It's been quite some time since I last blogged. To my horror, it was 3 years ago. Many things have happened lately; busy in a new relationship, busy with ministry, gotten married 3 months ago and definitely trying to adapt to my new role as husband and pastor. I hope to get back to blogging but now with a more specific intention. I have created a new blog to talk about my passion on cooking, food, traveling and definitely, the intention to feed your tummy and also your soul. Well, do keep track of www.kitchen-fellowship.blogspot.com.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Of First Importance
Posted: 08 Dec 2009 09:19 PM PST “When we look at Jesus Christ,we realize that there is a twofold strangeness about him. There is, first, the strangeness of his deity, He is the God-man, the one who is bold enough to say that he and the Father are one – a statement that made the Jews accuse him of blasphemy (John 10:31-33). He is the one who forgives sins – something only God is supposed to do. He is the one who even dares to say, ‘Before Abraham was born, I am!’ (John 8:58). But there is also the strangeness of his humanity. Though genuinely human, he is unique in his humanity. He is totally sinless. His obedience to the Father is perfect, his prayer life is unexcelled, his love for people is fathomless. And when we realize that this strangeness makes us ashamed, because it tells us what we all should be like. The strangeness of the human Jesus holds a mirror before us; it is an exemplary strangeness, for it tells us what God’s intentions are for each of us.” - Anthony A. Hoekema, Created in God’s Image (Grand Rapids, Mi.; Eerdmans, 1986, 1994), 73. Blogger's note: Jesus is either a crazy man or he is truly God. |
Sunday, September 20, 2009
I Betroth You
Hosea 2:19-20
I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in love and compassion.
I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.
Have you ever been to a wedding? I've been to one and it is filled with love. The bridegroom waits earnestly for the bride to enter through the wooden door of the church and once she appeared, everyone stands in awe at her beauty and certainly there would be some who will whisper out their amazement at one another. The bridegroom smiles ever so broadly like never before in his life and with each steps his lovely bride takes, he said to himself, "she is the one and I shall betroth her."
This is how deep the love God has for us. Hosea, the prophet of God uses the word "betroth", signifying a wedding ceremony. A wedding ceremony is so special and wonderful not because the bride looks beautiful outwardly or that the bridegroom has been to the gym for many months to have a super good looking body but it is because they have made a commitment to be under a covenant of love. That is why when the minister reads out the wedding vows, you said "I do" with a commitment to live together forever in any circumstances.
And it is true with God. When we are called to be his people, we are betrothed forever. Under this covenant, we have his righteousness and justice. We are born as sinners and there is no way we can go back to God without being holy and perfect. It means that we are destined to eternal destruction. However, Jesus Christ has offered us the perfect righteousness and has taken God's wrath as a mean to fulfill God's desire for justice through the crucifixion on the cross. Therefore, when we meet God. we are clothed with the righteousness that has been bought by the blood of Christ and no longer being under God's wrath because Jesus has taken that punishment on himself.
Under the covenant, we have his love and compassion. God's love now abides in those whose life has been justified by Jesus. It is His love and compassion that we are accepted into the kingdom of God and being called as children of God. It is also because of His love and compassion that we are being made clean in His presence. And it is His love and compassion that we are able to serve others in self-sacrificing service as a mean to glorify God.
Finally, under this covenant, we have God's faithfulness. We are faithful because God's faithfulness sustains us. When we are faithless, God always remains faithful to His promises. It means that He will always be righteous, just, loving, compassionate and faithful because of the character of faithfulness He has. He can never be what He is not. As a result, we will acknowledge God. There is only one God and one who deserves ultimate acknowledgment for all that He has done. What He desires is a heart that worships Him in spirit and truth.
It is not by my strength and wisdom by which I saved myself from this wretchedness but it is by God's righteousness, justice, love, compassion and faithfulness.
I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in love and compassion.
I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.
Have you ever been to a wedding? I've been to one and it is filled with love. The bridegroom waits earnestly for the bride to enter through the wooden door of the church and once she appeared, everyone stands in awe at her beauty and certainly there would be some who will whisper out their amazement at one another. The bridegroom smiles ever so broadly like never before in his life and with each steps his lovely bride takes, he said to himself, "she is the one and I shall betroth her."
This is how deep the love God has for us. Hosea, the prophet of God uses the word "betroth", signifying a wedding ceremony. A wedding ceremony is so special and wonderful not because the bride looks beautiful outwardly or that the bridegroom has been to the gym for many months to have a super good looking body but it is because they have made a commitment to be under a covenant of love. That is why when the minister reads out the wedding vows, you said "I do" with a commitment to live together forever in any circumstances.
