Bringing in the harvest…
Archive for May, 2009
This Is the Judgment: Light Has Come into the World
May 20th
John 3:16-21For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.
The focus of this message will be on John 3:19-21. The main point will be that there is a kind of judgment that came into the world when the Son of God, Jesus Christ, came into the world, and this judgment reveals that the guilt of not coming to Jesus lies in the heart of man, and the grace of coming to Jesus comes from the heart of God.
Or to put it another way: The coming of Jesus into the world clarifies that unbelief is our fault, and belief is God’s gift. Which means that if we do not come to Christ, but rather perish eternally, we magnify God’s justice. And if we do come to Christ and gain eternal life, we magnify God’s grace.
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Egypt or Exodus: We are What We Remember
May 20th
As a species we are time and space bound creatures. Our bodies move us through space and provide contact with the external world while our minds provide the means of understanding the external world and give us an inner sense of self-awareness. Together our minds and bodies supply the raw material for all our experiences and our experiences are then ordered along a time-line of past, present and future. Although our experiences differ they are all subject to the same constraints of time, space, and consequently, constant change.
Now, this much seems fairly obvious but it raises an interesting question concerning the issue of self-identity: what is the ‘I’ in ‘I am feeling happy now’ or ‘I had an episode of indigestion yesterday’ or ‘I’m looking forward to my vacation in two months’? To complicate things further, how can we say we are the same person today as we were yesterday or thirty years ago when many of the identifying features of our existence have undergone physical, emotional and mental changes?
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THE POWER OF FAITH
May 20th
In Matt. 8, the centurion believed so much in Jesus that he said, “Only speak the word, and my servant would be made whole”. Jesus replied that it would be done onto him as he had believed. Jesus has already made the general declaration that if one has faith like a mustard seed, when he declares onto a mountain to move, it shall move.
Hence Christians should tap into this opportunity and have belief (faith). Since Jesus has already made the declaration, things would be done according to the faith of the one believing. Jesus said that for the one who has faith, nothing shall be impossible for him or her. This means that we can even obtain things which God may not will for us to have at that moment. In Isaiah 38, God told King Hezekiah about his impending death. When he prayed with faith to God, fifteen more years were added onto him.
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