Thomas Aquinas calls this the ‘prime mover’] had to have been preexistent/ self existent in order to have done it. And we know that creation couldn’t have done it by itself, so therefore all reasoning and understanding leave us at the philosophical point of ‘there had to have been something/someone who existed forever  in order for anything to be today’. So now you see how ‘by faith we understand that all things that now exist were brought into existence by someone who we can not see’. FAITH UNDERSTANDS!

  As we go thru the rest of this chapter I want you to focus in on all the references of justification by faith. You will be surprised [I think?] on how many examples Paul gives to Israel from their own history [his too!] on God justifying people by faith. I will also try and show you [if I remember] how this chapter links the division between Paul’s epistles to the gentiles [Romans, Galatians] with James letter to the Jews. James was one of the lead Apostles at Jerusalem [Acts 15] and the Judaizers who were always accusing Paul of preaching grace in a way that justified sin, they came out of Jerusalem. James and Paul were rivals in a sense. James had the difficult job of overseeing the Church at Jerusalem, who had all the Pharisees who believed, while Paul was preaching this radical message of grace. This is why James’s letter [book of James] focused so much on faith and works. James was seeing the Genesis 22 account of Abraham’s justification when he offered Isaac on the altar. James will say ‘see how Abraham was justified by his works’. While in Paul’s letters he focuses on the Genesis 15 account of Abraham believing God and being made righteous. James was not contradicting Paul; he was showing the actual outcome of the life of a person who was previously justified by faith. James was saying ‘When God made Abraham righteous [Gen 15] he later actually became what God made him!’ [Gen. 22].

  Now when Abraham would later do righteous things, he only did them because he previously had faith in Gods promise. But the fact still remains that when Abraham did a righteous act, God still justified him [in a sense, God has the prerogative to say ‘good job son, I am pleased with you’ so this can be described as an act/function of justification]. Well, now that I already showed you all this, I guess I wont have to remember telling it to you later. The point is in this chapter Paul will go down and show all these examples of Jewish leaders acting by faith and doing righteous deeds. This sort of bridges the gap between the strong emphasis on faith in Paul’s letters, with the strong emphasis on works in James letter. Paul is telling Israel ‘yes, all the old saints did do good works that pleased God, but they did them by faith!’ ‘Faith without works is dead’ [James]. So in a sense this single chapter bridges one of the key divisions in the early church between Jerusalem and Antioch [Acts 13 and 15]. Note; I believe all the chapter references above are correct, I write all this from memory so you might want to go back and double check the references. I know all the stories are right.

  ‘By FAITH Able offered …by which he obtained witness that he was RIGHTEOUS…by FAITH Enoch was translated…he had this testimony that he PLEASED GOD…without FAITH it is impossible to PLEASE HIM [all these ‘please him’ references are like saying ‘being justified’ when a person is justified by God, God sees him as acceptable, pleasing. ‘Thou art my beloved son in whom I am well PLEASED’ God to Jesus!] By faith Noah… prepared an ark to the SAVING of his house…and became heir to the RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH IS BY FAITH [wow, he makes this one real plain] By faith Abraham…went out into a strange land…and sojourned’ interesting, both the aspect of ‘going out to a new land’ and ‘staying in it when you get there’ are both functions of faith. Let me throw in some practical stuff here. Over the years of ‘doing ministry’ I have seen and been a partaker of both of these experiences. Sometimes it takes an act of faith to uproot us from familiar territory and move on to the next level. And do you know what can happen next? The enemy will try to intimidate you once you get in the land of promise, and tell you ‘you cant stay here, look at all the people who hate you. Look at all the mistakes you made’ and it often takes an act of faith to STAY IN THE LAND. Don’t leave the land of your destiny; all true leaders will go thru both of these dealings.

 ‘For he looked for a city which hath foundations [Jesus is the foundation of this city!] whose builder and maker is God’ All of these great heroes of the faith were looking forward towards a future promise of being in Gods true church, the ‘City of God’ the Bride, the Lambs wife. Paul shows Israel that this 1st century appearing of Messiah was for the purpose of Israel coming into the ‘new land’ the Body of Christ. It is important to see this. There are many preachers today who are treating natural Israel as in if everything is just fine. It isn’t! They need Christ as much as the Muslim does. God was telling Israel ‘come into this new city’ [New Jerusalem versus Old Jerusalem] he wasn’t appealing for them to stay in ‘old Jerusalem’ and be a ‘completed Jew’. [I know this sounds harsh, but I want to emphasize to all my evangelical friends that Jews need Jesus, they play a special role in Gods plan, but ultimately they need Christ!]

  ‘Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed’ it takes faith to produce spiritual offspring! It might look impossible, but with God all things are possible. ‘Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky and the sand by the shore’ sometimes God will allow you to bring forth one ‘seed’ [person or act of ministry] and you will be surprised how much fruit can come forth from this singular effort. This is why it’s so important to simply hear and obey God. Often times in ministry we do tons of ‘leg work’ which is OK. But when God gives you an idea or mode of function that you weren’t even thinking of, go with it. These are usually the ‘little seeds’ that produce the great harvest! ‘THESE ALL DIED IN FAITH, NOT HAVING RECEIVED THE PROMISES’ I want to emphasize here that it is possible to live your whole life in faith without actually seeing the fulfillment of all that God has told you.

