The Gospel

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the GOSPEL which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

[Paul, writing to Christians @ Corinth, 1 Cor. 15:1-4]

Friday, August 31, 2012

Psalm 23:2


Title:  Green pastures

It is the comforting guidance and protection of the Good Shepherd that make the life of the Christian thrive in every given situation, amidst the waters of resting places.

Whenever and wherever a child of God heeds to the voice of the Lord Jesus, he shall find only goodness and love chasing him with the intent of fulfilling God’s will for his life, needless to say, righteousness and victory over death and sin into everlasting life.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Psalm 14:1

Title:  The fool says in his heart

The great experiment to rid society of God has failed.

In his pompous confidence, the wise of this era – but morons in the sight of God – have buried the memory of God, and they have declared him dead, if not irrelevant.

So God abandoned them to the full force of sin, and sin at the apex of degradation will surely reap the whirlwind of God’s judgment.  Now the world is beginning to feel the initial gusts of that terrible storm that will strike the pride of unbelievers and at the same time put to the test the faith of those who have professed faith in the Lord Jesus, to reveal those who would share in the praise, glory and honor of the Lord Jesus at his appearing.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Ecclesiastes 5:15


Title:  As he comes, so he departs

Life without God is an exercise in futility.

Man was created in the image of God, and we know, by faith, that in all things God works in the lives of those who love him, that they be conformed to the likeness of Jesus, the Christ.

If we live only for the sake of living and being happy, and our hope is in this world alone, we’ve surely wasted the present as well as our future destiny.

Life is spiritual.  It is to be conducted in conjunction with the life of the Lord Jesus, from the moment of renewal in repentance and belief in God and faith in the Lord Jesus.

And that is the only thing we can take with us, the record of our transformation as new creations.

The rest can expect only judgment and condemnation.


Saturday, August 25, 2012

Hebrews 13:5


Title:  The love of money

Money is neutral.

It is man who places spiritual value to money.  At this point his entire existence is poised to the acquisition of wealth.

A man who has no highest authority to whom he has yielded control of all that he possesses really owns nothing that would bring him contentment and joy and fulfillment.  He who derives only his own good out of what he owns is being his own god over what is God’s property.

God owns everything.  All things were created for his pleasure.  Our pleasure is God, to know him and to serve and worship him.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Ecclesiastes 1:11

Title:  Those who are yet to come

Who was the fastest man on earth in 1968?
Who won the Best Actor award in the Oscars in 1972?

Who was Mary Slessor?
Who was Solomon L. Ginsburg?

Here we are in 2012, and who cares?

A generation will wipe out the glory of man and no one will remember, whether he was serving God or serving himself.

But a Christian should strive to serve God and diminish in significance at the same time; he should aim to be a mere afterthought or nothing at all on the trail leading to the cross, to the empty tomb, to the resurrected Savior who is all in all.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Matthew 6:9


Title:  Our Father

When does prayer occur in our lives; or better still, when does prayer occur in our daily lives?

For a Christian to neglect the right to communicate with the Creator of the universe and all living beings, to include all principalities and powers in heavenly places, is to show contempt for the Savior who suffered in our stead so we might receive the adoption as children who may now call God their “Father”, and this because of God’s sovereign will before the foundation of the world.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Job 23:13


Title:  Whatever he pleases

It is practically wise that God, with his limitless power, be able to control the affairs of nature and history because he knows the whole story, we don’t.

Isn’t it just sensible for someone who knows all things to run the entire show?

Sovereignty is important when there are as many opinions as there are people.  God does whatever pleases him for the good of the redeemed, sometimes by way of discipline, and sometimes through circumstances difficult to make sense of, but always laden with grace sufficient for every situation in life.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Matthew 25:8


Title:  Give us some of your oil

Spiritual maturity and preparedness, in view of the events surrounding the last of days, must be taken into account as individual accountabilities of Christians and which will distinguish them as genuine believers.

A Christian sees the Day fast approaching, and he is aware that each step of the way brings him closer to the moment of reckoning before his Creator, and he is not stupid to be insensible to the signs of the times.

A practical person would prepare for the end of days or the end of his life, whichever comes first, because he knows that these are inescapable realities.

A fool lives only for the hour.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

John 4:24


Title:  God is spirit

No instrument for observation, measurement, analysis, and computation can prove or disprove the existence of God because science can deal only with matter, time-space, and energy; nor can we reverse-engineer into time, from the complex to the simplest form of life (which turned out to be as complex) and hope to discover the illusive link to the origin of man and the universe.

God transcends matter/time-space, and what can be known about him has been revealed in his Word and is to be received by faith.

Instead of probing into realms that are beyond our capacity to understand, we must worship the Creator who is truth and as spirit wants to dwell in us fully by faith in the Lord Jesus.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

1 Thessalonians 5:17


Title:  Pray at all times

Prayer is not an option, and only when we are destitute or hurting or perplexed.

We cannot afford not to commune and talk with our Father God when our being children of the Most High was not due to our own merit but was imparted to us as a gift; when every good thing comes from him, and we live and possess our being only because of his good pleasure; when our heavenly Father, awesome and unknowable in power and splendor, is concerned even with our daily sustenance of food and bread for the soul; when only he can lead us to green pastures and calm waters, and by his Spirit sustain and comfort us in life and in death, and at the end of the age welcome us into his eternal kingdom in Jesus’ name.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Colossians 1:13


Title:  The Son he loves


The Lord Jesus is the object of the love of the Father, but more than that the Son is himself love.

To understand the love the Father God has for the Lord Jesus, who is the Son of his love, we have to acknowledge the Deity of Jesus in whose person the fullness of love lives with all its powers and eternal attributes.

For God is love.

Friday, August 3, 2012

2 Corinthians 5:15


Title:  For him
  
A Christian, a new creation by the will and initiative of God, should no longer live for himself but for him who died for us and was raised again, the Lord Jesus.

But how in the world can we live for the Lord Jesus?

There is only one answer to that question, and that is to live and die the way the Lord Jesus did, and only by the power of the Spirit of God.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

2 Corinthians 5:17


Title:  A new creation


A Christian is a person whom God has reconciled to himself through the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

In the process of redemption, a repentant sinner is “born again” by the will of God into a newness of purpose for living and world view, which compels a child of God to no longer live for himself but for the Lord Jesus, and to perceive the world, people, relationships, and human events from a Biblical point of consideration.