Biblical Reflections and Poetry

Genesis 1:27

2012-01-28T11:40:00.002+08:00

Title: In the image of God

Life is never an empty start, and it is not true that it is a journey in search of meaning and purpose.

Life commences possessing all the possibilities and capacity for holiness, which is humanity’s defining virtue in recognition of his preeminence over all created beings.

From birth to the moment of his last conscious breath, man is worshipping God. His tenure above ground is one deliberate act of adoration, whether he acknowledges it or not, and for which he will be subject to judgment at the end of time.

Matthew 5:14

2012-01-27T11:41:00.001+08:00

Title: Light of the world

In thick darkness a faint glimmer of light can be seen from a very great distance, not unlike the flicker of starlight. This kind is not bright enough to surmount the gloom in the world and in the hearts of men.

The glow of the light from God is near and powerful, and bathes and impacts everyone with the warmth and the brilliance of the good deeds of the Christian testimony, to the praise of God and the salvation of the lost.

Genesis 19:17

2012-01-27T10:01:00.001+08:00

Title: Don’t look back

The luxuries and the baubles of the world could turn our hearts into a column of salt even before our entire being is petrified by the judgment of God, and the eyes need not gaze back because the consciousness has never really left the city of splendor and comfort;

unbridled enjoyment of worldly pleasures makes the mind numb and the heart foolish.

Matthew 5:13

2012-01-25T09:57:00.003+08:00

Title: Salt

Does the demonstration of your life make people thirst for God?

One of the characteristics of salt is that it makes you thirsty, aside from enhancing the flavor of food and acting as preservative.

When our words and actions speak of the God of love and judgment, people who have lived in the dark all their lives begin to hunger and thirst for the light of truth. Many may reject the testimony of righteousness at the onset, but no one can deny their need for God once the emptiness of their lives is exposed next to the blameless way of life of the Christian.

Psalm 23:1

2012-01-23T10:39:00.002+08:00

Title: I shall not be in want

I shall not be in want of any other shepherd, without even considering the perks of being under the care and guidance of one.

With the Lord as shepherd, every situation in life is green pasture; even the raging waters of trials and persecution will be shallow and quiet in his presence; and the shadow of death will just be a shadow.

John 5:5

2012-01-22T13:37:00.002+08:00

Title: Thirty-eight years

God wants us to know that although He is omniscient, He is still interested to know us at a human level.

And this interest is usually triggered by a need on our part for which we have no solution, and not because of our fame or fortune as broadcast abroad in society.

God reaches down to those who are helpless, with a majesty that is distinctively down-to-earth, so no one could murmur that help and comfort are beyond their reach and understanding.

John 4:34

2012-01-22T10:57:00.001+08:00

Title: My food

While most people appreciate food for its appearance, aroma, texture, and flavor, and when we also consider it as a source of energy and pleasure, and a time of rest and fellowship when partaking of it with family or friends, the Christian derives the same in his dedication to fulfill the task God has ordained for him to accomplish.

And the task of announcing the good news of salvation in Jesus, the Christ, would not wait, in the same manner that the body would have to be nourished with such frequency and urgency day after day.

John 4:28

2012-01-21T10:03:00.001+08:00

Title: Leaving her water jar

When confronted with the truth in the presence of God, the only valid course of action would be away from even the fundamental necessities of physical subsistence and into a state of spiritual accountability, for the joy of being exposed for sin and yet not condemned, but instead led to the fountain of living, cleansing water.

Genesis 1:27

2011-12-29T08:12:00.006+08:00

Title: In his image

We were born bereft of knowledge, but ingrained with the capacity to worship God, know ourselves, the universe and its mechanics and mysteries, preserve the integrity and well-being of the earth and its inhabitants and resources.

The tragedy of life is in not growing into this design, but being independent of it. Distancing himself from God, man now has to complicate his life in order to make it meaningful, whereas God has ordained a simple lifestyle for man so he might dwell in the complexities of God.

So when the humanist determines for himself what is relevant, nothing is.

1 Corinthians 15:14

2011-12-29T07:58:00.005+08:00

Title: If Christ has not been raised

Yes, the resurrection is inevitable.

The resurrection is the proper witness to the grace and mercy of God to impart eternal life. It involves the same burst of energy in the primary act of creation. It contains the potential of the breath of life from the Spirit of God. It is overflowing with the abundance of the vineyard of pleasure. It is full of expectation for the sound of the footsteps of the Lord God as he walks in the cool of the day in the garden of delight.

Acts 11:26

2011-12-28T17:33:00.002+08:00

Title: Christians

Christianity is essentially the worship of the Sovereign God in spirit and in truth for the glory of the Creator.

Christianity is not a religious system that benefits those who get involved in its culture and daily life. In reality, those who consider themselves children of God are people who have already received the greatest, highest, utmost benefit God could bestow (the life of His only begotten Son), which has not been granted even to angels, and because of this have dedicated their lives to serving, praising, and rejoicing in God “though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls (Hab. 3:17)”

Luke 1:37

2011-12-23T21:36:00.002+08:00

Title: Nothing is impossible with God

Nothing is impossible with what God has promised.

Let not our minds construe that God would do the impossible simply because He is in the business of performing miracles; for even the supernatural must discover its purpose in God’s sovereign will, and not in what we want to transpire in our lives.

What God has foretold, He will perform no matter what, to the point of overruling the logical course of nature.

Oratorio

2011-12-09T11:01:00.003+08:00

Our love dwells

in its own light,

blossoms in its own garden

of delight,

moves about in an

unguarded cadence,

listens to the silence

of stars in heavenly places,

dances the waltz of the wind

on warm hills

and leaning grass,

plays in the rain

from higher clouds,

touches lower clouds

with earthly sounds,

sings the masterpieces

of our best years,

comes home,

in and out

the day,

and settles

there.

Psalm 19:1

2011-11-22T11:40:00.006+08:00

Title: The heavens declare the glory of God

The heavens bombard earth with God’s glory at speeds in excess of 186,000 miles per second, in all 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds, as it rotates on its axis every 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4-91/100 seconds, while hurtling through space at 67,000 mph, and yet nobody seems to notice or to care so we could bask in it or simply allow ourselves to be awed and enthralled by the precision performed in perfect harmony as if a musical score were being played in total silence for our understanding of creation and for the pleasure of God.