  Now faith does obtain promises [verse 33] but sometimes we also see things many years down the road and we must realize that the measurement of faith is not whether or not you are currently getting the actual promise. In the above [and below] verse’s we see Abraham and Sara being told that their offspring would number in the millions. They believed these promises, but it is obvious that they didn’t live to see it fulfilled, but they sure knew that after they were gone it would come to pass. So I want to exhort you to believe to see certain things fulfilled in your life time, but have some greater goals that you initiate while here on earth, knowing that after you depart they will be fulfilled. ‘And truly if they had been MINDFUL of the country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned’ what is Paul saying here? The greatest threat to the gospel taking root in the Hebrew community was the desire to go back to old law and culture. How many believers ‘revert’ back to an older form of church simply because they missed the old culture and ‘feelings’ that they had when they were younger? Many of the Jews would not go all the way with the gospel because they were ‘mindful’ of the good old days of law and sacrifice.

  I just watched a show the other day that told how even some gentile believers began celebrating certain feasts of Israel with their Jewish neighbors. While it is good to understand and see the significance of the feasts, yet we know Paul wrote the early believers and said ‘you observe days and times and feasts, and I am concerned about it’. So when we [or 1st century Israel] are ‘mindful’ of the ‘good old days’ then there is always a danger of going back! ‘By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac…of whom it was said in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure’ Abraham exhibited characteristics of the Father [God] as well as Isaac being a type of the Son [Jesus]. It’s interesting that these verses show that Abraham knew for a fact that God was going to give Isaac millions of children, Abraham also knew the voice of God so well that when he ‘thought’ he heard God say ‘offer up this boy’ that in the mind of Abraham, the only way these 2 things could be reconciled, is he came to the conclusion ‘I guess God will have to raise him up, being he has told me this boy will have millions of children, plus he is telling me to kill him’. Most of us would not have come to this conclusion! We would have doubted either the original promise, or said ‘surely this can’t be God telling me to offer Isaac’ [most likely we would have doubted the latter!].

 There is a real important reason for Abraham to have been a real man of faith. God wanted this ‘picture’ of the offering up of Isaac for a type of the Cross and Resurrection. The only way he could have shown this example was to have had someone so radically filled with faith, that he would have come to this conclusion of ‘well, I guess God will just raise him’. It was necessary for the figure to have been truly fulfilled. It took Abraham many years of hearing and believing God before he would get to this stage. The part of Abraham’s mind that said ‘God will just have to raise him up’ was important for the figure to truly work. God knew he could only bring someone to this conclusion by arranging the whole scenario around a person of faith. It truly took a real person of faith to have come to the conclusion of resurrection as being inevitable! [For Abraham to fulfill the type of God, he had to have been convinced beyond all doubt that after he offered up his son, that he would be raised again. This is exactly what the Father [God] believed and knew about his own Sons death. So not only did Isaac fulfill the type of Jesus in this story, but Abraham also fulfilled a type of God!] [NOTE; Today is September 22, 2007. Israel’s Day of Atonement. I just heard a brother preach on the feasts of the Lord [I have done this also] but he preached it in a way that said ‘because God said you were to observe these feasts perpetually, therefore all gentile believers need to start observing these days’ he added ‘I know Paul taught the law passed and all, but these feasts are supposed to be forever because God said so’.

  How are the feasts ‘perpetual’? Thru the fulfilling of them in Christ! Paul makes this plain all thru the New Testament [as well as this letter!] I was surprised to hear the brother preach that the first 2 feasts [out of the 3 main ones] were fulfilled and memorialized, but the 3rd one [Atonement/tabernacles] has yet to be fulfilled! What? Jesus fulfilled Passover and Pentecost for sure, and they are still being ‘fulfilled’ God is still bringing people in thru the blood of Christ and the Spirit is continually being poured out on people, and of course the ultimate reality of our atonement thru our high priest is a daily reality [he ever lives to make intercession] that is ‘fulfilled’ all the time[ I understand what the brother meant, that both Passover and Pentecost were fulfilled at the Cross and the day of Pentecost, and Tabernacles still has a future fulfillment. That Jesus will ‘ingather’ all peoples to himself at the end. The way he said it was in a way that he said Atonement, the beginning of Tabernacles/booths, still has to be fulfilled. It really came out badly!] I just thought it worth noting that today is natural Israel’s feast day, and we hold this feast in reality 24/7!]

 ‘By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of pharaohs daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward…by faith the harlot Rahab perished not…’ I want you to see that faith in Moses situation caused him to forsake great riches and leave a successful future. This is in keeping with all the times Jesus called people in the Gospels ‘forsake all and follow me’ mentality. We too often equate the ‘treasures of Egypt’ with following Jesus; the scripture puts a different spin on it! Also Rahab ‘perished not’ because she ‘believed’. Paul teaches in Corinthians that those who believe are ‘being saved’ and those who don’t believe are ‘perishing’. I want you to see that Paul is really making a theological argument for ‘being saved by faith’ in this chapter. Even a harlot can be saved! Wow. The law seemed to have no mercy on someone like that!

  ‘Who thru faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, stopped the mouths of lions…women received their dead raised to life…others were TORTURED not accepting deliverance…others had mocking and scourging and bonds and imprisonment, they were stoned, cut in half, were slain with the sword… being destitute, afflicted, tormented…they wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth, ALL THESE [both the ones who shut the mouths of lions as well as the one’s who were tortured without deliverance] OBTAINED A GOOD REPORT THRU FAITH, AND RECEIVED NOT THE PROMISE’ Faith does not always cause you to be better off in this life. I am very familiar with all the verses of God blessing us and providing for us ‘the blessing of the Lord it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow to it’. I believe and claim these verses just like the next guy. I also don’t want to tell people ‘give your life to Christ and all will go well’ did it go well for the ones who were tortured not getting delivered? Sure did. It went well the moment they saw the face of God. The same for those who were cut in half. It also went well for the women who received their dead raised to life. The point is ‘going well’ is not always defined by your outward circumstance.

