March, 2007

Fred R. Coulter, Minister

March 14, 2007

Dear Brethren,

We had a great trip to Texas.  I was able to spend three days with Chad, Rachelle and our grandson, Jeremy.  They live on ten acres in the country with 12 sheep and a donkey named Gus—as well as with their little dog, Joe.  The visit was relaxing and I was able to get some much-needed rest.  On the Sabbath in Waco we had morning and afternoon services with 80 in attendance.  My sermon was a comparison of the Old and New Covenants—a subject I thought I could cover in two studies.  I tried to finish in Houston—where we had 35 attending—but was unable to do so.  So I plan to complete the series as soon as I can—then we’ll put all the sermons on a CD and send the complete package to you. At any rate, God certainly inspired the studies and the fellowship in both locations!

We have been very busy getting out the Passover Preparation booklet and CD (with five sermons).  These will help you tremendously in coming to a deeper spiritual understanding of the Passover and the “Words of the New Covenant.”  Jesus’ personal instructions and words of encouragement to the apostles on the night of His last Passover demonstrate the great love that He and God the Father have for us—as well as for all of God’s people from the time of the apostles until today and on to the end of this age of man’s rule.  As Jesus said, “No one has greater love than this: that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends, if you do whatever I command you” (John 15:13-14).

Jesus Christ was the Lord God of the Old Testament before He was made flesh. As God manifested in the flesh, He came to live a perfect human life and lay down His life as the “Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.”  That was the whole purpose of the Passover Day in ad 30 when He was crucified.  He laid down His life in love for all mankind and provided a way of redemption for human sin.  In God’s master plan, in the special covenant between God the Father and Jesus Christ [Listen to Hebrew Series #27: The Covenant Between God the Father and Jesus Christ], Jesus—in His great love for us—voluntarily purposed to lay down His life to save mankind: “I am the good Shepherd, and I know those who are Mine, and am known of those who are Mine. Just as the Father knows Me, I also know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep…. On account of this, the Father loves Me: because I lay down My life, that I may receive it back again.  No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have authority to lay it down and authority to receive it back again. This commandment I received from My Father” (John 10:14-15, 17-18).

Jesus Christ never sinned!  But in His great love, He took upon Himself the penalty of the sins of all mankind. “For He made Him Who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (II Cor. 5:21). Likewise, the apostle Peter wrote of Jesus, “Who committed no sin; neither was guile found in His mouth; Who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when suffering, He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him Who judges righteously; Who Himself bore our sins within His own body on the tree, so that we, being dead to sins, may live unto righteousness; by Whose stripes you were healed” (I Pet. 2:22-24).

Think on this: The Creator loved us and all mankind with the greatest love possible, and He personally carried our sins to the cross of crucifixion so that we might become the righteousness of God.  His loving act fulfilled the prophecies of Isaiah 53. This prophesied act of love was so astounding that Isaiah was inspired to begin, “Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?” (verse one).  What God did was so unbelievable!  How could God do such a thing?  Would God actually become a human being in order to personally bear the sins of the world?  The answer is, YES!  Yet, even to this day the Jews do not believe the true meaning of Isaiah 53.

As we approach the Passover, we need to once again prayerfully read these scriptures in preparation: “For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground: He has no form or comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.  Surely He has borne our grief, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was He stricken.  And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death; because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth.

“Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief: when You shall make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.  He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He has poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isa. 53:2-12).

Jesus Christ is now at the right hand of God the Father in heaven, making intercession for us.  As Paul wrote: “Having therefore a great High Priest, Who has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, we should hold fast the confession of our faith.  For we do not have a high priest who cannot empathize with our weaknesses, but one Who was tempted in all things according to the likeness of our own temptations; yet He was without sin.  Therefore, we should come with boldness to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:14-16).

This is why we are to confess our sins directly to God the Father—and be cleansed from every sin: “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His own Son, cleanses us from every sin.  If we say that we do not have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our own sins, He is faithful and righteous, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.  My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.  And yet, if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father: Jesus Christ the Righteous; and He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (I John 1:7-2:2).

These promises give us great hope! Under the New Covenant, which we renew every year at Passover, we have direct access to God the Father and Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins—enabling us to be renewed in spirit, heart and mind by the power of the Holy Spirit.  This is why we are to examine ourselves before partaking of the Passover.  We are to rededicate our lives to God and renew our commitment to walk in the way of the Lord Jesus Christ, which leads to eternal life.

Because of my travel schedule, this letter will be a bit short. However, we are including an article, Should Christians Celebrate Easter?, written by our editor, Philip Neal. The article emphasizes the fact that Easter is of pagan origin and is condemned by the Word of God.

Brethren, we are truly grateful to God for your love, prayers and continued support by your tithes and offerings.  May God continue to bless you with His love and grace in everything.

With love in Christ Jesus,

Fred R. Coulter

FRC

God’s Plan for Mankind Revealed

by His Sabbath and Holy Days

I am pleased to announce that we are nearly finished with the new book, God’s Plan for Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days.  As we anticipated, it will be 600 pages long, containing thirty-six sermon transcripts with introductory and concluding material.  A set of four MP3-formatted CDs will be included in a jewel pack case.  There will be nine sermons on each CD, providing a total of more than 54 hours of sermons.  We will send the book to Thomson-Shore for printing next week.  This means that you will receive your copy/copies about two or three weeks after the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Please Note: If you need more than one book, please indicate the number you need on the Order Coupon below.  For example, if two or three people will be listening to the CDs at the same time, each will need a book in order to read the transcripts while listening to the CDs—but only one set of CDs will be needed.  NOTE: MP3 CDs will not play in a regular CD player.  You need an MP3 compatible CD player.  If you do not have one, please use your DVD player as it will play MP3 CDs

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God’s Plan for Mankind Revealed

by His Sabbath and Holy Days

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