Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Unconditional Love

The love is unconditional:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 KJV)

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8 ESV)

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10 KJV)

Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (1 John 3:16 KJV)

The way is one:
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6 KJV)

Saturday, February 16, 2013

2012 DA14 Missed, Wormwood Hit

The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter. (Revelation 8:10-11 NASB)

This morning (16th February 2013) at 3:25 a.m. Singapore time (15-02-2013 19:25 GMT), while we were all sleeping soundly, an asteroid named 2012 DA14, with an estimated diameter of 50 meters and an estimated mass of 190,000 metric tons, swept safely past Earth at a distance of about 27,680 km above Indonesia, closer than some high-orbiting communications satellite.

Sixteen hours before the closest approach of 2012 DA14, a meteor hit Chelyabinsk, a city in Russia. This object was estimated to be about 17 meters in diameter. About 1200 people were injured by shattered glass.

The Bible tells us that in future, another asteroid named Wormwood will appear. This asteroid will not miss Earth. It will hit Earth and cause many people to die because this asteroid will poison the fresh water.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Living With Joy In A Suffering World

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (Romans 8:28-30 KJV)

This world is imperfect. Bad things happened to good people. Good things happened to bad people. There is no justice. It is a suffering world. Christians are called to live with joy a suffering world, without exemption from sufferings that happened to all men. How then can Christians live with joy in such a world?

Romans 8 is about living with joy in a suffering world. Romans 8:28-30 gives three principles why we can living in a suffering world with joy.

Romans 8:28 tells us that bad things turn out for good.
Romans 8:29 tells us that good things can never be lost.
Romans 8:30 tells us that best things are yet to come.
(From a sermon "The Christian's Happiness" by Dr Tim Keller)

"Everything is necessary that he sends. Nothing can be necessary that he withholds." - John Newton

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Romans 8:18 KJV)

We have an anchor beyond the grave.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

No Yoke, No Rest

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30 KJV)

This is a promise to those who are busy and full of trouble. Most people just stopped at verse 28. But if you read on to verses 29 and 30, you will find that there are conditions to fulfil. You must take on the yoke of Christ and read the Bible. While the yoke may be easy and the burden light, you must be yoked to Christ. This is the problem. Many want the rest, but not the yoke. Like a blind man who wanted to know the way but refused to be led by hand, they spend their lives busy groping for the way, but never finding it.

Where the future is concerned, we are all blind.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Reading And Hearing

Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed. (Isaiah 6:10 KJV)

What ever we read or hear, will will see it through a filter of our own experience. In Godspeak, this meant that God has made "the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and their eyes blind". The actual mechanism will be our mindset and attitude (heart) which will filter our reception and cuase the words to be misinterpreted or rejected. This is why the same Bible produces  the thousands of Protestant denominations, the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Herodians.