 We must see the overall biblical worldview of all things here being temporary, while all true spiritual riches are eternal. Moses actually was ‘less rich’ by the choice to follow Christ. But he was ‘more rich’ in that he fulfilled Gods purpose. It is important to see that many of these great heroes of the faith died without fully seeing the promise in this life. Now the last verse does say ‘that they without us should not be made perfect’ and this does show that the promise is now fulfilled thru Christ. We have all become recipients of eternal salvation thru Christ. The Old Testament patriarchs have ‘found that city’ in that we are all now members of the great ‘City that comes down from God out of heaven’ we are all in Christ today, even our Old Testament brothers who had faith. The point is don’t always measure a persons faith by their outward wealth and condition. James rebuked this idea in his epistle, he taught us not to show partiality to people who were rich while despising the poor.

  When believers see faith only from the standpoint of outward things, they are missing the true riches. Jesus taught that all these outward things were not the true riches; I am surprised how many believers spend so much time hoarding and storing things that will all pass away some day. Let’s close this chapter on a good note. Paul has offered Israel all of their Old Testament heroes as an example of being justified by faith. He is saying ‘look, all the great fathers of the faith pleased God, just like you have said and taught for ages. I am declaring unto you they were all ‘justified/pleasing to God’ by faith, not law’. Therefore if you want to follow the example of Abraham and Moses and all the other wonderful fathers, then you too MUST BELIEVE!

END NOTES-

JUSTIFIED BY FAITH.

TORTURED- BY FAITH?

REJECTED MONEY- BY FAITH?

THEY ALL WAITED FOR THE CITY- THE CHURCH.

This chapter is loaded with the history of the Jewish people-

I could teach on each story- but that would be a bit much-

So I pasted the verses below to show that the writer is saying ‘see- all of our forefathers were justified- received a GOOD REPORT- by faith’.

Wait a minute- they DID THINGS- in these stories-

Isn’t that WORKS?

If you read the letter of James- and the letters of Paul- some scholars says there is a disagreement-

Paul says a man is justified by faith- and not by works.

James says ‘see how a man is justified by works- and not faith only’.

If this letter [Hebrews] was written by Paul- then it’s a true masterpiece- because he is combining the examples that James uses [Rahab- and Abrahams Genesis 22 experience- which James uses to say ‘see how works justifies’].

So- to me- Paul would be saying ‘no- I’m not contradicting James- we both believe/teach the same thing’.

If the letter was written by Barnabus- then it also is a masterpiece- because Barnabus might be trying to bridge the gap between Paul and James.

We read about this tension in Acts chapters 13 and 15.

This chapter is certainly not showing us how to obtain stuff [money- etc.] thru faith- because look at the examples- ‘Moses chose to suffer- and reject the wealth of Egypt- BY FAITH’-

‘SOME WERE TORTURED- SUFFERED- CUT IN HALF- by faith’- ‘CHOOSING TO not be delivered- because they had faith’.

We also see the heavenly city- as the goal of the patriarchs- they were all waiting for THE CHURCH- the city that the apostle John spoke about in the book of revelation.

The writer says ‘if they were mindful of the city they came out of [a reference to the law covenant- meaning if the Jews kept clinging to the law- the ‘city they came out from’- they will have a hard time moving on- into the New Covenant revelation of Messiah].

I didn’t quote verse 2- but we could teach modern physics from that one [the bible says all things were made from something invisible- modern physics has come to that reality in the 20th century- yet this verse was penned 2 millennia ago]!

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

So yeah- lots of good stuff in this chapter- but the main point is these ancients were justified by faith- the example of Noah and Abraham actually use that very language- salvation/righteousness [it’s a bit clearer in the King James Version- the above verses are from the NIV].

Yes- the writer is saying ‘everything is based on faith- and even our ancestors were justified by faith- they did all these things because they believed God- and God saw their faith- in action- and they too were made righteous- by faith’.

By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning;[e] they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

  CHAPTER 12:

END NOTES-

A HEAVENLY CITY.

DON’T BE SAD, HE’S TREATING YOU LIKE A SON.

NO REPENTANCE- OUTSIDE OF CHRIST THAT IS.

CULTURE SHOCK IS HARD ON US ALL.

  ‘Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses [all the heroes of the last chapter!] let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us’ a few practical things. Paul compares the journey to a marathon, not a sprint! The patient runner who paces himself will receive a reward. The sprinter will look good at the start, but you never see him again! I have been blessed by so many gifted people over the years. Some who were on radio, or were doing some type of ministry for the Lord. The gifts and callings were truly on these people. A few years would go by and they were no where to be found. Where did they go? Some of them jumped on the latest ‘Christian movement’ [I am not against movements from God, I just feel we get enamored by them and give up on the main thing the Lord has called us to] some walked away from the Lord.

  I have come to realize that God will put certain things in you from the early days, things that he predestined for you to fulfill before you were born. These are the things that you should be faithful to. Don’t abandon the original calling, it’s still there! You can spend your whole life leaving one ‘track’ and ‘sprinting’ in another. But God wants you to stay on the original course and run it with patience. It might not seem as glamorous or exciting as the newest race in town, but at the end you will receive a reward. ‘Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him ENDURED the cross, despising the shame and is set down on the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that ENDURED such contradiction of sinners…and ye have forgotten the exhortation that speaketh to you as children [remember what we said about this type of privileged language in Hebrews? It is speaking to Israel] my son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art REBUKED of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as sons’.