And it is true with God. When we are called to be his people, we are betrothed forever. Under this covenant, we have his righteousness and justice. We are born as sinners and there is no way we can go back to God without being holy and perfect. It means that we are destined to eternal destruction. However, Jesus Christ has offered us the perfect righteousness and has taken God's wrath as a mean to fulfill God's desire for justice through the crucifixion on the cross. Therefore, when we meet God. we are clothed with the righteousness that has been bought by the blood of Christ and no longer being under God's wrath because Jesus has taken that punishment on himself.
Under the covenant, we have his love and compassion. God's love now abides in those whose life has been justified by Jesus. It is His love and compassion that we are accepted into the kingdom of God and being called as children of God. It is also because of His love and compassion that we are being made clean in His presence. And it is His love and compassion that we are able to serve others in self-sacrificing service as a mean to glorify God.
Finally, under this covenant, we have God's faithfulness. We are faithful because God's faithfulness sustains us. When we are faithless, God always remains faithful to His promises. It means that He will always be righteous, just, loving, compassionate and faithful because of the character of faithfulness He has. He can never be what He is not. As a result, we will acknowledge God. There is only one God and one who deserves ultimate acknowledgment for all that He has done. What He desires is a heart that worships Him in spirit and truth.
It is not by my strength and wisdom by which I saved myself from this wretchedness but it is by God's righteousness, justice, love, compassion and faithfulness.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Of First Importance
A Life of Thankful Discontentment
Posted: 23 Aug 2009 09:07 PM PDT
“The Christian life should be a state of thankful discontentment or joyful dissatisfaction! We live every day thankful for the amazing grace that fundamentally changes our lives, but we should not be satisfied. Why not? Because, when we look at ourselves honestly, we have to admit that there is still need for personal growth and change. We are not yet all that we could be in Christ. We are thankful for the many things in our lives that would not be there without His grace, but we should not settle for partial inheritance. We should want nothing less than all that is ours in Christ! In this sense, God does not want us to be content with less than what He wants for us. He calls us to continue to wrestle, meditate, look, consider, resist, submit, follow, and pray until we have been completely transformed into His likeness.”
- Paul David Tripp & Timothy S. Lane, “How Christ Changes Us By His Grace” in The Journal of Biblical Counseling (Spring 2005), 20.
Blogger's note:
The walk with Christ will never be easy. There will always be moments of giving up but fear not, God's faithfulness and love exceeds ours. Let us rest on His assurance and be transformed into His likeness daily until the day we meet him.
Posted: 23 Aug 2009 09:07 PM PDT
“The Christian life should be a state of thankful discontentment or joyful dissatisfaction! We live every day thankful for the amazing grace that fundamentally changes our lives, but we should not be satisfied. Why not? Because, when we look at ourselves honestly, we have to admit that there is still need for personal growth and change. We are not yet all that we could be in Christ. We are thankful for the many things in our lives that would not be there without His grace, but we should not settle for partial inheritance. We should want nothing less than all that is ours in Christ! In this sense, God does not want us to be content with less than what He wants for us. He calls us to continue to wrestle, meditate, look, consider, resist, submit, follow, and pray until we have been completely transformed into His likeness.”
- Paul David Tripp & Timothy S. Lane, “How Christ Changes Us By His Grace” in The Journal of Biblical Counseling (Spring 2005), 20.
Blogger's note:
The walk with Christ will never be easy. There will always be moments of giving up but fear not, God's faithfulness and love exceeds ours. Let us rest on His assurance and be transformed into His likeness daily until the day we meet him.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The Cross of Christ
Stand close to the cross of Jesus!
Posted: 27 Jul 2009 09:34 PM PDT
“Once more heed the exhortation- stand close to the cross of Jesus! It is the most accessible and precious spot this side of heaven- the most solemn and awesome one this side of eternity. It is the focus of divine love, sympathy, and power. Stand by it in suffering, in persecution, in temptation. Stand by it in the brightness of prosperity and in the gloom of adversity. Shrink not from its offence, humiliation, and woe. Defend it when scorned, despised, and denied. Stand up for Jesus and the gospel of Jesus. Oh, whatever you do, or whatever you endure, be loyal to Christ’s cross. Go to it in trouble, repair to it in weakness, cling to it in danger, hide beneath it when the wintry storm rushes fiercely over you. Near to the cross, you are near a Father’s heart, a Savior’s side.”
