Biblical Life eJournal 12/11/2007

Biblical Life eJournal – News You Can Use
From the Desk of the Dr. Michael K. Lake, Chancellor – December 11, 2007

1. God is on the move!

I pray that this eJournal finds each of you in the blessings of the LORD. The LORD has been moving very sweetly in our local services by His Spirit. I believe He is speaking some things to us that need to be established in our walk for 2008. This past weekend I continued my series on “Growing in Grace” and began dealing with the second type of covenant found in the Word of God – the Salt Covenant. This covenant is a friendship covenant. A majority of believers never enter into this level of relationship with Jesus. We found last week that many of the promises of Jesus after John 15 are only for those that have become His friends. This can answer the question on why many believers try to stand on those promises and nothing happens. Their level of relationship does not match the promise they are trying to stand on. I also deal on steps we can take to begin entering into friendship with Jesus. Take time to download this powerful message and get it into your heart. It will be essential for 2008 and beyond!

www.biblicallifeassembly.org/library3.html

2. Have you chartered your course for 2008?

Let me tell you something that I have found to be true: “I never make advancements in any area of my life by accident.” The Word tells us:

Prov 24:3-4 TLB
Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common sense, and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts.

Failing to plan is a plan to fail! After the Holy Days, what are your plans? Have you planned and chartered your spiritual, educational, physical and family courses for 2008? If you haven’t, this time next year you will be in the exact same place (or worse) with a basket full of “I should haves.” Don’t make that mistake. Take time to pray and seek the face of God. “What do I need to do in 2008, Lord?” Then write them down, make a step by step plan and then take action. Work on it every day. Make 2008 full of 365 days of empowerment and advancement.

If starting (or continuing) your education for ministry is a part of your “action plan” for 2008, now is the best time to get your enrollment going and to get the materials in your hands to implement your plan! If you are already in ministry, do you know that you can take the cost of tuition and materials as a business deduction off your taxes. All the tuition you paid in 2007, all the books and tapes you purchase for your studies or to build you library can be used as business deductions – ministers, take advantage of this! Our current tuition special runs through December 19. It was extended past the end of November because we had so many ask us to. This is one of the better offers we have given in years.

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Biblical Life College & Seminary - New Fall Tuition Special

Determine to end the year right! Don’t let the enemy hold you back any longer from the education you need to fulfill your calling in the Lord.

These new and innovating tuition specials are designed to help you start NOW for the education you need to complete the work God has called you to. It is now high time to redeem the time. Don’t let the enemy convince you that one day you will begin your education and start the ministry. His job is to delay you and hold you back. I need for you to do two things:

1. Go to our school website and download the powerful message “Overcoming the Hindering Spirit” and prayerfully listen to it. Is a hindering spirit holding your back from the education you need? Is he working to stop or slow down the mission God has for you? If so, now is the time to learn how to overcome this spirit and move forward! The Body of Christ and the world needs your ministry. Here is the URL for this powerful message in MP3:
http://www.biblical-life.com/swrc

Simply right mouse click on the file and download it to your computer. You can play it in iTunes, MS Media Player or any other MP3 player. Listen to this message and get it down in your spirit. Now is not the time to hold back, we are entering a new season of divine spiritual advancement!

2. Use one of the innovative tuition specials below to get you up and running in the degree program you need to fulfill your mission.

Enrolling Using Plan B (Monthly Payment Plan): SCHOLARSHIP MATCHING FUNDS. Pay up to $200.00 down with your enrollment and you will receive matching funds toward your tuition. Your $100.00 becomes $200.00 or your $200.00 becomes $400.00! This option will also lower monthly payments. We will take your balance and divide it by the normal number of months as indicated in our catalog.

Enrolling Using Plan C (Full Tuition with Enrollment): All programs (except for the M.Div.) will receive 35% off. Any Master of Divinity Program (M.Div.) will receive an unbelievable 40% off! You won’t see discounts this good again for some time!

This special ends on November 30, 2007. Extended to December 19!