  Now, for many years I read this just like you. That God was telling Christians that he disciplines them. True enough. But in context what is Paul saying here? He spent 11 chapters ‘reproving’ Israel. He told them that all the sacrifices and wonderful holidays and family traditions are no more. That Messiah has fulfilled it and you can’t keep doing it. Now, how would you feel if some know it all preacher came along and totally dismantled your whole way of worship? And you knew in your heart he was right! You would take offence. You would feel like you just got ‘chastened’ up and down and all over. Your initial reaction would be ‘this is too much correction in one letter, I am tired of reading it!’ so Paul is telling Israel ‘Don’t take all this reproof the wrong way, Gods intent is to get you to move on with the program. He loves you guys; don’t forget that scripture [Old Testament] says ‘who God loves he chastens’ hey, God is just dealing with you as children who he loves’ get it? ‘We have had fathers of the flesh that corrected us…shall we not much rather be in subjection to the father of spirits and live?’ Paul is saying ‘you guys want to live [eternal life] then you need to submit to the correction the father is giving you’.

  ‘For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness’ Now, God does chasten believers for the purpose of holiness. Scripture says ‘those who have suffered in the flesh have ceased from sin, that they should no longer spend the rest of their days in the flesh pursuing the desires of the flesh, but the will of God’ ‘before I was afflicted I went astray, but after I kept thy word’ ‘thou in faithfulness hath afflicted me’ ‘though he were a son yet learned he obedience from the things he suffered’ ‘the captain of our salvation was made perfect thru suffering’ [the last 2 are in this letter, the others are some where in scripture, I just quoted them off the top of my head. As you can see I have some familiarity with this subject! Ouch] In context Paul is saying to Israel ‘you have tried to attain holiness thru legalistic means, by keeping the law [Romans 9-the last few verses] but until you submit to Gods chastening, and have faith in God, you will not truly have his ‘holiness’ [righteousness].

  So God is disciplining them thru this letter so they will ‘believe and become righteous’ as opposed to staying in the old system of law. ‘Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous [old brother Paul, he sure knew how to understate things!] nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of RIGHTEOUSNESS to them that are exercised [or exorcised! Just kidding, but it can feel like this at times] thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down…and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame [broken] be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed’ David said ‘restore to me the joy of your salvation that the bones which YOU HAVE BROKEN may rejoice’ The danger of chastening [both for Christians and Israel] is that we get so broken that we never fully recover. Paul is telling Israel ‘I know it’s been hard on you guys to hear so much rebuke. Don’t walk away totally discouraged. There is a danger that you might respond to Gods correction the wrong way. Lift up your hands, shake off the depression, and let yourselves be healed. God wants to restore you!’

  ‘Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for HE FOUND NO PLACE OF REPENTANCE though he sought it carefully with tears’. This is another reason why reading Hebrews in context is important. One of the themes of this letter is ‘if you miss out on it now, you can’t repent later!’[Chapter 6]. We know that Pauls other letters to the churches leave open future repentance for those who have sinned. In Paul’s letters to the Corinthians we see this being done. But in Hebrews the idea is ‘if you pass on the Cross, you can not find repentance thru any other means. There is no other place for repentance’. So this is the reason why Hebrews has this theme of ‘no future repentance’ thru out the letter. Paul is certainly not telling Israel that if they decide to repent and accept Christ at a future date, they can’t! But he is saying ‘if you pass over this sacrifice of Christ, all the other ‘sacrifices’ and means of repentance that are contained in the law will have no future effect, remember Esau!’

  ‘For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched…but ye are come to Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem [the church]…and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Able’ Here Paul comes back to a ‘scarlet thread’ that runs thru out this letter. He says ‘hey, you think the first covenant was a fearful thing, watch out! If you disregard this covenant [Jesus blood] then you have gone against something that is much greater than the law’. Also the ‘blood of Able’ cried out from the ground for vengeance, the blood of Jesus cries out from heaven for mercy and forgiveness! It ‘speaks’ better things than that of Able! ‘See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth [Moses and the law] much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him which speaketh from heaven’ again Paul repeats themes he hit on earlier in this letter. He says ‘Moses spoke Gods Word [law] to you from an earthly mountain and place, you are come to a heavenly mountain [Sion-spiritual Jerusalem] and Jesus is speaking to you from heaven. This is much more strict than he who spoke from earth’.

  ‘Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom that can not be moved, let us HAVE GRACE, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire’ Though Paul doesn’t say it [I think he should have!] but this alludes to the ‘God’ of Moses day, who did not consume the burning bush, compared to the ‘God’ of today [new covenant] who will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire! This fits in with the theme of a harsher punishment for those who reject the covenant of grace as opposed to those who rejected the covenant of law. I know these themes are not popular, but this is clearly the way Paul is presenting them. I also am not saying the ‘God’ of the Old Testament is different from the ‘God’ of the new [this is the heresy of Marcion! I think that was his name. He was an early Christian heretic who comprised the first canon of scripture for a ‘new testament’ it included basically Paul’s letters, and he taught that The God of the new testament was different from the God in the old] but Paul is presenting the new covenant in a way that says ‘don’t neglect this new way of salvation, those who do will receive a harsher judgment than those who rejected the law’.

END NOTES-

A HEAVENLY CITY.

DON’T BE SAD, HE’S TREATING YOU LIKE A SON.

NO REPENTANCE- OUTSIDE OF CHRIST THAT IS.

CULTURE SHOCK IS HARD ON US ALL.

Once again we see the contrast between ‘he that spoke from earth’ [Moses- the law]- and he that ‘speaks from heaven’ [Jesus covenant is more strict- to those outside of it and reject it- because he has heavenly authority- Moses had earthly]. Hebrews 12:25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

 The writer says ‘don’t be sad- God disciplines every son who he receives’- though this certainly applies to Christians- Hebrews 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Hebrews 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Hebrews 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

 Remember this- though the message of grace and Jesus as the Messiah is wonderful- especially to us Gentile believers-

Yet- it was indeed a cultural shock to the 1st century Jew-

Why?

