The Feast of Dedication dates back to the time of Moses when he dedicated the altar in the tabernacle in the wilderness. Since that time there were many "rededication" celebrations of which is the most famous one during the time of the Maccabees. Antiochus Epiphanes entered the temple and took away the Altar (worship), the Candlestick (Word), the table (prophetic), the altar calls (healing and deliverance), and the riches (prosperity).
The small group of Maccabees fought to remove the profane, cleanse the altar, and put back the holy things so once again they could experience the presence of the Lord.
Fast forward to the Gospel of John where we see Jesus attending the Feast of Dedication, healing a blind man from birth, and demonstrating the restoration of the light, anointing, and presence of God in the temple.
This brings us to today! The church today is in need of cleansing and restoration once again.
Questions for Discussion:
What profane things do you see that have entered into our churches today?
What are some of the holy things that are lacking in our churches today?
What does The Feast of Dedication mean to you this year?
How did the parable of Lighting the Menorah help you to see the progression of Letting the Word Become Life in Your Life?
I would love to hear your "Aha moment" in the message!
Looking forward to our discussion!
In His Service,
Bishop Bill
1. What profane things do you see that have entered into our churches today?
-Using pagan worship practices to worship God, when God specifically told His people not to worship Him in the way the heathen worship their gods... There is a lot of idol and symbolism worship. And the phrase that is always used- "But this is what it means to me" or "but this is what we've always done" without caring what God made clear what it means to Him. If the church doesn't care what these things mean to God when they do them, then what is actually being worshiped.... self, ideals, traditions, satan...? Because that is definitely not God.
2. What are some of the holy…
1.The obvious things are celebrating and keeping pagan holidays (Christmas, Easter, Halloween), but what is really gross is doing so under while knowing the truth under the guise of “God knows my heart” or “but we’re worshiping Him in the midst of them”. I appreciate what Rev. Ryan brought out that foolishly “Christian’s” have provided “Christian alternatives” instead of just being separate.
2.Uncompromising Word (not leaving out the inconvenient truths that convict and lead to repentance), true worship (not entertainment that draws attention back to the ones playing the music or to a false doctrine), and the altar (a place of change where a person has to choose to lay down their pride and alter the course of their…
The new modern paganistian a word I just made up pagan(chr)istian
Ignorantly doing all the wrong things for all the right reasons.
Celebrating Satan worship disguised as something else and teaching others that it's okay and being told that it's okay. Satan has methodically over the centuries diluted the way people live for God to the point where they think they're living for God when he in turn has ultimately gotten them to happily willfully worship him unknowingly.
I remember taking Liam with me to work and going to other church sound jobs and him asking me why are they celebrating Easter? Why are they celebrating Christmas? Aren't they supposed to be Christians? My answer was well they've been taugh…
What profane things do you see that have entered into our churches today?
There are several things that have entered into churches today, and others in this discussion have already listed them. One thing that truly stands out to me is the worship and idolization of leaders rather than directing worship and connection to God. So many in our land today are okay with going to church because they are following a personality, and sometimes those personalities (people in leadership positions) would rather keep the adoration towards themselves instead of directing the emotional investment people are making toward God. So then people fall and take people down with them because they have not taught people to worship the Father, they've…
What profane things do you see that have entered into our churches today? So many things from bringing in trees to set up and decorate so that people can worship Satan and called it Jesus, parties at Satan's high holiday during the fall, eating pig during the time they claim to be celebrating the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus but really honoring the fertility goddess instead. These are the ones that should be obvious as they are truly the high places but how about entertainment instead of worship, flowing and moving with another spirit instead of the Holy Spirit, denying the power of God to heal, deliver, and save. Another way is by bringing the influence of the 7…