Current students can also use this special to pre-enroll into their next program. Contact Pastor Rodhouse to work out the details. (417-859-0881 or regblcs@centurytel.net)

3. Winter Break Begins December 20

We are closing down for a much needed vacation on December 20th. If you are wanting your enrollments processed or for us to ship needed materials for the month of December, please get your orders/enrollments into us as soon as possible. We are working hard to make sure all the grading is caught up, every enrollment processed and every order shipped before close of business on the 19th. Nothing is more rewarding than leaving the office for vacation time with one’s inbox completely empty. J

We will be back in the office on January 2, with our energy and commitment renewed for another year of serving the Body of Christ.

4. Yeshiva/Retreat on January 28-30 in Roanoke, VA

Our good friends at Restoration Fellowship International will be conducting a three day Yeshiva/Retreat at the Holiday Inn in Roanoke, VA. The theme of the Yeshiva is “Discovering Our Joshuas – Raising Up the Next Generation!” I know that Dr. John Looper, Dr. Karl Coke and myself are already lined up as facilitators for this powerful retreat. I encourage all those that can attend, mark your calendars for January 28-30. For more information on this Yeshiva/Retreat, please contact Dr. John Looper at:

Restoration Fellowship International
P.O. Box 5822
Cleveland, TN 37323-5833
E-Mail: Jlo2357327@aol.com

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The Biblical Life eJournals include news, special offers, teaching articles, access to free books in PDF format and free teachings in MP3 format. It is provided free to our students, graduates and friends. If you know someone that would like to receive our eJournal, have them e-mail us at blnews@fidmail.com and type “subscribe” in the subject line. We would be more than happy to include them in our mailings.

If for some reason you will like to be dropped from the list, simply e-mail us at blnews@fidmail.com and type “unsubscribe” in the subject line.

Remember, to successfully subscribe or unsubscribe, you need to send it directly for the e-mail address you want to use.

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Biblical Life College & Seminary (www.biblical-life.com)
Biblical Life Assembly (www.biblicallifeassembly.org)
P.O. Box 588, Marshfield, MO 65706
Dr. Michael K. Lake, Chancellor – drlake@centurytel.net
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Lessons from the Feast of Dedication

Biblical Life eJournal – News You Can Use
12/03/2007

1. Lessons from the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah)

The average Christian will look at the Feast of Dedication and wonder if there is any spiritual significance to it and whether it applies to them. I would like to try to answer those questions in this short article by examining this overlooked Feast.

Antiochus IV Epiphanes was one of the four generals under Alexander the Great. When Alexander died in Babylon from being poisoned, the four generals divided up his kingdom. As Antiochus moved toward Egypt, he conquered the small Southern Kingdom of Israel known as Judah. All of this happened between the Book of Malachi and the Book of Matthew (i.e. the the Intertestamental Period.)

On December 25, 168 B.C., Antiochus entered the Temple in Jerusalem, sacrificed a pig on the altar and erected a statue of Zeus on the high altar, which had his own face engraved upon it. (Poor self-image was not a problem that Antiochus suffered from!). This act stopped all service to God in the Temple. [It should also be noted that the birthday of Zeus was the Winter Solstice – December 25, as is the birthday of all sun gods within paganism. The Winter Solstice always fell on December 25 under the old Julian calendar. It was not until 1582, when the Catholic Church established the Gregorian calendar, that it began falling around the 21st.]

During his reign, Antiochus was known for killing children that had been circumcised and executing families that did not eat swine’s flesh. This reign of terror continued for three years. [With the atrocities that happened during this reign of terror, one can understand the great debate among Jewish believers in accepting Gentiles into the Church without being circumcised. ]

I believe that God anointed and rose up Judah Maccabee and his family as a literal hammer in the hand of God (Maccabee means hammer) to drive Antiochus and his army from Judah. The victory was complete and the cleansing of the Temple began December 25, 165 B.C. – exactly three years later. (I believe there is even spiritual significance in the time period of “three” years – Jesus was in the grave three days!)

The miracle of the Feast of Dedication was that when they started to dedicate the Temple and began service unto the Almighty, the Menorah was once again lit. There was only enough oil for one day, and it took about eight days to properly manufacture the oil. God supernaturally sustained the oil in the Menorah for eight days. This again has great spiritual and biblical significance since eight is the number for new beginnings and the new birth.

Here are some things about the Feast of Dedication that relate to Jesus:

1. If the Maccabees had not exiled Antiochus from Judah and rededicated the Temple, Jesus would not have been able to minister in the Temple, nor would He have been able to be our Passover Lamb.

