IMAGE IS LOADING, PLS BE PATIENT.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage.
-Lao Tzu
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1:19 AM
Thursday, October 19, 2006
From NCC daily devotional
Ecclesiastes 9:1111The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favour to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.
God’s Word tells us that being faster, stronger and wiser does not automatically make you a winner in life. No, it is actually being at the right place at the right time that causes you to receive blessings. And God, who holds time and chance in His hands, is the only one who can put you at the right place at the right time.
He did this for Ruth. Ruth trusted God for favour when she went looking for a field in which to glean. (Ruth 2:2) Then, the Bible tells us that “she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech”. (Ruth 2:3) Of all the fields, she happened to end up in Boaz’s field, and he was a close relative of Elimelech, her father-in-law. This meant that Boaz was her potential kinsman redeemer, someone who could redeem her from her plight as a young, childless widow in a foreign land.
Boaz also happened to be “a man of great wealth” (Ruth 2:1), and as it turned out, he was willing to redeem Ruth. (Ruth 4:9–10) All these “right happenings” could only mean that God had placed Ruth in the right place at the right time.
I believe that the very day Ruth told her mother-in-law that the God of Israel would be her God (Ruth 1:16), God took note and made everything happen right for her.
Today, God also wants you to know that because you have said, “God, You are My God,” He will be your God of divine happenings. He will place you at the right place at the right time, where you will meet the right people, do the right things and even escape danger!
You may not know where all the great opportunities are, but God does. He is the one who put in you the skills, talents and gifts that you have, and He knows where you need to be, when you should be there and what you need to be doing to be truly satisfied!
Yaps, without God's divine intervention, things are kinda stuck, not smooth flowing...but with God's divine appointments, through His spirit, through His wisdom, things just flow and glow. =)
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2:15 AM
Friday, October 13, 2006
the last post was deleted cause it's settled. so Yays.
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1:06 AM
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Grace and LawI was attending a meeting with some churchmates and we were discussing about something on the topic that we were about to talk about in Cell this wk. but somehow a question led to the topic of grace and law. They arrived at the conclusion that though God's grace is available to us, we must still "adhere"/"follow" the law because it's there to guide us. Like we know we can't murder (which is in the sense, get angry or anything) because it's considered murder and the law said that "thou shall not murder" and it will guide us from not sinning. Then, if we fail, we know that God's grace is available.
But NOPE! I didn't agree. (taught well in NCC I guess) Grace and Law cannot be mixed. "
"No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Matthew 9:16-17
Grace is getting what we don't deserve, or you can call it "unmerited favour". God has revealed His salvation for mankind through Jesus Christ, who gave Himself to die in our place so that we might be at peace with God. It is by grace we are righteous with God, such cannot be earned or "merited" in any way. Peace with God is a gift from Him, not something we can ever achieve with our own works. We must, then, forever approach God by way of the loving sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and not with the idea that we can present our own fruit (works) as Cain attempted. It is grace OR law; God's promises or our efforts; life or death. There's no "on the fence" about it. Galatians 4:23-29
"But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written:
“ Rejoice, O barren,
You who do not bear!
Break forth and shout,
You who are not in labor!
For the desolate has many more children
Than she who has a husband.”
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But, as he who was born according to the flesh (in the ordinary way) then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit (by the power of the spirit), even so it is now."
Hajar meant Law (at Mount Sinai where the Law was given), Sarah meant Grace (promise). They meant different covenants. We cannot earn salvation, no one will have bragging rights in heaven, nor will God accept any "works" or "fruit" that come from self-generated do-good intentions. In fact, He has made provisions for us to access His life and power, to choose to live in our own works is to reject His grace.
His life, received by grace, will result in good works. No one who's truely transformed by the grace of God will continue living in sin. I did not say will not sin - you are not in the perfect body yet. You'll still be susceptible to sinning (but God also promised that Jesus blood is forever cleansing you).
But you will NOT continue LIVING in sin. Romans 6:1-15
" What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!" - NOT LIVING in sin. (NIV)
How we approach God is critically important. Are you hoping in the grace and power of Christ Jesus, or are you hoping to impress God or earn His favour on your own merits? The difference is
BIGGalatians 5:4
"4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace."
Galatians 3:10-11
"10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”[a] 11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.""
If you want to follow the law, you have to follow it completely and adhere by it completely. But we are the just and righteous because of Jesus - thus we shall live by faith (through grace). Ephesians 2:8-9
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."
Galatians 5:18
"But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."
Therefore, when you are transformed by the grace of God, the Spirit will guide you. You do NOT need the law to guide you for you are NO LONGER under the law. 1 Corinthians 15:56
" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law."
It is the law which causes people to sin. NOT from the abundance of grace that leads people to sin. The law puts forth what God wants done - it is the definition of "good works". But the law cannot produce these good works in us; it's just the standard. In fact, the law's very presence tends to make sin more appealing. For if we choose to be "under the law", then we will find "sin crouching at our door". The law is not at fault; it is our sinful nature.
