A Weekly World Wide Word of Encouragement to those in the Ministry
PRAISE GOD IT’S MONDAY!
A WEEKLY ‘WWW (world-wide word) OF ENCOURAGEMENT’
TO THOSE IN MINISTRY
A FREE service, currently connecting with Christian leaders from 3,000 denominations and ministries, in 70 countries.
Issue No: 1165 Published: 01 Apr 2024
THINKING GREEK OR HEBREW
NUMBERS
Greek (Western)
We view numbers very simply, as a quantity. So 1 means a single measure of what it is referring to. The number 2 is a double measure and 3, a triple measure. Combined together, there would be 6 items or units of measure. It is so straightforward, that it is difficult for us to conceive that numbers could be looked at in any different way.
Eastern (Hebrew)
While Hebrew thinkers also use numbers to count, their primary understanding and application of numbers is as a quality or symbol. To Westerners it is as if it is a 'secret code' but for the Jews it comes naturally.
Having knowledge of the Eastern, or spiritual, meaning of the various numbers, will help deepen our understanding of Scripture.
1-----God 4 There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4)
2-----Witness 7 Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits. (Mark 6:7)
3-----The Godhead 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:40)
4-----Earth/Man 7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. (Revelation 20:7-8)
5-----Atonement or Grace 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. (Revelation 9:4-5)
6-----Fallen man 14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.” (Luke 13:14)
7-----Completion, Perfection, MaturityI saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. (Revelation 15:1)
8-----New Beginnings, Resurrection 28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. (Luke 8:28-9)
9-----Eternal perfection 26 “‘On the fifth day prepare nine bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect. (Numbers 29:26)
10----Trial and testing 8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ (Luke 15:8-9)
12----Divine government A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. (Revelation 12:1)
40----Trial and testing 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” (Matthew 4:2)
50----Anointing 57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” 58 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:57-8)
144---(12x12) New man in Christ, Ultimate government of God Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. (Revelation 14:1)
200---Insufficiency20 Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: 21 When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” (Joshua 7:20-21)
300---Full deliverance 14 So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman. 15 The Jews in Susa came together on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they put to death in Susa three hundred men, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder. (Esther 9:14-15)
50x6=300-Anointed man 7 The LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his own place.” 8 So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others. (Judges 7:7-8)
666---Man setting himself up as God 18 This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666. (Revelation 13:18)
SOME SPIRITUAL IMPLICATIONS FOR TODAY
1. The understanding of the meanings placed on numbers helps increase our depth of understanding what God is saying to us in the Scriptures. These verses are but a few examples of this.
2. Witnessing in pairs is the recommended way.
3. Knowing numerical meanings adds understanding to the Book of Revelation, particularly.
(Continued next week)
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FROM THE WORD
THE BEAUTIFUL WORDS OF JESUS
Parable of the Wedding Feast (Matthew 22:1-14)
“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who organized a wedding celebration for his son,” Jesus explained. “He sent out his servants to everyone who was invited to the wedding to tell them to come, but they refused. So he sent out more servants, with the instructions, ‘Tell those who are invited, “I’ve prepared the wedding banquet. The bulls and fattened calves have been killed—everything’s ready. So come to the wedding!”’”
“But they ignored the invitation and left. One went to his fields; another to take care of his business. The rest grabbed the king’s servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king became furious. He sent his soldiers to destroy those murderers and burn down their town.
“Then the king said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those who were invited didn’t deserve to attend. Go into the streets and invite everyone you find to come to the wedding.’ So the servants went out into the streets and brought back everyone they could find, both the good and the bad. The wedding hall was full.
“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man who didn’t have a wedding robe on. He asked him, ‘My friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ The man had nothing to say. Then the king told his servants, ‘Bind his hands and feet, and throw him out into the dark, where there’ll be crying and grinding of teeth.’ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
Jesus Questioned on Paying Taxes (Matthew 22:15-22, Mark 12:13-17, Luke 20:19-26)
To Caesar, by the Pharisees’ disciples and the Herodians.
“Why are you trying to trap me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin that is used to pay the tax.”
“Whose image and whose title is inscribed here?”
“You should give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God,”
Sadducees Question Jesus on the Resurrection (Matthew 22:23-33, Mark 12:18-27,
Luke 20:27-40)
Using the example of who is to be the husband of a woman married seven times.
“Here in this age people marry and are given in marriage,” “But those who are considered worthy to share in the age to come and the resurrection from the dead don’t marry or are given in marriage. They can’t die any longer; they’re like the angels and are children of God since they’re children of the resurrection. But on the question of whether the dead are raised, even Moses proved this when he wrote about the burning bush, when he calls the Lord, ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him they all are alive.”
Download the whole of THE WORDS OF JESUS at.......
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Your support would be appreciated and they could well change your life!
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*DAVID"S DOODLINGS
Enjoy some of David's sayings here, plus 1300 more on the website at.....
'THE WORDS OF JESUS' REMAIN AVAILABLE FOR PDF DOWNLOAD
Join the many who have downloaded the 'The Words of Jesus'. I am sure you will be blessed by it, as I have been.
One key element here is the setting out in chronological order (as far as it is possible to do so) our Lord's words drawn from all the Gospels, and the elimination of repetition between Gospels.