– Octavius Winslow, The Foot of the Cross
Blogger's note:
Lord, help me to be near to the cross, near to the Father's side that I may be Christ like in all I do, say and think. The power of the cross is the only power that saves.
Posted: 27 Jul 2009 09:34 PM PDT
“Once more heed the exhortation- stand close to the cross of Jesus! It is the most accessible and precious spot this side of heaven- the most solemn and awesome one this side of eternity. It is the focus of divine love, sympathy, and power. Stand by it in suffering, in persecution, in temptation. Stand by it in the brightness of prosperity and in the gloom of adversity. Shrink not from its offence, humiliation, and woe. Defend it when scorned, despised, and denied. Stand up for Jesus and the gospel of Jesus. Oh, whatever you do, or whatever you endure, be loyal to Christ’s cross. Go to it in trouble, repair to it in weakness, cling to it in danger, hide beneath it when the wintry storm rushes fiercely over you. Near to the cross, you are near a Father’s heart, a Savior’s side.”
– Octavius Winslow, The Foot of the Cross
Blogger's note:
Lord, help me to be near to the cross, near to the Father's side that I may be Christ like in all I do, say and think. The power of the cross is the only power that saves.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Of First Importance
Away with your tools
Posted: 14 Jul 2009 11:55 PM PDT
If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it.Exodus 20:25
“God’s altar was to be built of unhewn stones, that no trace of human skill or labor might be seen on it. Human wisdom delights to trim and arrange the doctrines of the cross into a system more artificial and more congenial with the depraved tastes of fallen nature; however, instead of improving the gospel carnal wisdom pollutes it, until it becomes another gospel, and not the truth of God at all. All alterations and amendments of the Lord’s own Word are defilements and pollutions.
The proud heart of man is very anxious to have a hand in the justification of the soul before God; preparations for Christ are dreamed of, humblings and repentings are trusted in, good works are cried up, natural ability is much vaunted, and by all means the attempt is made to lift up human tools upon the divine altar. It were well if sinners would remember that so far from perfecting the Saviour’s work, their carnal confidences only pollute and dishonor it. The Lord alone must be exalted in the work of atonement, and not a single mark of man’s chisel or hammer will be endured.
There is an inherent blasphemy in seeking to add to what Christ Jesus in His dying moments declared to be finished, or to improve that in which the Lord Jehovah finds perfect satisfaction. Trembling sinner, away with your tools. Fall on your knees in humble supplication. Accept the Lord Jesus to be the altar of your atonement, and rest in Him alone.”
- Charles Spurgeon, Morning by Morning (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 2001), 204.
Blogger's Note:
When Jesus said, "It is done." It means that it is done. Sin is done for. Death is done for. Victory is ours. Let us not water down the essence of the gospel but grab sin at its root and pull it out forever with the power of Christ.
Posted: 14 Jul 2009 11:55 PM PDT
If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it.Exodus 20:25
“God’s altar was to be built of unhewn stones, that no trace of human skill or labor might be seen on it. Human wisdom delights to trim and arrange the doctrines of the cross into a system more artificial and more congenial with the depraved tastes of fallen nature; however, instead of improving the gospel carnal wisdom pollutes it, until it becomes another gospel, and not the truth of God at all. All alterations and amendments of the Lord’s own Word are defilements and pollutions.
The proud heart of man is very anxious to have a hand in the justification of the soul before God; preparations for Christ are dreamed of, humblings and repentings are trusted in, good works are cried up, natural ability is much vaunted, and by all means the attempt is made to lift up human tools upon the divine altar. It were well if sinners would remember that so far from perfecting the Saviour’s work, their carnal confidences only pollute and dishonor it. The Lord alone must be exalted in the work of atonement, and not a single mark of man’s chisel or hammer will be endured.
There is an inherent blasphemy in seeking to add to what Christ Jesus in His dying moments declared to be finished, or to improve that in which the Lord Jehovah finds perfect satisfaction. Trembling sinner, away with your tools. Fall on your knees in humble supplication. Accept the Lord Jesus to be the altar of your atonement, and rest in Him alone.”
- Charles Spurgeon, Morning by Morning (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 2001), 204.
Blogger's Note:
When Jesus said, "It is done." It means that it is done. Sin is done for. Death is done for. Victory is ours. Let us not water down the essence of the gospel but grab sin at its root and pull it out forever with the power of Christ.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Passion 2010
Passion 2010 is back and it would be super cool. You can log on to www.268generation.com for more information. Pray that this conference would impact lives to change the world to the glory of God. Amen.
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