Delivered By Pastor Brad Smith on 2nd July 2023.The human race is able to enjoy all of God's natural and Spiritual creation without charge. Everything we see and love, every person we know and care about, are all created by God as a free demonstration of who he is and what he stands for. He is the giver of life and gifts. Nothing God gives us is able to be earned; it is all a free gift for his creation. Salvation is the greatest gift of God for humanity. It gives us the chance to move away from our human greed and failings and give us eternal life... all free of charge.

There are many examples in the scriptures which identify differing relating to the bread from heaven. These notes will focus on one aspect which is clearly detailed and explained in the scriptures. We will continue from the theme "The Threshing Floor", where the concept of separation and purification is also established. One of the primary themes in John's prophecy in Mat 3:11 talks about a covenant change where Christ will make it possible for our worldliness and sins to be permanently cleansed from us. Apologies for the low volume for the first 5 minutes.

The threshing floor in scripture is used as a strong metaphor in the scriptures as a place of separation and revelation. A place where God's harvest is prepared by separating the grain from the useless straw and husk (natural body and its failings)... by threshing (pressure) and the wind (the spirit of truth). The concept of threshing and separation are used to describe God's dealings with men and their future blessings.

The human race is in desperate need of simple and effective directions... Ask the Lord to teach you His ways and to direct your steps according to His Word. Then read His Word often and follow the instructions.

The principles of New Testament salvation are already established in the judgements of the Old Testament. In the end, it is always up to the choices that we make and the path we choose.

The following thoughts help us to shape ourselves so we can be more effective and recover more quickly from disappointments. God has called us to be a positive testimony of his blessings to humanity; this cannot be done if we misunderstand what is actually being offered to us as Spirit Filled people.

The bulk of God's complaints about the priests related to their indifference and unscriptural behaviour towards the weak, the poor, and the sinners. God often directs us to observe the actions of a good shepherd, who often has a completely different mindset than the priest. All animals are important to the shepherd. He will make real efforts to save every lamb... particularly the sick and the weak. The good shepherd also refuses to accept the loss of a lamb; he will look till he finds it. The role of the priest should be the same as the shepherd.

The parable of Lazarus and the rich man contains certain scriptural truths that need to be worked out by comparing spiritual truths with the contents of the parable. The parable contains revelations the being rich is not a guarantee of success with God and being poor doesn't prevent God's great blessing. In the parable the tables are turned with the poor man Lazarus getting God's blessing. Some believe that the references to hell and torment refer to an eternal fiery torture of those who fail, but the parable does not support this view with scriptural truths. Many of the quotes are about the Pharisees beliefs, not the scriptures. It ends with the prophecy of Jesus' death and resurrection and the ongoing denial by the Pharisees of Christ and his power.

The love of God is much more than our version of love and is far bigger than feelings and expressions. Everyone craves love and longs to be loved. It is highly improbable that there is anyone on earth who would avoid love. We can be also sure that there are lots of people that don't feel lovable. Perhaps they don't know how to love, and therefore, they feel unlovable themselves. Many relationships fail because one of the partners hasn't learnt or has never moved past romantic infatuation. We must first learn to love God, then ourselves and then learn to let it flow over into the lives of others.

Qualifier.... This talk and these notes in no way support or allude to the 'secret rapture' nor any other futurist concepts.1. The first aim of this short study is to distinguish the age ending actions bought about by mankind, as opposed to and in conjunction with, the age ending destruction by the hand of God (accompanying the return of Jesus Christ).2. The second is to establish what happens to the saints (overcoming Christians), while God's fiery judgement is in process. Many people seem to be confused as to what happens when these two events collide. Some saints feel that God's people are going to be subject to the fiery judgement of God while others while others feel that God is more loving and merciful than to allow that to happen. There are a few different opinions on these things, but the following is a consistent theme.