You may be surprised by the different perspective this presentation gives you both in understanding of His life and ministry, and in achieving a closer relationship with Him.
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Available on Amazon at $1 at Author name - David Tait
DAVID'S DOODLINGS
... His love never fails, but other's love may.
... the reward for loving others is found in Heaven, rather than on earth.
... life is to be our investment in eternity.
... ultimately, I am the one responsible for me.
... salvation is a process, not an event.
... life's limitations are man driven, not God given.
... when my wants line up with His desires, things happen.
... I need to place godliness even above wisdom.
... to be effective for Him, the light within, must shine without.
... happiness comes and happiness goes, but joy stands firm.
... we have second chances in life but not in death.
... we only get to live life once.
Many more at.....
CARTOONS FROM TOON FEVER
Visit the Toon Fever website for more cartoon fun..... http://www.toonfever.com
Check it out at...
'LAUGHING AT OURSELVES
Another laugh or three for you today
Many more on our website below. Also many, may, many more under these categories on our website, wwj,org,nz Look under the heading MAINLY LAUGHS. Choose from.....
THIS WEEKS TUESDAY TEACHING.....
THIS WEEK: A REVELATION OF... DIVIDING THE WATERS - ELISHA’S MINISTRY AS A PATTERN FOR THE CHURCH TODAY
The first of a two-part look of the amazing way in which God showed the pattern of the church today so long before it ever existed!
LAUGHING AT OURSELVES
***Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused***
466. You And Me Both, Sister
A pastor was in a discussion with an elderly church member about a relative of hers who had seen the light and joined the church after a lifetime of riotous living. "Will my converted cousin's sins be forgiven?" she asked.
"Oh, certainly," replied the pastor, "Remember, the greater the sin, the greater the saint."
The woman thought silently for a time. Then she said, "Oh, Pastor, how I wish I'd known this fifty years ago."
(Not worth the risk - not the same blessings!)
QWIK QUIP: “Always remember that a person is not rewarded for having brains, but for using them.”
467. Chow Down...
A little boy went to stay the night with a friend and ate supper with their family. Before they ate, the boy bowed his head and waited for the blessing to be said. But everyone started helping themselves to the food and he looked back up, puzzled.
"What's wrong, why aren't you eating?" asked his friend's mom.
The boy, who had been taught to give thanks, asked, "Don't you pray at meals?"
The father said they didn't.
"Oh, I see," said the lad, "You're just like my dog--you start right in!"
468. My Appetite is My Shepherd
My appetite is my shepherd; I always want.
It maketh me sit down and stuff myself.
It leadeth me to my refrigerator repeatedly.
It leadeth me in the path of Burger King for a Whopper.
It destroyeth my shape. Yea, though I knoweth I gaineth,
I will not stop eating for the food tasteth so good.
The ice cream and the cookies they comfort me.
When the table is spread before me, it exciteth me for
I knoweth that I soon shall dig in.
As I filleth my plate continuously, my clothes
runneth smaller. Surely bulges and pudgies shall follow
me all the days of my life and I shall be "pleasingly plump" forever.
Download the book 'Laughing At Ourselves' in PDF format at LAUGHING AT OURSELVES One of the most comprehensive sources of Christian Humour on the Net with 800 sermon fillers for your entertainment and use at ..... https://www.wwj.org.nz/content/wwj18p47.pdf
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A DAVID MUSING
Most of our readers are in the Northern Hemisphere, where the temperatures are starting to warm up, beckoning summer. Here in the Southern, the temperatures are cooling down as winter approaches.
Some like the heat. That is me, hence the attraction of Kenya. Others like the cold, with snow for skiing.
But many like the changing seasons of autumn and spring with warm temperatures
The church in Laodicea, in the book of Revelation, is the church that applies to today.
Jesus said, through John, that being warm, they were neither hot for Him, nor cold, rejecting Him. A picture of today's church? You be the judge.
He goes on to say that the Father will spit them out of His mouth for being neither hot nor cold! Wow! A severe judgement!
How is your relationship with Jesus today?
David Tait
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ABOUT US
WALKING WITH JESUS MINISTRIES is a non-profit, non-denominational, Bible based ministry located in Hastings, New Zealand. A ministry dedicated to developing discipleship, fostering unity amongst God's people to achieve the Great Commission, and in doing so, preparing for Christ's return. It is securely based upon the foundational principles of the Apostles Creed while recognising the wide and rich diversity of beliefs amongst Christians in other areas. In accordance with the Lord's direction, materials produced by the ministry are available, free of charge, to genuine enquirers upon request. The ministry is solely funded by donations, as the Lord provides. A list of materials available (plus some fun!) is obtainable and freely downloadable from our website
wwj.org.nz or by contacting us as follows.
Walking With Jesus Ministries
P O Box 2
Webuye 50205
Kenya
Email: enquiries@wwj.org.nz
Web: wwj.org.nz
Our role is to bless and encourage those in ministry while promoting co-operation and unity of direction amongst the body of Christ, as emphasised 3 times by Jesus in His longest prayer, immediately prior to His arrest and crucifixion. "... so that they may be one as we are one." (John 17:12, 21, 23-4) Our website is currently being developed to encourage your participation one with another, to share resources, and to enable you to promote events and items of interest to the body as a whole - and have a smile while doing it!
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