1 Corinthians 15:1

2011-09-11T14:31:00.002+08:00

Title: The Gospel

No one can be labeled “good” without being “just” at the same time.

The act of taking away sin is not put into effect at the expense of justice. We can be sorry all we want for our transgressions, and perform all the good deeds in the hope of tipping the scale of right or wrong in our favor, but to no avail will these earn us forgiveness. In the Christian economy forgiveness is not earned; forgiveness is received as a gift by faith.

The gospel message is not about forgiveness per se; it is the good news of the Lord Jesus taking our place in order for him to pay in full the penalty for our sins, so that repentance might be made possible and forgiveness received as a gift.

Luke 4:4

2011-09-11T14:28:00.001+08:00

Title: On bread alone

For these words to have been uttered by a person who had neither had food nor drink for forty days is simply astonishing, if not miraculous.

When we allow ourselves to focus only on material food which will not go hand in hand with a daily dose of God’s word, are we not giving in to the suggestion of the Devil?

When the only nourishment we take in cannot communicate to us the awesome wonder of what God has in store for those who seek his face and counsel day after day after day, we will slowly but surely slide back into the cesspool of hedonism and humanistic philosophy.

And we wonder why we are so weak when confronted with the troubles and trials of life.

John 19:41

2011-08-19T11:24:00.004+08:00

Title: In the garden

A Christian will always find a garden near the place of sacrifice.

In contrast to the intensity of the ordeal outside the gates of the city, the serenity of the garden opens to the door of sanctifying rest and glorifying resurrection.

Matthew 24:3

2011-08-19T11:06:00.005+08:00

Title: The sign of your coming

We should rather be asking, “Lord, what would be the reason for your coming?”

While dates are a point of interest, reasons move us to respond to a purpose. A purpose serves as a catalyst to action, and in the case of the imminent return of the Lord Jesus, that action would be a constantly progressing state of preparedness.

Signs and dates would be meaningless for someone who is not consciously looking forward and preparing and so hasten the arrival of the Lord of lords and the King of kings.

2011-08-19T10:55:00.004+08:00

The Second Coming of Christ as declared by the Apostle Paul in his Thessalonian Letters is not the ‘Pre-tribulation RAPTURE,’ but His bodily coming at the end of the Tribulation Period.

A Study on the Pre-Tribulation Rapture

(Efren de la Cruz Agbulos, 2000)

significant facts to start with:

(John 17:15,20)

15 I do not pray for You to take them out of the world, but for You to keep them from the evil.

20 And I do not pray for these alone, but for those also who shall believe on Me through their word,

(Isa 26:19-21)

19 But your dead will live;

their bodies will rise.

You who dwell in the dust,

wake up and shout for joy.

Your dew is like the dew of the morning;

the earth will give birth to her dead.

20 Go, my people, enter your rooms

and shut the doors behind you;

hide yourselves for a little while

until his wrath has passed by.

21 See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling

to punish the people of the earth for their sins.

The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her;

she will conceal her slain no longer.

the same word, "PAROUSIA", was used in the

following verses:

matt. 24:3

matt. 24:27

matt. 24:37

matt. 24:39

1 cor. 15:23

1 thess. 2:19

1 thess. 3:13

1 thess. 4:15

2 thess. 2:1

2 thess. 2:8

Paul alludes only to one coming

(colossians 3:4)

Recipients: Mostly gentiles

Purpose of 1 Thessalonians:

1) future of believers who die before Christ’s return

2) time of His return

Purpose of 2 Thessalonians:

1) answer misunderstanding that the Lord had already come

2) give further explanation on his first letter, outlining the events that are bound to happen before the coming of the Lord,

as described in (1 Thess. 4:15-17)

I. Who will come down with Christ at His coming?

1] (1Thess.3:13; 2 Thess.1:7) holy ones; angels

(Zech. 14:5) (Matt. 25:31) (Jude14)

2] (1Thess.4:14) believers who’d slept in Christ

II. Purposes of His coming According to the Thessalonian letters

1] (2Thess.1:6) pay back trouble to those who trouble

the Thessalonians/Christians

2] (2Thess.1:8,9) punish those who do not know God

3] (2Thess.2:8) overthrown the anti-Christ

4] (2Thess.1:7) give relief to Christians, including Paul

5] (2Thess. 1:10) glorified in His people

III. Manner of Christ’s coming

1] (1Thess. 4:14) will come with angels and believers

2] (1Thess. 4:16) ‘come down’ (to earth) from heaven (Acts 1:11)

IV. Action of the saints

1] (1Thess.4:17) meet the Lord in the air, where the “air” is just the place of meeting, a long ways off the ground, because the Lord Jesus Christ is really on His way down to earth

V. Time of Christ’s coming

1] (1Thess.5:4) should not surprise Christians

2] (2Thess. 2:3) will not come until the anti-Christ is revealed

3] (2Thess. 2:7) the ‘restrainer’ should be taken away first before the anti-Christ is revealed.

Talking Points:

1) Paul was referring to only one coming in both Thessalonian letters

2) The difference lies in Paul’s treatment of the subject: in (1 Thess.) the future of believers who die before His coming; in (2 Thess.) that the Lord has not yet come

3) If it were the pre-tribulation rapture, the judgment of unbelievers (2 Thess. 1:6-9) and the destruction of the anti-Christ (2 Thess. 2:8) would not have been the purposes of His coming, since the act of judging unbelievers and the overthrowing the ‘lawless one’ is at the end of the Tribulation Period

4) And Christ would not have come with His mighty angels if the purpose was just to fetch believers (2 Thess. 1:7)

5) (1 Thess. 4:16) refers to a ‘coming down’ from heaven, with the earth as the reference point of Paul (Acts 1:11)

6) If we were on our way up to heaven, Christ would have been the one to meet us, whereas in (1 Thess. 4:17) the believers are the ones to meet the Lord

7) The picture of (1 Thess. 4:17) is that of an Oriental guest being met by the host while still a long ways off. In this case the Christians are the hosts out to ‘meet’ the coming Lord Jesus Christ

8) The sequence of Christ’s coming according to Paul:

a] The ‘restrainer’—possibly an angel or the present world economic and political systems—is taken away first (2thess. 2:7)

b] Then a falling away; then the anti-Christ to be revealed, (2Thess. 2:8)

c] Then Christ would come and all believers to be gathered to Him (2Thess.2:1-3)

If the church were the ‘restrainer’, then that would not be in keeping with the sequence of Christ’s coming according to Paul

9) It is a grave interpretation error to take just two verses (1 Thess. 4:16,17) without considering its place in both letters, which, incidentally, was written just 6 months apart, and claim that it points to the pre-tribulation rapture.

