I just finished reading the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old testament. What can I say? I am very glad for Christmas this year. What an awesome God! What a pitiful bunch of people we are! How dare we to be so selfish, sinful, and shameless! God, have mercy on us! Despite everything God sent his only son to the world. Despite everything God displays his love to us in Jesus. Despite of everything Jesus died and rose…
Faced with a pile of problems, we may say with our lips that only prayer can solve them, yet we talk more than pray, worry more than pray, and scheme more than pray. In sum, we put everything before prayer; other things are placed in prominent positions while prayer is relegated to last place; it is the only thing which is not so important. ~Watchman Nee “You can do more than pray after you have prayed; but you can never…
Even Christians don’t always understand why Jesus had to be born. Couldn’t God just love us without fussing about old sins? There really wasn’t other way to make us right with him. God is holy and he wants us to be holy, too. We needed a redeemer and it had to be a human being. But nobody could do it. So God sent his only son to the world. Christ was chosen before the creation of the world, but was…
You have a place in God’s plans. Yes, God is calling you to enter deeper into his grace. God is calling you into a full partnership with him. How do I know this? Just by reading the Bible. Every follower of Christ is called to make disciples and serve the body of Christ. Not just pastors! Every single follower is called to partner with God. Malcolm Smith has said “We have one function in life: to be the manifestors of…
I love the season of Advent. But I detest the commercializing of the season of Christmas. I hate the lies we are tried to make to believe. I hate the lies that try to take away the real meaning of Christmas, the lies that try to take away the true colors of Christmas.Here’s an example: a department store add stating boldly: “Luxury belongs to Christmas!” WHAT? Christmas has NOTHING to do with luxury. The birth of Jesus was as far…
What does John the Baptist have to do with Christmas? First of all, his life was fully intertwined with Jesus. He was only few months older than Jesus and he was called to clear the way for Jesus. John knew his place in God’s salvation plan. He had dedicated his whole life for serving God. His message for us this advent season is: prepare your hearts for Jesus. What needs to go that we’d be able to fully concentrate in…
“We can do nothing without prayer. All things can be done by importunate prayer. That is the teaching of Jesus Christ”. ~ E. M. Bounds “As is the business of tailors to make clothes and cobblers to make shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray.” ~Martin Luther I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the LORD; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope. When you…
Last week we talked about how Zachariah doubted God’ ability to give him a son. Because of this he was unable to speak until the day of the circumcision of his son. He got his voice back after he had written on a tablet “His name is to be John”. Oh, how Zachariah praised the Lord! “Bless the Lord God of Israel because he has come to help and has delivered his people. He has raised up a mighty savior…
This time of year the hunt for the perfect Christmas gifts is on. I find this hectic shopping season a bit ironic. Because I strongly believe that we can’t buy the perfect Christmas gift. It is free for all. We can find what ever we’ve been looking for only in Jesus. This free gift of Jesus is bigger and more life-giving than we can ever imagine. Jesus is not just a sweet baby at Christmas. Jesus was crucified on the…
God has promised to bless his children richly. But these blessings are not material things. Nonetheless these blessings bring forth all the good things in life: God’s kingdom isn’t about eating food and drinking but about righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14: 17, CEB) We can’t produce spiritual fruit on our own. And artificial fruit just does not do it. The only way to bear spiritual fruit is by abiding in Christ. Even then it’s never…