Even though Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophets- yet in order for the Jewish person to accept this [Like the apostle Paul]

He had to accept a real cultural change in the religion he practiced from his youth-

He was being asked to stop the animal sacrifices- to ‘move on’ from the Law covenant- and to embrace Christ.

Now- in reality- it would be the fulfillment of all that was contained in the law- but it’s often hard for anyone to ‘move on’ from former religious practices that are embedded in his culture.

So- in context ‘Don’t be sad- God is disciplining you- showing you new stuff- and it’s tough for sure- but he does this with all the sons he receives’.

We also see the promise of the heavenly city- As opposed to the earthly one. Hebrews 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

Hebrews 12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

 The writer is speaking about the church- and how both Jew and Gentile are part of this spiritual community coming down from God out of heaven.

And again we see the warning- of no repentance- for those who keep sinning.

I stress that this is never taught to the Gentile churches- as a matter of fact the Apostle Paul wrote the Corinthians- about a sinning brother- sleeping with his father’s wife [his step mom].

And In the 2nd letter- this brother repented- and Paul exhorted the church to receive him back into fellowship.

But to the 1st century Jew- still not fully in the covenant- he says ‘Hebrews 12:17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

In keeping with the theme of the letter- Jesus is now the only acceptable means of repentance- and if you reject him as the Messiah- and continue in sin- then yes- there is no repentance.

[parts]

ACTS 1- Luke, the writer of this book, feels the need to document the ongoing work of Jesus and his revolution. He already wrote a gospel and believes this to be the beginning of the story. In essence, the reality of Jesus and his resurrection are just the start, we have much more to do and become on this journey. Most writers jump to chapter 2. We have churches and music groups called ‘Acts chapter 2’. Why does Luke seem to wait till chapter 2 before getting to ‘the good stuff’? Chapter one records the 40 days of Jesus showing himself alive after his death. Luke feels this singular truth to be important enough to simply stand alone [I do realize the early letters did not have chapter and verse divisions like today]. The real physical fact of Jesus bodily resurrection is without a doubt the foundational truth of the gospel. The outpouring of the Spirit and the whole future of the church depends on the reality of the resurrected Christ. Paul will write the Corinthians and tell them if the resurrection were not true then they are the most miserable of all people. Luke tells us Jesus gave instructions for the Apostles to wait at Jerusalem for the Spirit. They will be witnesses of him to all the surrounding nations after the Spirit empowers them. We also see Peter emerge as the key spokesman for the group. He quotes freely from the Psalms and reads their own history into the book. He sees the prophetic verse from David on ‘let another take his office’ as referring to Judas betrayal and death. They cast lots and choose Matthias as the one to replace Judas. Peter shows the importance of Judas replacement to come from one that was with them thru out the earthly time of Jesus. Someone who saw and witnessed Jesus after the resurrection. Scholars have confused this with the ‘ascension gift Apostles’. Some scholars have taken the truth of the early Apostles having the criteria of being actual witnesses of Jesus, and have said ‘therefore, you have no Apostles today’. Paul will teach in Ephesians that after Jesus ascension on high he gave gifts unto men ‘some Apostles, others Prophets, etc.’ The New Testament clearly speaks of Apostles as an ongoing gift in the church. Barnabas will later be called an Apostles [Acts 14:14] as well as many other references in the original Greek using the same Greek word for Apostle. But here we find Peter seeing the need to replace Judas. Other scholars think Peter might have jumped the gun. They see Paul’s apostleship as the possible person the Lord picked out as the replacement. You do find Paul referring time and again to his Apostolic authority as one ‘born out of due time’ who saw Jesus on the Damascus road. If Paul was simply an ascension gift Apostle, why would he refer time and again to his authority based on being a witness who also saw Jesus? It’s possible that Paul was in this group of ‘Apostles of the Lamb’ who had extra authority based upon their testimony of being eyewitnesses. So in chapter one we see that Jesus appeared for 40 days giving instructions to the early leadership and told them to wait at Jerusalem for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We see the incarnational purpose of God, Jesus was and continues to be the express image of God to man. He was not some ‘phantom’ like the Docetists will claim, but a very real physical resurrected Lord. Luke begins the early history of the church with this reality being important enough to stand on its own.