10) The evidence from the 2 letters themselves overwhelmingly prove that Paul was referring to just one coming.

11) And that coming is not the ‘pre-tribulation Rapture,’ since the event stated in Paul’s letters is related to the punishment of unbelievers and the destruction of the anti-Christ which, we all know, cannot happen at the beginning of the Tribulation Period

13) In (Matt. ch. 28), Jesus tells us that He would be with us up to the end of the age. The church will be here up to the end of the age to fulfill the ‘Great Commission.’

14) (1 Corinthians 15:51,52) does not refer to a ‘rapture’ either but to the process of change from a ‘perishable’ body to a ‘imperishable’ body the moment Christ comes down from heaven. It doesn’t refer to any upward flight/movement at all.

15) (Daniel 7:21-25), the Anti-Christ will defeat the saints until the coming of Christ.

16) (1 Thess. 4:16) the rapture was supposed to be secret, but Paul was describing something open and public (Mark 13:26)

17) There is no evidence from Scriptures that the Lord Jesus Christ even hinted to His disciples that they would be caught up in the clouds before His bodily second coming as described in (Matthew ch. 24), among others.

18) (Rev. 19:8,9) The wedding of the saints and the Lamb will occur upon the bodily return of Christ on earth just at the end of the tribulation period, and not in heaven after a pre-tribulation rapture as some groups would claim.

19) (2 thess. 2:2)

Paul equates the return of Jesus in the Thess. letters as the Day of the Lord

20) (1 Thess. 4:15)

The language here seems to indicate a not so common event transpiring, such as a wave of persecution against believers, for Paul to suggest that many believers would die, but some would be left alive unto the coming of the Lord

Texts to consider:

Isaiah 66:15,16

Zech. 14:5

Dan. 7:21-25

Rev. 19:11-15

Matt. 28

Matt. 24

1 Cor. 15:51,52

2 Thess. 1:7

2 Thess. 2:8

1 Thess. 5:2

1 John 2:28

Mark 12:31

2011-08-13T11:22:00.002+08:00

Title: Love your neighbor

It is impossible to comprehend and put into practice this command without first believing in the God of both testaments, and loving the one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whose Son is Jesus, who is God in the flesh, the God who is among us.

And while it may appear as a separate command, it is not independent of recognition of the sovereign God who demands worship and deserves our unwavering affection.

Therefore any compassion and empathy we might have toward people should only come from a heart that loves God from first to last.

Luke 19:10

2011-07-21T08:38:00.002+08:00

Title: To seek and to save

The divinely-appointed purpose for the incarnation of God in the flesh is salvation from the penalty and power and, ultimately, the presence of sin, so the gospel message must be construed as purely spiritual and mainly indicative of eternity and doesn’t cater to fleeting physical advantages, namely prosperity, health, and a worry-free life.

To add guarantees of temporal well-being to the gospel is to incorporate an ephemeral dimension into that which is already perfect in spirit, thereby diminishing our view of sin, the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus, and even God himself.

Philippians 3:16

2011-07-10T19:22:00.003+08:00

Title: Let us live up to what we have already attained

Spiritual maturity is best judged by our obedience to whatever biblical truth we possess, no matter how small or insignificant it may appear when compared to the voluminous scholarship of Biblical authorities, and not in the amount of inert spiritual knowledge we have committed to memory.

Matthew 27:45

2011-07-10T11:52:00.002+08:00

Title: From the sixth hour

Darkness engulfed not only the entire land, but also the hearts of men. The silence was shattered only by groans of lingering death. Gloom descended upon the Light which refused to be smothered.

But victory burst forth from the newly-hewn cavern, even before the stone was rolled away, not to let the Redeemer out, but to allow his followers in.

Matthew 24:38

2011-07-05T10:23:00.003+08:00

Title: People were eating and drinking

Let us admit it, we simply have no time for God, for spiritual things and activities which would have led us to the knowledge of things to come.

We are guilty of living for our own good alone, and the consequence of our negligence and apathy toward the things of God have distorted our minds into believing that all would be well, that there would be no judgment coming upon the world and its inhabitants.

This life is not about us. It is about God and his plan and his will. If ever there is enjoyment and comfort in life it is because of God and for his glory.

John 4:24

2011-05-17T11:29:00.005+08:00

Title: In spirit and in truth

Since God demands worship in spirit and in truth, it logically follows that he will reveal himself also in spirit and in truth, and only to those who worship him in the same manner.

Knowledge of who God is and the understanding of his Word come to us in response to the honesty and spirit of our worship, and through the same channel by which we reverence him who alone is the truth.

Luke 23:15

2011-05-11T00:48:00.003+08:00

Title: He has done nothing to deserve death

The Lord Jesus was not only innocent as charged, but he was also not guilty of violating any provision of the commandments or Roman civil law. Under the interrogation of pagan leaders who could smell and feel the presence of evil intent and who were evil to the core, this became evident as his person exuded the power and command of a spotless life, even in his moments of silence.

From a religious court to a Roman hall of justice, his witness before his accusers and the authorities who had power to hand out verdicts of innocence or guilt was the embodiment of the righteousness that breathed the heavens and the earth into existence.

Malachi 3:9

2011-05-02T09:49:00.002+08:00

Title: The whole nation of you

No man is an island, even in worship.

God demands worship from everyone and everything under his dominion, and no one is outside his influence and control.

The potency and bearing of individual adoration reach their apex in national reverence in truth and spirit, so the blessings and the corrections flow from the national conscience to the individual soul.

Psalm 32:10

2011-05-01T19:14:00.002+08:00

Title: The Lord’s unfailing love

Not only will God’s merciful kindness for those who trust in him not fail; it will also not leave them, but surround and revolve around them, as if joined together as one in an enduring relationship.