2. If you consider the following events in the Word of God, Jesus’ birth is calculated to be during the Feast of Dedication:

a. Zacharias (of the division of Aviyah) was serving in the Temple in the 4th month.

b. Gabriel appears to Zacharias and tells him that Elizabeth will bear him a son (John).

c. At the end of the 4th month, Zacharias returns home, and Elizabeth immediately conceives.

d. John is born 9 months later during the month of Nisan (March/April).

e. During the 6th month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, Mary is told she is going to bear a son and conceives Jesus by the Holy Spirit.

f. John was born 3 months later (Nisan – March/April) when Mary was in her 3d month.

g. Jesus is then born 6 months after the birth of John in September or October. This would be biblically and spiritually appropriate. Jesus was conceived during the Feast of Dedication (or Feast of Lights) – the Light of the World came into the World. Then Jesus was born during the Feast of Tabernacles – God has come to tabernacle with us.

3. Jesus celebrated the Feast of Dedication and also used the Feast to announce that He was the Light of the World.

What I feel that God is speaking during this Feast of Dedication:

Antiochus is a type and shadow of the world system. This system has defiled much within the Body of Christ and has erected things within all of our lives that are not of God and are hindering us from offering true spiritual service to Almighty God. The eight days of the Feast of Dedication need to be a time that we, like the Maccabees of old, become a hammer in the hand of a holy God to eradicate those things that do not belong in our lives and are hindering our service to Him.

In our own congregation, I have anointed and commissioned every male to rise up in the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit to pray over and dedicate his household to the service of Messiah. Yes, it is a time of celebration, but it is also a time of renewal, spiritual warfare, and bringing divine order to our homes for the year to come.

The Feast of Dedication begins at sundown on Tuesday, December 4. Invest in yourself and in your family by spending special times in prayer for yourself, your family, your ministry and your community. Anoint each member of your family; pray that divine order would be established and that their divine destinies would be released. Do this every day for eight days and let God establish a new beginning for you, your family and your ministry. Keep a journal of the things that the Holy Spirit shows you during this time and make sure that you follow up on each of them! It takes dedication and determination to come into divine order and to maintain it in your life. The world does not want you to move to this new level, and it will do all it can to stop or distract you! The blessings and victories of this new level are worth every minute of warfare required to establish them!

The staff and faculty of Biblical Life pray that you and your family will have a joyous Feast of Dedication.

2. Feast of Dedication Sermon Available for Download

You can download the message I ministered on the Feast of Dedication at our Church website in MP3 format:

http://www.biblicallifeassembly.org/library3.htm

3. The November Tuition Special Extended to December 19!

We know that as many begin to establish divine order in their lives that continuing their education with Biblical Life will be a vital part of it. We are therefore extending the matching funds offer and the discount under Plan C through December 19; so you still have time to take advantage of this great offer!

http://www.biblical-life.com/tuition_special.htm

4. Winter Break is Quickly Approaching

Our offices will be closed from December 20 through January 1. This is the time that we take to rest and seek the Lord for the upcoming year. This next year will be a year of establishing divine order, walking in the Kingdom of God at a new level and seeing a new beginning in many areas. We want to make sure you are right on target with the Lord and have taken the time to clearly hear His voice for the upcoming year!

Our offices will reopen at 9:00am on January 2, 2008.

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The Biblical Life eJournals include news, special offers, teaching articles, access to free books in PDF format and free teachings in MP3 format. It is provided free to our students, graduates and friends. If you know someone that would like to receive our eJournal, have them e-mail us at blnews@fidmail.com and type “subscribe” in the subject line. We would be more than happy to include them in our mailings.

If for some reason you will like to be dropped from the list, simply e-mail us at blnews@fidmail.com and type “unsubscribe” in the subject line.

Remember, to successfully subscribe or unsubscribe, you need to send it directly for the e-mail address you want to use.

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Biblical Life College & Seminary (www.biblical-life.com)
Biblical Life Assembly (www.biblicallifeassembly.org)
P.O. Box 588, Marshfield, MO 65706
Dr. Michael K. Lake, Chancellor – drlake@centurytel.net
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