 ACTS 2- The Apostles are gathered together in the upper room. As they continue in unity and prayer the Spirit of God comes upon them like a rushing wind. There appear ‘cloven tongues’ like fire above each of them. Why this image? Why not ‘ears’ or some other sanctified body part? God is going to give supernatural power to the words that they will speak. In a few chapters we will read how an angel will supernaturally deliver Peter from prison and say ‘go, speak the words of this life’. These tongues are a precursor to the tremendous fire that will be loosed from their lips. James says the tongue is a little member but boasteth great things, it has the ability to start fires. Jesus said he came to earth to ‘start a fire’ and how he wished it were already burning. Here he gets his wish! Now the Apostles and early believers experience the gift of tongues. They begin speaking and prophesying in the unknown languages of all those who are gathered together to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. God ordained this event to be strategically done at this time. All the surrounding regions heard the believers speak the ‘wondrous works of God’ in their native tongue. Peter stands up and delivers a scathing message! He basically tells Israel ‘this is that which the prophet Joel spoke about’ he goes on and says this outpouring is part of Gods predetermined plan to pour out his Spirit on all flesh in the last days. He speaks of divine manifestations [dreams, visions] and carries the prophecy right to the end of the age. He then speaks the gospel of Christ and tells Israel ‘this is the Jesus you killed’. Wow, these guys are bold. Peter leads them to faith in Christ, their public baptism is the immediate sign of their willingness to be identified with Jesus and 3 thousand Jews become believers this day. Now, what is the church? This corporate group of first time followers do 4 basic things. They ‘continue in the Apostles doctrine and breaking of bread and prayers and share their goods with all in need’[true fellowship]. This early community was a brotherhood who actually gave priority to the teachings of Jesus passed on to them from the Apostles. Don’t miss this! Many will develop all sorts of practices and beliefs that ‘make up church’. Some will justify extra biblical beliefs under the guise of ‘the Apostles doctrine’ as in if it were something totally contrary or not known thru the gospels or the writing of scripture. Paul will tell Timothy to stay true to the traditions he passed on to him. But I want to focus on the fact that the Apostles doctrine was not something different then the basic instructions Jesus left us in the gospels. Paul will add to this basic body of Christian doctrine thru his letters to the churches, as well as the whole New Testament. But we do not see a bunch of strange or unknown doctrines that come from this time period. The basics are mentioned above. I do want to stress the fact that this early expression of church life had no ‘Pastor’ in the sense of their gatherings being a time where a singular authority figure had oversight of the entire community. They had strong leaders to be sure, but would avoid the Protestant idea of Pastor. They had no church building or belief in a strong liturgy. The ‘breaking of bread’ was a common meal where they all shared together in a real life setting. And of course their giving was radical, it was not ‘a tithe’ and it was done to meet the real needs of the community around them. All these elements are basic to what the New Testament church is. A functioning society of people in whom Christ Spirit dwells and who see themselves as a real spiritual community of people. As we progress thru out the history of the church as seen in Acts we will never lose this basic mindset. It will be carried into the epistles of the New Testament and remain the best idea of ‘local church’ as found in the first century. There is a trend going on right now in Evangelicalism that says ‘lets return to the ancient practices of the church and see what we can find’. As an avid reader of church history I am not totally against this movement, but I do see a danger in thinking ‘the ancient practices’ are the 2nd or 3rd century development of liturgy and Eucharist and other early ideas, and by passing the ‘real ancient’ story in the book of Acts. To put it simply, some of the Protestant and Evangelical ‘practices and beliefs’ that have developed since the reformation are ‘ancient’. I believe we all have a long way to go, but the ‘low view’ of the Lords Table [low as opposed to ‘high church view’. Though I personally believe in the Lords table as a memorial, not as the actual Body and Blood of Jesus. Yet I personally don’t like referring to such an important practice as low!] seems to be the true ancient practice as seen in Acts. The absence of the Priest officiating over the altar is no where to be seen in the actual ‘church’ setting. This ancient church is really a simple brotherhood of believers having all things common and having the resurrection of the Son of God as the central organizing principle of their lives.

[parts]

The Donatists taught that the Sacraments were dependent upon the ‘holiness’ of the Priest who ministers them. That if you were in a Parish where the priests were bad- lived in sin- rejected a holy life- then if you were Baptized by these men- that the Baptism didn’t ‘stick’.

 The Donatists formed there own break away church in the 3rd century- and a few very influential men would join the group. A well respected early church father- Tertullian- eventually joined their ranks.

 Augustine argued against the Donatists teaching- and taught that Gods grace- and the grace given to believers thru the sacraments were not derived from the holiness of any priest or preacher- but if a believer in good conscience received the sacraments- that that’s what really counted.

 Saint Augustine is one of the titans of church history- he is loved by Protestants and Catholics alike. He is famous for his belief in the doctrine of Predestination [that those who are saved were chosen by God before they were born] and for this reason he is loved by the original protestant theologians [Luther, Calvin, etc.]

 He also taught a very ‘Catholic’ form of Ecclesiology [church govt.] and is well loved by many Catholics as well.

 The Catholic Church refers to him  as the Doctor of Grace- later on in the 13th century we will meet Saint Thomas Aquinas- who the church refers to as the Angelic Doctor.

 Both of these men played a major role in the development of western thought and Augustine made an effort to distinguish true Christian thought from the philosophy of Neo Platonism which was very strong in his day.

 When reading Augustine [he wrote a lot] you need to be careful to distinguish some of his earlier writings from his later ones.

 Early on you still see forms of Platonic thought in Augustine- but as the years rolled by his thinking progressed more and more towards historic Christian  thought.

 For those of you who are interested- the Confessions of Saint Augustine is considered one the classics of Christianity- you can pick up a short version at most good bookstores- it’s well worth the time to read.

www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

 [parts]

The church has debated for centuries on whether or not Philosophy should be taught to Christians. One of the early church fathers- Tertullian- said no- his famous quote is ‘what does Jerusalem have to do with Athens’.

 Meaning what does Philosophy have in common with Christianity [Athens- Greece was the seat of philosophy in Jesus’ day].

 For the most part- the early church fathers would embrace the study of philosophy- and try to make arguments for the Christian faith by presenting Christianity as ‘thee’ philosophy that best answers the questions of man.

 These early Christian thinkers are called Apologists- men like Justin Martyr are in this class.

 Apologist is a word we use to describe those who defend the faith- it comes from the Apostle Peter’s letter in the N.T. where Peter says ‘give an answer to those who ask you about the faith’. In the Greek language- the original language the N.T. was written in- this phrase is talking about a defense- an ‘apology’ in the sense of ‘making the case’ not in the common sense of apologizing.

 In the book of Acts- chapter 17- we read the famous sermon of the apostle Paul-  given at Mars Hill. He was in Athens at the time- and he was debating with all the philosophers of the day. He tells them ‘as I was looking around town- I saw that one of your altars is addressed to The Unknown God’.

 He would go on and declare unto them that this Jesus is the true God- the one raised from the dead.

 Paul also said ‘in Him we live and MOVE and have our being’. Kind of a popular verse quoted by preacher’s today- but we often overlook the significance of the MOVE part.