Deuteronomy 1:22

2011-04-30T19:01:00.002+08:00

Title: Bring back a report about the route

Any inquiry into the will of God for his people must be considerate of the reality of the dangers and sacrifices and trials that lie ahead. God’s assurance of victory in obedience to his instructions is certain, but this doesn’t mean the absence of resistance and the common tribulations of life.

The troubles that are part and parcel of life breathe triviality with God’s promise of triumph than without it.

John 18:40

2011-04-09T10:25:00.002+08:00

Title: Give us Barabbas!

If the Lord Jesus is not King over our lives, we would be in a state of perpetual rebellion against his reign. Even our worship would be one scandalous affair of selfish intentions and heartless supplications.

We are not given a choice over the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus: we either submit to it or receive in our hands the blood for the murder of the One who was born to testify to the truth.

Rapture Theory

2011-03-14T19:52:00.003+08:00

The Second Coming of Christ as declared by the Apostle Paul in his Thessalonian Letters is not the ‘Pre-tribulation RAPTURE,’ but His bodily coming at the end of the Tribulation Period.

A Study on the Pre-Tribulation Rapture

(Efren de la Cruz Agbulos, 2000)

significant facts to start with:

(John 17:15,20)

15 I do not pray for You to take them out of the world, but for You to keep them from the evil.

20 And I do not pray for these alone, but for those also who shall believe on Me through their word,

(Isa 26:19-21)

19 But your dead will live;

their bodies will rise.

You who dwell in the dust,

wake up and shout for joy.

Your dew is like the dew of the morning;

the earth will give birth to her dead.

20 Go, my people, enter your rooms

and shut the doors behind you;

hide yourselves for a little while

until his wrath has passed by.

21 See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling

to punish the people of the earth for their sins.

The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her;

she will conceal her slain no longer.

the same word, "PAROUSIA", was used in the

following verses:

matt. 24:3

matt. 24:27

matt. 24:37

matt. 24:39

1 cor. 15:23

1 thess. 2:19

1 thess. 3:13

1 thess. 4:15

2 thess. 2:1

2 thess. 2:8

(colossians 3:4)

Paul alludes only to one coming

Recipients: Mostly gentiles

Purpose of 1 Thessalonians:

1) future of believers who die before Christ’s return

2) time of His return

Purpose of 2 Thessalonians:

1) answer misunderstanding that the Lord had already come

2) give further explanation on his first letter, outlining the events that are bound to happen before the coming of the Lord,

as described in (1 Thess. 4:15-17)

I. Who will come down with Christ at His coming?

1] (1Thess.3:13; 2 Thess.1:7) holy ones; angels

(Zech. 14:5) (Matt. 25:31) (Jude14)

2] (1Thess.4:14) believers who’d slept in Christ

II. Purposes of His coming According to the Thessalonian letters

1] (2Thess.1:6) pay back trouble to those who trouble the Thessalonians/Christians

2] (2Thess.1:8,9) punish those who do not know God

3] (2Thess.2:8) overthrown the anti-Christ

4] (2Thess.1:7) give relief to Christians, including Paul

5] (2Thess. 1:10) glorified in His people

III. Manner of Christ’s coming

1] (1Thess. 4:14) will come with angels and believers

2] (1Thess. 4:16) ‘come down’ (to earth) from heaven (Acts 1:11)

IV. Action of the saints

1] (1Thess.4:17) meet the Lord in the air, where the “air” is just the place of meeting, a long ways off the ground, because the Lord Jesus Christ is really on His way down to earth

V. Time of Christ’s coming

1] (1Thess.5:4) should not surprise Christians

2] (2Thess. 2:3) will not come until the anti-Christ is revealed

3] (2Thess. 2:7) the ‘restrainer’ should be taken away first before the anti-Christ is revealed.

Talking Points:

1) Paul was referring to only one coming in both Thessalonian letters

2) The difference lies in Paul’s treatment of the subject: in (1 Thess.) the future of believers who die before His coming; in (2 Thess.) that the Lord has not yet come

4) And Christ would not have come with His mighty angels if the purpose was just to fetch believers (2 Thess. 1:7)

5) (1 Thess. 4:16) refers to a ‘coming down’ from heaven, with the earth as the reference point of Paul (Acts 1:11)

6) If we were on our way up to heaven, Christ would have been the one to meet us, whereas in (1 Thess. 4:17) the believers are the ones to meet the Lord

8) The sequence of Christ’s coming according to Paul:

a] The ‘restrainer’—possibly an angel or the present world economic and political systems—is taken away first (2thess. 2:7)

b] Then a falling away; then the anti-Christ to be revealed, (2Thess. 2:8)

c] Then Christ would come and all believers to be gathered to Him (2Thess.2:1-3)

If the church were the ‘restrainer’, then that would not be in keeping with the sequence of Christ’s coming according to Paul

10) The evidence from the 2 letters themselves overwhelmingly prove that Paul was referring to just one coming.

13) In (Matt. ch. 28), Jesus tells us that He would be with us up to the end of the age. The church will be here up to the end of the age to fulfill the ‘Great Commission.’

14) (1 Corinthians 15:51,52) does not refer to a ‘rapture’ either but to the

process of change from a ‘perishable’ body to a ‘imperishable’ body the moment Christ comes down from heaven. It doesn’t refer to any upward flight/movement at all.

15) (Daniel 7:21-25), the Anti-Christ will defeat the saints until the coming of Christ.

16) (1 Thess. 4:16) the rapture was supposed to be secret, but Paul was describing something open and public (Mark 13:26)

18) (Rev. 19:8,9) The wedding of the saints and the Lamb will occur upon the bodily return of Christ on earth just at the end of the tribulation

period, and not in heaven after a pre-tribulation rapture as some groups would claim.

19) (2 thess. 2:2)

Paul equates the return of Jesus in the Thess. letters as the Day of the Lord

20) (1 Thess. 4:15)

Texts to consider:

Isaiah 66:15,16

Zech. 14:5

Dan. 7:21-25

Rev. 19:11-15

Matt. 28

Matt. 24

1 Cor. 15:51,52

2 Thess. 1:7

2 Thess. 2:8

1 Thess. 5:2

1 John 2:28

Genesis 3:8

2011-02-22T11:38:00.003+08:00

Title: The sound of the Lord God

What is our purpose for living?