Romans 7:7-13
"What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. (in another simpler version this meant - For sin, in the absence of law, has no life on it's own...) I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
Law Cannot Save from Sin Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful."
God was serious about the law; it's just that by focusing on it we get nowhere. And Law was already done for by Jesus on the cross. Now it's the new covenant that we are in. Only by grace and by the power of the Holy Spirit can we do what God requires. And we get Grace NOT by looking to the law, but by believing though faith in Christ. The Law cannot save us.
Romans 3:20
"Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin."
Through law, we become conscious of sin.
Romans 3:28
"Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law."
For we maintain that it is as the result of faith that a man is held to be righteous, apart from actions done in obedience to law. (wey)
Galatians 2:16
"In the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel."
It is not through obedience to Law that a man can be declared free from guilt, but only through faith in Jesus Christ. We have therefore believed in Christ Jesus, for the purpose of being declared free from guilt, through faith in Christ and through obedience to Law. For through obedience to Law no human shall be declared free from guilt. (wey)
Why then was the Law given? It is the holy and just Law that shows us how bad we are (as measured against a standard). The purpose of the Law is to condemn us. It is to show us plainly that we CANNOT do good works in our own resources, so that we might give up our lives and gain true life in Christ. The law, therefore, has a valid and useful role which is called the "ministry of condemnation" in Scripture. It leads us to the condemnation of the cross, and the Spirit - by grace - resurrects us to new life in Christ. 2 Corinthians 3:9
"For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory."
John 1:17
"For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."
Romans 5:20-21
"Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
The Law seeks to restrain the passions of the carnal nature. "Don't do this, don't do that". The gospel of grace seeks to put to death all that is carnal in us, so that a new, eternal life can be born in us. What the law could never do, the Holy Spirit by resurrection grace can. Galatians 2:21
"I do not set aside(nulify) the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."
Romans 7:5-6
"For when we were controlled by the sinful nature,[a] the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code." (NIV)
Titus 3:4-7
"But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life." (NIV)
Romans 8:2
"because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." (NIV)
Romans 8:3-4
"For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice],
To that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit]." (Amplified)
Romans 8:9-14
"But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit of God [really] dwells within you [directs and controls you]. But if anyone does not possess the [Holy] Spirit of Christ, he is none of His [he does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God].(A)
But if Christ lives in you, [then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of [the] righteousness [that He imputes to you].
And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.
So then, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh [we are not obligated to our carnal nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the flesh.
For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." (Amplified)
If we are saved by grace through faith, that grace will result in good works. Stated another way, it is through faith that we access the power of grace to do what God requires of us. Galatians 3:2-5
"I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?" (NIV)
Good works come as a RESULT of receiving grace through faith. The order cannot be changed, and this is an essential point. No man can do anything to earn God's favour or approval. Only by Christ are we righteous before God. As His life is given to us by grace, we then (and only then) will be able to do works that are truly good from God's perspective.Galatians 5:4-5
"You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope." (NIV)
Romans 11:6
"And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace." (NIV)
Therefore, you are now saved by grace, through faith, unto good works. By grace we receive His life into ours by the Holy Spirit -- and if this transaction really occurs then His grace will work "in us to will and do His good purpose". We will "work out" what He has "worked in" ... which is Himself. 1 John 3:9
"No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God."
James 1:21-22
"Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."
You have already graduated from the school of the Law. So do not be aquainted with it once again. Galatians 3:24
"Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith."
The principle role of the law is to condemn us; to show us our need for the grace of Jesus Christ. The law should never be thought of as our motive force, or used as a "under the law" anymore. But neither are we "above the law" as it would be a shame to graduate from school and forget everything that we had learned, even though graduating we are no longer "under" the authority of that school anymore. Having graduated from the school of law, we now do real work by the life of Christ within. When the Spirit grants obedience to us by grace, we find ourselves doing what God wanted all along. At this point, the law illuminates the way in front of us, giving light to our path as we keep in step with the Spirit. Again, the law is not the motive force or power, the Spirit is. But as the grace os the life of Christ abounds in us, the law gives confidence to our steps as we walk in the Spirit.
Proverbs 6:23
"For the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light."
Psalm 119:105
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
Therefore, obedience by grace, in the light of the law. Real graceworks out what God has worked in.1 Corinthians 15:10
" But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me." (NAS)
Hebrew 12:15
"See to it that no one misses the grace of God..."
2 Corinthians 9:8
"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed."
Alright..I've written for almost 3 hours. Enough for today. I'll continue another day....too long to read already right? haha..hope it showed u more of God's love for you and His glory. And I hope Christ is preached here!
much help taken from ACTS 17:11 bible studies.
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9:30 PM
Monday, October 02, 2006
I still haven't gotten all the photos from everyone...so only have the recent ones taken in the city as we went shopping on friday! - didn't buy much..I promise!
I was surprised that I've never been to this place all my time in Perth!..it's so "english" and it was a pretty place...prob coming back for more walkin around here and photos. Besides that, Gucci, LV, crumpler, just to name a few are here.
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2:31 AM