 I mean- why say we MOVE in him too? Paul was a smart guy- he knew these children of Socrates questioned where motion came from [Remember Thales?] So he was basically saying ‘I am declaring to you the one true reality- the true 5th Element- the missing God particle from your system’ and he went on and preached Christ- being raised from the dead.

 Paul knew that you can’t really do true philosophy- to grapple with the questions of life and being and ‘motion’ without realizing that God is indeed the ultimate answer to all things.

 Even Peter Singer- who claimed that you don’t need God or religion in order to do Ethics- even he unknowingly quoted Jesus in attempting to give a basis for his Philosophy- yes- he quoted a God- one unknown to him- just like the altar at Athens- but a God never the less.  

 An inescapable 5th element- the missing part to the whole puzzle.

 www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

 [parts]

Let’s do a little more on Eschatology [end times stuff] today. Over the last few weeks these things have been in the news because of the Harold Camping prediction and you have heard various news folk- as well as believers giving their slant to all the popular verses that deal with the subject.

 Some media people were quoting ‘no one knows when the last day will happen- not even the Son, only God’. Then you have had a few other popular verses seep into the flow. The main portions of the bible that deal with the end times are Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. John’s gospel does not have an ‘end times’ discourse- possibly because he covers the subject in length in the book of Revelation.

 The main gospel on the subject is Matthew- Mark’s gospel seems to be a shorter compilation possibly taken from Matthew. By ‘taken’ I mean Mark was a scribe/recorder- he was the personality we see in the book of Acts- John Mark. If you remember- he had a falling out with the Apostle Paul and Mark ‘went home’ while Paul took Silas and they embarked on the great missionary journeys of the Apostle.

 You don’t hear that much about Mark after the ‘falling out’ but we know that Mark would later pen the 2nd gospel and he was also a recorder [secretary] for the Apostle Peter [might be important to remember this- if I get to it?]

 So anyway mark seems to have borrowed from Matthew [some scholars think the familiarity between the gospels should be attributed to another unknown common source- referred to as Q- I prefer to simply see it as the writers being familiar with what the other writers were writing- and in the 1st century you did not have Plagiarism as we do today- where it would be illegal to copy something verbatim from another writer- that’s why Mark- who also probably penned 2nd Peter- not as a Plagiarist who used Pseudepigraphy- writings by authors who pretended to be someone else- but as a scribe who was familiar with the other source documents of the time. 2nd Peter has come under scrutiny because chapter 2 seems to have borrowed heavily from the letter of Jude. At some spots it looks like a direct copy. But as Peter’s scribe- it would not have been out of the ordinary to have included- verbatim- a passage from Jude and to have attributed the entire letter to Peter. Or Peter might have simply been familiar with Jude's letter and it would not have been wrong according to 1st century writing standards to have done this. But skeptics in our day try to use this to say the bible is a forgery- so that’s why it’s important to be familiar with the debate and to have a good response.]

 Okay-lets at least try and start a little end times stuff. Matthews 24 begins with Jesus and the disciples walking away from the Temple and Jesus says ‘see all these buildings- truly I tell you that there will not be left one stone on top of another’.

 The disciples then ask Jesus ‘when will this happen- and what will be the sign of the end of the age/world, and the sign of your coming’. Now- this sets the stage for the entire scope of the answer. Jesus told them one thing ‘the temples coming down some day’ and they ask a few things.

 Some scholars believe that the entire answer Jesus gives- about the end of the world and the coming tribulation- some teach that all these things did happen by A.D. 70- that’s when the Roman general Titus [future emperor] attacked the city of Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. Jesus prediction about ‘one stone not being left on another’ was fulfilled to the tee because the temple stones were overlaid with Gold and the looters burned the stones to melt the gold and in the process they literally laid every stone out.

 In the Matthew discourse Jesus also warned the disciples that ‘when you see these things beginning to happen- let those in the city flee to the mountains’. As Titus made his way towards Jerusalem some early communities took his words literally and did use the mountains as a place for protection. The community at Qumran hid their writings in ‘the mountains’ that overlooked the Dead Sea- some 2 thousand years later these writings [scrolls] would be discovered- those are the Dead Sea Scrolls of today- one of the greatest archaeological finds of history.

 And there were Jewish believers at Jerusalem who did indeed flee to the mountains and they escaped the slaughter. So there certainly were things that Jesus spoke about in his 'end times’ teaching that were fulfilled in the 1st century.

 But what about the other famous portions? As various media persons were quoting a few famous parts of this discourse [this is the 4th famous discourse known as the Olivet discourse in Matthew- 5 famous long sections of Jesus’ teaching] it would help us to know the entire context of the discourse [which includes chapter 25 by the way].

 One of the famous verses is ‘when you see the fig tree putting forth leaves- you know that summer is near- so when you see these signs you know the end is near’. In American evangelicalism this verse has been made popular by men like Hal Lindsay who teach that the fig tree is ALWAYS  a symbol for the nation of Israel and therefore Jesus was saying that when Israel becomes a nation again [which happened in 1948] that within ‘a generation’ the end will happen.  

 This view uses a few other verses to come to this conclusion. Jesus famous ‘this generation will not pass away until all these things happen’ and a few other scriptures. Simply reading the chapter in context does not seem to be saying this at all. The parallel passage in Luke says ‘and all the trees’. It seems like Jesus is simply saying ‘just like when you see a tree blossom- so when you see these signs know that the time is near’.

 There really is nothing in the actual text to indicate that this is speaking about 1948. But because of these verses having been used like this many preachers have tried to date the coming of Christ within ‘the generation’ from1948. Lindsey put out a book saying that 1988 was a ‘special time’ why 88? 1988 was 40 years [biblical generation] from 1948. Then some changed the biblical generation to 70 years- which makes this decade real important.