We were created for something better than what materialism and technology can offer, and that is the worship of God forming the basis for our existence.

Worship is the only voice that communicates our soul to the very throne of God. While the cosmos performs an unending symphony in the silence of stars for the pleasure of God, man should do no less because he is not truly alive unless his life is one continuous act of worship.

Ecclesiastes 5:15

2011-02-19T15:40:00.002+08:00

Title: He takes nothing from his labour

There are two ways to respond to the brevity of life and the triviality of material possessions in the transition to eternity: we could choose hedonism or we could manage what we have in order to advance the kingdom of God.

Both would promote a certain degree of satisfaction, but only the latter would guarantee everlasting joy.

Jonah 4:2

2011-02-15T08:45:00.003+08:00

Title: You are a gracious and compassionate God

Anger that shuts out the love of God can never be justified, even in view of an indignation that seeks to uphold what is just.

God is sovereign even over our emotions, so we must give room for it to override our basic instincts or even our theology, when it appears easier to change directions in response to the convenience of retribution, which is the prerogative of God alone.

John 18:28

2011-02-14T11:28:00.003+08:00

Title: The Jews did not enter the palace

Any external religious expression has to have as its basis for legitimacy the death of the Lamb of God at the cross of Calvary. It has to be a picture of God’s mercy and our inadequacy to please God with what we do not possess – a righteousness of our own.

We do not hope to be cleansed in the performance of a spiritual exercise, rather we show by our worship that God’s justice has been served, and a righteousness borne out of judgment of sin through the death of the Perfect Sacrifice, the Lord Jesus, has nullified rituals that demand outward holiness alone without the benefit of an internal salvation.

Genesis 2:16

2011-01-20T22:22:00.001+08:00

Title: You are free to eat

Freedom is limited.

Because freedom of thought and action was bestowed upon us to lead us to the joy of fellowship with God, only thoughts and actions in obedience to God are allowed and are blessed with eternal significance. This doesn’t mean we can’t do otherwise; in fact we can, but that would be tantamount to rebellion, and rebellion would only prove that freedom, in principle and practicality, always points to submission to God’s rule.

Ecclesiastes 12:13

2011-01-16T08:25:00.002+08:00

Title: The conclusion of the matter

Looking back, and in every human experience, no one would deny, come the termination of life, that the only life worth living was one dedicated to the praise and service of God.

To argue against this parameter positions the reason for life entirely to the service of self. Therefore the self becomes god, truth becomes relative, which was sure to follow, and morality is relegated to the backseat merely as an afterthought of no significant relevance.

Hebrews 11:1

2011-01-15T18:18:00.002+08:00

Title: Faith

Faith is the synthesis of concrete evidence – which is verifiable in history, by archaeology, in human experience – and what has been promised and yet unseen.

Faith doesn’t bring us closer to the fulfillment of a promise or make the invisible visible; rather it makes the truth come alive in our hearts.

Matthew 6:11

2011-01-09T18:36:00.003+08:00

Title: Our daily bread

The ultimate enjoyment of the simple pleasures of life, while at the same time nourishing the body, is in receiving it from the hand of God.

Every day dawns on mankind the actuality that its continued existence is dependent on elements outside itself. There is nothing intrinsic in us that could sustain life; everything comes from the outside.

And with the comprehension of the source as God, in thankfulness and dependence in prayer, our daily bread becomes for the soul as well, a sustenance of great value.

Genesis 1:26

2011-01-04T18:20:00.002+08:00

Title: In our image

We live from a purpose.

We do not live to find a purpose and meaning in life.

It is for a reason that we commence our pilgrimage on earth. We are not some purposeless genetic material seeking random relevance along the way. Purpose is a code stamped into our being in and even before conception, and that purpose is to reflect the image of God and to take care of creation, in short, to worship Him with all our being.

Matthew 10:38

2010-12-24T00:52:00.003+08:00

Title: Take his cross

We all have our own beams to carry outside the walls of the city, and as followers of the Lord Jesus we cannot just dump the weight of suffering and hardships and persecution for the fleeting baubles of the world.

We are told to carry our crosses up the knoll of sacrifice, as a testimony that we have learned from His life and example, and are worthy to glory in the light beyond the gloom of Calvary.

Matthew 5:3

2010-12-23T20:05:00.002+08:00

Title: Sermon in our hearts

The diverse spiritual joy that rises above all labors, earthly suffering, death, in an external sense, and is applied to inner values like piety, virtue, wisdom, is the blessedness which is the result of a proper response to God and to one another, and is always in alignment with the kingdom, rather than to earthly goods and secular values.

Genesis 3:24

2010-12-19T08:27:00.005+08:00

Title: After he drove the man out

The one real pleasure in the garden of delight is the presence of the Lord God.

If anything else, the world has lost its expectation of the wonder of the sound of the footsteps of God, and yet man’s every endeavor, learning, physical prowess, is geared toward achieving the bliss of Paradise exclusive of the Creator in its reality.

Let us be reminded that there can be no lasting joy outside the economy of God. The best the world system can offer are the fleeting enjoyments afforded by the cursed environment out of the Garden God had planted in the east, in Eden.

Mark 12:31

2010-12-15T10:15:00.003+08:00

Title: Love your neighbor

Love for God is not so personal so as not to include the people around us, people we relate to in everyday life.

Christianity is a faith of commitment and responsibility. We cannot fully relate with God if we are not of the mind to be responsible for the welfare of others.

A felt affection for God must overflow to our neighbor – with whom we often have friction and clash of character and interests – or it will have no meaning or reason because love had been purposed to be completed in someone else, other than ourselves; and love that returns to God must pass through the test of a sacrificial life lived for others, a love that is ready to give and to forgive, just as the Lord Jesus did not live for himself but for mankind, his neighbor during his tenure on earth.

James 4:14

2010-12-05T20:12:00.003+08:00

Title: Tomorrow

No matter how many tomorrows with their assurance of good things and promise and success could be had for the easing of the anxious mind, nothing could give complete hope than the surety of eternal life with God.

The past, the future, time itself and the events that mark the way of life, no matter how fulfilling, sink into insignificance when the hope of the spirit, which we are, fall short of eternity for which we have been conceived by the wisdom and the Word of God.

Matthew 5:41

2010-11-21T16:07:00.004+08:00

Title: Go with him two miles

Roman law required one.

The Lord Jesus encouraged an additional mile.

The Jews had to walk a total of four miles coming back to the place of origin.

This is when the Jew refused to take even one step in the service of the oppressor.

Christianity requires sacrifice of the noblest nature. As an act of obedience in the Spirit, we divest ourselves of all self-interest in order to witness to the love of God which surpasses all understanding.

Mark 6:34

2010-11-18T12:34:00.003+08:00

Title: He had compassion on them

The mark of a genuine leader is compassion, when compassion is defined as “to suffer with”.

The Lord Jesus didn’t estrange himself from the darkness and the ignorance and the hopelessness that had oppressed the people and the land.

He had nothing to gain, but all to give.

He was drawn to the people because of their illnesses, their spiritual blindness, their callous rebellion, their superficial worship, their helplessness against attacks by evil spirits, their heavy burdens, their transgressions; and he was more than willing to suffer with them and for them, in order to make them partakers of life and the resurrection they never deserved.

John 9:3

2010-11-12T13:39:00.003+08:00

Title: Neither this man nor his parents sinned

Knowing who sinned is the prerogative of God.

Since God is eternally holy, he can identify sin in the temporal realm, in the deepest recesses of our being, even in our intentions and in our thoughts.

The Lord Jesus cannot be the Savior unless he knows who have sinned and the consequences of transgression, as he came as the only solution to lawlessness that salvation might be manifested as the work of God throughout all the generations from Adam until sin and death be swallowed up in victory and time fades into eternity.

John 1:49

2010-11-12T08:08:00.002+08:00

Title: You are the Son of God

Who would be able to recognize the Deity and the Kingship of the Lord Jesus but the one in whom there is nothing false; and this would not escape God’s notice and testimony, while a lesser character would have failed to see the Son of God in a carpenter’s son.

1 Thessalonians 5:17

2010-11-08T15:18:00.003+08:00

Title: Pray continually

Pray at all times.

Pray in every circumstance.

Pray a prayer of rejoicing persistently, incessantly, even in suffering.

Romans 8:15

2010-11-03T19:09:00.004+08:00

Title: Abba, Father

As Christians, we are not spiritual orphans. We are not without a guide in our spiritual journey, that we would wander off to be enslaved again by the fear of death and judgment.

Such confidence, that we have a father in God, a co-heir in the Lord Jesus, and everlasting life by the Spirit of God.

John 6:34

2010-10-28T08:37:00.005+08:00

Title: Give us this bread

Anyone who desires the bread that gives eternal life must also be aware of the need for others to come and believe in the Lord Jesus.

Salvation is a personal experience, but it is also a universal cause, so the Christian has to reach out to the world with the gospel, and plan his life to include God and the people whom his life might touch.

This is truly the good news, in the sense that it includes the whole world and not the self alone.

John 2:16

2010-10-26T11:18:00.004+08:00

Title: To those who sold doves

Even in his righteous indignation the Lord Jesus didn’t want anyone to suffer loss. Had he released the doves, it would have been difficult to recover the birds.

The Lord is exceedingly gracious, but worship must never be a venue to advance any business interest or serve as a platform to market merchandise or a social cause.

Worship is a stage, and the whole congregation performs for the pleasure of God.

We don’t worship Sunday after Sunday to be blessed.

We worship because we have already been blessed.

[The Argument of 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Against the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory]

2010-10-20T08:29:00.011+08:00

Scripture explains Scripture.

This article, as part of a series, will try to shed light on the relationship between the two Thessalonian letters, which is the key to understanding (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), although other verses outside these two missives can prove helpful as well.

Let us first put on record the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory:

That the Lord Jesus would come in the clouds to fetch the Church in time for the beginning of the 7-year Tribulation Period, take all believers to heaven, where a Marriage Supper will take place, then return to earth with the saints seven years later; and while all this is happening, halfway into the Tribulation Period, the Anti-Christ would be revealed, to be destroyed at the 2^nd phase of the Lord’s return.

Simply said, the Rapture Theory teaches two separate and distinct phases of the Lord’s return.

The problem in this interpretation is the failure of Rapture adherents to place 2^nd Thessalonians in its proper perspective.

WHY THE SECOND LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS?

One of the purposes of Paul in writing a second missive to the church in Thessalonica was to correct a misunderstanding concerning the Lord’s return (1 Thess. 4:13-18). It seems that a letter, supposed to have emanated from the Apostles, had been circulating among the believers claiming that the Lord had already returned, causing alarm in the church.

So it is clear that 2^nd Thessalonians (2 Thess. 2:1-4) is an amplified explanation of (1 Thess. 4:13-18). The Apostle Paul is not providing a new set of signs for another event, but is merely giving a detailed clarification of the circumstances surrounding (1 Thess. 4:13-18), and the following facts could be gleaned from (2 Thess. 2:1-4):

1) That the coming (1 Thess. 4:13-18) would be a time of being gathered to the Lord

2) That the day would not come until the Apostasy occurs

3) That the Anti-Christ would be revealed first before that day (1 Thess. 4:13-18) comes

The Apostle Paul even puts himself as part of the event (2 Thess. 2:1) “that our being gathered to Him”, which unmistakably points back to (1 Thess. 4:13-18).

So (1 Thess. 4:13-18) will not happen until the Apostasy occurs and the Anti-Christ is revealed, and since the coming of the Lord Jesus as described in (1 Thess. 4:13-18) will result in the destruction of all who reject God (2 Thess. 1:5-10), and the day also when the Lord will be glorified in His holy people (2 Thess. 1:10), then it must necessarily occur at the end of the Tribulation Period.

Will the church go through the Tribulation Period?

Although this will be the subject of another article, let me give you a couple of verses to this effect.

(John 17:15,20)

15 I do not pray for You to take them out of the world, but for You to keep them from the evil.

20 And I do not pray for these alone, but for those also who shall believe on Me through their word,

(Isa 26:19-21)

19 But your dead will live;

their bodies will rise.

You who dwell in the dust,

wake up and shout for joy.