 The problem with all these dates is there based on a faulty premise- that Jesus was saying that within a generation of the ‘fig tree blooming’ the 2nd coming will take place- he never said that. As far as I can tell 1948 plays no significant role. Of course Israel becoming a nation again at that time was a great thing- but as a date to begin setting off some type of spiritual clock- that’s not in the bible.

 Okay- maybe I’ll do a few more of these over the next few days. Try and read these chapters the next few days and get a feel for the overall meaning [the context] when we become familiar with the overall meaning of the passage- it keeps us from getting lost in the Fig Tree ones.

 www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

THE RAPTURE?

 I spoke with a friend yesterday about the Harold Camping prediction that obviously failed. They know someone who is really into Camping and that person was being set up for the disappointment. On CNN they had a Baptist preacher who warned against this type of date setting- yet he spoke confidently about ‘the Rapture is the next event on Gods calendar- followed by the 7 years of great tribulation’.

 I’m sure this fine pastor felt like he was providing a balanced voice compared to Camping’s date setting- yet I felt his interpretation was almost as ‘bad’ as what Camping was doing. Why?

 My first introduction to ‘the Rapture’ came as a new believer who started attending a fine Baptist church- they were an ‘Independent, Fundamentalist, Pre-millennial’ Baptist church – and yes- they managed to fit all this on the sign!

 The standard teaching says that in the New Testament there are 2 separate events that make up the 2nd coming. The first event is called The Rapture- that Jesus secretly comes all the way back to the earth and stops short in the sky [his feet don’t touch the ground] he ‘catches away’ all true believers [normally the Catholics, Orthodox and other historic churches get ‘left behind’] and then begins a 7 year tribulation period.

 After the tribulation you have the other part of the 2nd coming- called the Revelation of Jesus- some Christians say this happens after 3.5 years of tribulation- others after the 7 year period.

 Some say Jesus comes back after a 1000 year literal reign on earth [post millennial] others say before [pre- millennial].

 And then you have various ways they interpret the end time judgment- some say you have what’s called ‘the Bema seat’ a separate judgment for believers- and then the ‘Great White Throne judgment’ the general judgment of the wicked.

 O.K. does the bible specifically teach that the Rapture event is a separate event from the 2nd coming? No- in my view the bible does not teach this. Now- I’m sure that most of my Protestant readers are surprised that I hold to this view, because in American Evangelicalism this view is almost like the Trinity- in some circles it divides the true believers from the heretics.

 Classic Christianity does not hold this view- this idea became popularized the 1800’s under a man by the name of John Nelson Darby and the idea spread to America in the 1900’s- primarily thru the revivalist strain of Christianity- and the ‘bible school/conference’ movement.

 The historic churches just stuck with the classic idea that there will be one second coming- and there will be a resurrection and final judgment. I pretty much fall into this category myself.

 You would be surprised how much thought has gone into this idea- I mean you have entire schools of thought- who call the other side heretics- just because they believe a 3.5 year tribulation as opposed to a 7 year one.

 The word rapture comes from the Greek phrase used in Paul’s 1st letter to the Thessalonians- chapter 4. That’s the rapture chapter. The apostle says that Jesus will return and catch up [catch away] the believers into the air- they will forever be with God. This event is biblical- I believe it will someday take place. I simply believe this event to be the 2nd coming- not another event that you would define as the rapture.

 I believe if you simply read the 2nd coming passages in the New Testament- that you would see this to be the most acceptable view. Jesus actually says ‘after these things [the great tribulation] then the sign of the coming of the Son of Man appears in heaven’ and he goes on to say ‘one will be taken- the other left’. It seems pretty clear to me that the event where ‘one is taken- another left’ takes place ‘after these things’ Jesus actually gives us the time table.

 To be fair- the other side has many-many ways to ‘get around’ these verses- I just feel that after all is said and done- that the best way to view The Rapture is to see this event as the actual 2nd coming.

 I have written a lot about this over the years [under the End Times section] and my purpose today is not to ‘prove’ whose view is right- I have found those tasks to be next to impossible. My point is if a believer [or group of them] chooses to break away from the historic church’s position on anything, then you need to think thru it very carefully. Most classic Christian churches have had very wise and knowledgeable men who thought long and hard before they articulated doctrine.

 This is not to say that the majority view is always right- but it’s simply a safe guide to stick with the majority Christian view most of the time. I’m very aware of the minority report when it comes to the Rapture doctrine- I just feel like the portions of scripture that are used to ‘prove’ the doctrine are not strong enough to overthrow the classic belief.

 The plain teaching of the New Testament is that there most definitely will be a Second Coming- and this event does not take place in 2 stages- the Rapture is the 2nd coming.

 www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

  VERSES-

Acts 1:1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

Acts 1:2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:

Acts 1:3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

Acts 1:4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

Acts 1:5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

Acts 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

Acts 1:7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Acts 1:9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

Acts 1:10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;

Acts 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Acts 1:12 Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey.

Acts 1:13 And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.

Acts 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

Acts 1:15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)

Acts 1:16 Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus.

Acts 1:17 For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry.

Acts 1:18 Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.

Acts 1:19 And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood.

Acts 1:20 For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take.

Acts 1:21 Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

Acts 1:22 Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.

Acts 1:23 And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.

Acts 1:24 And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,

Acts 1:25 That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.

Acts 1:26 And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

2 Corinthians 3:6

Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

John 16:7

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

Psalm 85:8

I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:

12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?

Kings 19

Proverbs 20:27

The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

Proverbs 4:26

Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

Proverbs 30:5

Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

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