Your dew is like the dew of the morning;

the earth will give birth to her dead.

20 Go, my people, enter your rooms

and shut the doors behind you;

hide yourselves for a little while

until his wrath has passed by.

21 See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling

to punish the people of the earth for their sins.

The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her;

she will conceal her slain no longer.

Genesis 2:9

2010-09-23T16:09:00.003+08:00

Title: The tree of the knowledge of good and evil

There was no bad tree or fruit in the garden eastward in Eden, for everything the Lord God had created was extremely good.

The problem was that man couldn’t handle the knowledge of good and evil by approaching it in rebellion by way of instant gratification of the senses.

Perception of what is good, and the fulfillment that comes along with it, can be rightly interpreted only as a reality that doesn’t stop at the senses, but is carried along by obedience to the proper resolution of objective, and in this case the possession of knowledge untainted by sin.

John 3:29

2010-09-09T20:16:00.003+08:00

Title: That joy is mine

Nothing is more exceedingly joyful than to fill our cup of service to the Lord without the pomp and tribute of praise, with no happy fairy-tale ending, where the curtain might even close upon a scene of tragic death.

The aspect of anonymity makes the task as personal as walking with the Lord to the place of sacrifice, where invariably our footsteps become his footsteps, and his joy becomes ours.

Matthew 6:19

2010-09-04T11:38:00.001+08:00

Title: Where moth and rust destroy

In this life, we are not given much of a choice, if our choosing, we would admit, should be limited only to what is beneficial.

There is only one consideration we have to grant attention to, for ignoring it would be detrimental to all human approbation, and that is to prepare for eternity.

Everything outside this course of action lies under the aggression of loss and decay.

Exodus 23:12

2010-07-27T18:35:00.001+08:00

Title: In six days do your work

Only those who do their share of six days of honorable work have the right to enjoy rest for body and soul.

The lazy have no entitlement to worship God because while their hands have not reverenced him by an upright occupation, neither will their spirits exalt in the glory of the Lord.

Matthew 6:9

2010-07-23T14:03:00.004+08:00

Title: This is how you should pray

Prayer takes us up a mountainside.

Prayer takes us back to the garden where the footsteps of the Lord God could be heard in the cool of the day.

That is what prayer is.

Prayer is a refreshing daily encounter with God in sweet fellowship amidst the newness of physical and spiritual creation.

Matthew 6:33

2010-07-23T13:58:00.001+08:00

Title: All these things will be given to you as well

The primary results of righteousness are an appreciation of, and delight in life with the barest of necessities.

Mark 6:3

2010-07-10T09:29:00.002+08:00

Title: Isn’t this the carpenter?

The Creator who can work with his hands like the rest of us commoners is truly overflowing with love for his people, even to those who degrade his claim to Lordship.

God is conveniently near. He speaks our language. He has immersed himself in the issues of our daily lives. He understands our sufferings. He is aware of our needs.

He has clothed himself with humility for our salvation, and power for our resurrection.

Genesis 2:8

2010-07-10T09:22:00.002+08:00

Title: Now the Lord God had planted a Garden

God wanted man to continue what he had initiated, and to work in proximity to a place of worship and communion, very near the presence of the Lord.

Even today, we are to submit ourselves to God’s sovereignty by laboring in an atmosphere of fellowship with the Creator, in the direction of the garden of His pleasure, where His presence is a daily expectation, and not away from it.

Luke 4:30

2010-07-09T15:34:00.001+08:00

Title: He walked right through the crowd

Man is helpless before or against God but for what the Lord would allow.

When dealing with the Son of God, we have to bear in mind that we are entering the sphere of eternity past and eternity future in his person. That means we are confronting all the power, wisdom, and energy that could be harnessed in heaven and on earth.

We cannot take him to the brow of the hill, and attempt to push him out of our lives, and not be haunted by the memory that there was no real power in our rejection of his authority.

To our shame, we have only flaunted our weakness and ignorance instead.

Matthew 8:26

2010-07-07T08:49:00.000+08:00

Title: It was completely calm

The Lord Jesus had the power to control nature to the very core of the building blocks of matter, so the effect was not superficial or transitory, and could be identified by the spirit of man as an act of eternal wisdom and authority; there was a permanence that was both sublime and relevant.

Matthew 6:24

2010-07-07T08:46:00.004+08:00

Title: No one can serve two masters

The heart of service is love.

We do not serve God for the advantage we could gain from the Lord. We serve God because no one else is worthy of love and devotion.

Not ourselves.

Not other men.

Not the whole of creation.

1 Corinthians 9:16

2010-07-02T09:01:00.002+08:00

Title: I cannot boast

We cannot boast of sharing the good news which had been instrumental in our own redemption; we are not above it.

If we be lifted up to the point of garnering renown and privileges in the body of believers, it just goes to show that we do not fully understand the gospel or the heart of God.

The gospel, like the law, pictures our helplessness to escape the snare of sin, if not for the sacrificial offering of the Son of God, who should receive all the glory and honor now and forever.

Matthew 27:45

2010-07-01T09:22:00.005+08:00

Title: From the sixth hour

Darkness engulfed not only the entire land, but also the hearts of men. The silence was shattered only by groans of lingering death. Gloom descended upon the Light which refused to be smothered.

But victory burst forth from the newly-hewn cavern, even before the stone was rolled away, not to let the Redeemer out, but to allow his followers in.

Ecclesiastes 4:4

2010-06-03T18:34:00.000+08:00

Title: A chasing after the wind

We know that life is a vapor, without definite shape or assurance of tenure, but it doesn’t have to be meaningless as it is short.

We can be certain to give it character in nobility of purpose, and depth by acting uprightly and properly in the world. And to accomplish this, we have to achieve based on the principle of the good of the other, not on envious surpassing of one by the other which is a worthless expenditure of the breath of life itself.

Matthew 27:42

2010-05-15T14:36:00.000+08:00

Title: He saved others

The Lord Jesus went to the cross, not to save but to glorify himself. His running order was not to escape but to conquer death and to sit at the right hand of the Father.

The offense of sin and the sting of death made Calvary necessary; and for the Son of God to circumvent the torture of crucifixion would have been an affirmation of defeat rather than a demonstration of majestic power.

Galatians 3:19

2010-05-08T11:27:00.000+08:00

Title: It was added because of transgressions

Knowing what sin is, that it enslaves, did not prevent us from being prisoners of it. In fact, we demanded the right to sin by naming it “freedom,” or the entitlement to self-determination based on the expediency of pleasure. Instead of protecting ourselves from its influence, we have developed a system of government, education, leisure, and entertainment that promotes it (sin) against the liberty that comes from faith in the Lord Jesus, by whom and without restraint we might receive the promise of righteousness and eternal life.

Luke 8:39

2010-04-21T10:22:00.000+08:00

Title: Return home

The home, being a private fortress, is also a sanctuary of good news and blessings. What we bring to our households from the Lord can only be personal and nothing short of a life-changing encounter with Him. God wants us to be the heralds of His mercy and grace to our families, who would celebrate, cherish, and protect that spiritual legacy.

John 18:38

2010-04-18T15:49:00.001+08:00

Title: Truth

Truth, when found, cannot be questioned or mocked.

Man has concluded that truth is relative, and so he has abandoned the search for it in favor of the tyranny of the multitude.

When swayed by the popular voice against the truth, we mock and expose ourselves to the cruelty of the same crowd, whose only purpose for existence was the fear of standing alone because they possessed not the truth.

Luke 7:26

2010-04-18T11:38:00.000+08:00

Title: A prophet

The greatest among prophets wanted to becomes less in significance and importance.

The greatest among those born of women had no request to be freed from prison on account of blood relation to the King.

Since we are our spirits, we all have a spiritual purpose in life. It has been determined before birth, and it is for us to identify it, accomplish it veiled in humility, expecting suffering and tribulation along the way, and then depart from this life, not counting the years but the relevance of our service to the kingdom of God.

Luke 23:3

2010-04-12T09:12:00.001+08:00

Title: Are you the king of the Jews?

A governor questions the King of kings.

The disparity was not evident during the time of Pilate, but unless we bind ourselves under the mandate of God, we, too, shall persist to probe the authority and power of the Lord Jesus.

A sensitive spirit will not fail to comprehend that, while clothed in humility, the King can pronounce judgment on his subjects, which we are, and not the other way around.

Matthew 28:9

2010-04-05T18:33:00.000+08:00

Title: All hail

It was the salutation that spoke the world into existence. It was the utterance that welcomed man into the kingdom of God.

It was the greeting that echoed further than the outer limits of the garden, and continues to reverberate in the hearts of those who have risen with the Lord Jesus into newness of life.

Matthew 6:11

2010-04-05T15:52:00.003+08:00

Title: Give us today our daily bread

From day to day, we would need the following in order to live a life that is truly life:

1] A Holy God

2] Obedience to the Holy God

3] Expectation on the kingdom

4] Nourishment from food and the Word of God

5] A forgiving heart

6] Cleansing from sin

7] Shepherding by the Good Shepherd

The beasts of the field can do with less.

Joshua 24:15

2010-04-03T15:11:00.000+08:00

Title: Choose for yourselves this day

We have got to choose between ourselves and God, because of the danger that we have, by now, become our own idols, and in a very subtle way.

We might argue that “we are serving God,” but in reality we are “serving ourselves” in “serving God”. As a litmus test of the deep intention of our hearts, we might attempt to answer this question: “Are we serving God in order to be blessed, or are we serving the Lord because we already have been blessed?”

Luke 23:34

2010-04-03T08:23:00.000+08:00

Title: Father, forgive them

Volumes have been written about the seven utterances of the Lord Jesus on the cross, but the silence of the Lamb those six fateful hours had been largely ignored.

We know from experience that pain becomes more pronounced when it is endured in silence. But, still, we shall never know the sorrow of the sinless Savior, when he was crushed under the weight of man’s indifference to the price that had to be paid for the redemption of the sinner’s soul.

But how should we know, when, instead of living our days at the foot of the cross, as a witness to our intimacy with the Crucified in his agony, we opted to get the most out of life, and exchanged the stillness of Calvary for the gaiety of the world?

John 3:16

2010-04-01T22:20:00.003+08:00

Title: Eternal life

Would you have invested in this life had you known it would be temporary?

There is another life, one that is far better that our longest term on earth. It had its foundation at the cross on the hill of Calvary, and it is everlasting, but we have left the initial investment on the cross to remain stagnant, and instead built upon the groundwork and the demands of the world, which, at best, is hollow and fleeting.

Therefore let us be wise in this: that the hope of blessedness necessitates the transformation of our lives into a pilgrimage in preparation for an eternity with God.

Matthew 10:38

2010-03-31T20:02:00.000+08:00

Title: Who does not take his cross

How many are willing to take their religion to the place of execution? How many are even aware that Christianity involves self-denial, and even exposure to death?

A true disciple is given the privilege of going the same way with the Lord, of carrying his own cross to the place of sacrifice, thereby drawing praise from the Savior who had carried a heavier load on his shoulders.

Matthew 28:6

2010-03-31T06:33:00.000+08:00

Title: He is not here

Where are we in relation to where the Lord Jesus is?

Let us not forget that the Lord had represented us at his resurrection, so our lives might be evocative of his while he was still on earth, and carry the same message of repentance and expectation on the kingdom.

Having risen with him in triumph, have we occupied our hearts with heavenly affections as well? The world may look for us in the cave of darkness, but will not find us there, except for the strips of linen lying by themselves.

Luke 23:44

2010-03-29T10:31:00.000+08:00

Title: About the sixth hour

The Savior had no good thing, no help, facing death on the cross:

The final struggle with sin was fought in darkness, to give evil full advantage; the narcotic turned down; the Lamb silent and immobile; twelve legions of angels held back.

The searing pain was at its apex.

But the gates of hell trembled, as the last ebb of life drained from the Crucified, at that final shout of victory for the death that brought us eternal life.

John 3:16

2010-03-26T11:59:00.000+08:00

Title: For God so loved the world

Has anyone loved you this much?

Show me someone who has loved you to the point of death, and I’ll show you the Savior whose purpose in coming down from heaven was to suffer torture in spirit and body for the very people who had hated him.

Such love, that the recipients of this affection are lifted up to a newness of being, where the only future is goodness and life everlasting.