Look at your cell phone. I am sure you have a SIGNAL of the Network you have chosen to subscribed. If you are recieving the signal - you are connected!
NOW... look at the names of people in your phonebook. I am sure all of these people also have signals in their cellphones.
The reality which seems not obvious is that OBJECTIVELY you are already connected to every person registered in your phonebook, but SUBJECTIVELY you need to call each of them for you to be able to relate.
By our UNION with our Lord Jesus Christ we are objectively connected to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All humanity has the signal. That is why we can Pray with confidence and faith that God hears our prayers always. Our prayers need not travel a long distance to reach God's throne in a far heaven.
Moreover we Pray because we are connected not because we were cut off from God because of our sins and we need to pray so that we will be connected again.
Thank God our connection is IN Christ... it is therefore permanent not on and off . Our connection does not depend on us or on what we do or do not do.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
The Original Plan - ADOPTION
In the last post we have seen that there was NO eternal decree that God will choose to saved some and roasts others to hell. So, what was/is the mind of God in the beginning? Why did He create humanity?
There was a Plan - that is ADOPTION
For all eternity even before the foundation of the world, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are enjoying and savoring the sweetness of an eternal communion. They want to INCLUDE "others" into that relationship.
But who could that "others" be? Angels? Animals? Plants?
Then God said " Let Us make man in our image, according to our likeness..." Genesis 1:26
Of all His creation... God created man after His own image so that humanity could enter or participate or be included into the fellowship of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
"He PREDESTINED us to adoption through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the kind intention of His will." Ephesians 1:5
We are created to be adopted - that is the original plan. HOW? Through Jesus Christ. No one will decide on his free will to volunteer to be adopted. it is through and only through Jesus Christ.
HOW will Jesus Christ do it? Is it some act that he will do? or does it have something to do with Jesus person and being?
The answer is it happens through Jesus by his INCARNATION. Our being adopted is because of the PERSON and BEING of Christ. He is both God and Man. In him all humanity is vicariously represented and substituted. He came for us to unite us in Him. He came for our adoption.
Most people fail to understand this because the look only on the Work of Christ , at what He did on the cross . They must really see WHO JESUS IS. As God -Man as the Second Adam that in His Person and Being - We are included in his relationship and communion to the His Father and the Holy Spirit.
There was a Plan - that is ADOPTION
For all eternity even before the foundation of the world, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are enjoying and savoring the sweetness of an eternal communion. They want to INCLUDE "others" into that relationship.
But who could that "others" be? Angels? Animals? Plants?
Then God said " Let Us make man in our image, according to our likeness..." Genesis 1:26
Of all His creation... God created man after His own image so that humanity could enter or participate or be included into the fellowship of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
"He PREDESTINED us to adoption through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the kind intention of His will." Ephesians 1:5
We are created to be adopted - that is the original plan. HOW? Through Jesus Christ. No one will decide on his free will to volunteer to be adopted. it is through and only through Jesus Christ.
HOW will Jesus Christ do it? Is it some act that he will do? or does it have something to do with Jesus person and being?
The answer is it happens through Jesus by his INCARNATION. Our being adopted is because of the PERSON and BEING of Christ. He is both God and Man. In him all humanity is vicariously represented and substituted. He came for us to unite us in Him. He came for our adoption.
Most people fail to understand this because the look only on the Work of Christ , at what He did on the cross . They must really see WHO JESUS IS. As God -Man as the Second Adam that in His Person and Being - We are included in his relationship and communion to the His Father and the Holy Spirit.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
There is NO Divine Decree
There is NO Divine Decree before the foundation of the world - that some people will believe while others will be lost.
If such decree exists , it would make Christ death on the cross unnecessary because even if he did not die, some were decreed to be saved anyway.
Throughout the thousand years history of the Old Testament , no such decree was explicitly mentioned. Even in the New Testament no such decree was mentioned either.
Such decree was only a product of deductive thinking and logic of some people.
They reasoned: That since the Bible mentioned some people will go to hell then, not all people will be saved. If not all people will be saved, therefore Jesus did not die for all. He did not die for all because God limited his atonement to a chosen few by an eternal decree before the foundation of the world. He chose some to be saved to demonstrate his love. Others will be roasted in hell because He is just.
That might be a very good reasoning and logic. The problem is, it is not Biblical and it is wrong theologically. People who believe this way may be sincere ... and sincerely wrong.
It is sad when people claims to believe in God's sovereignty when they are actually believing in the superiority of their thinking not recognizing the true identity of God as Trinity and not knowing Jesus Christ as the Second Adam that reversed the effect of the fall in the life of humanity.
What logic can refute the following explicit verses from the Bible:
If such decree exists , it would make Christ death on the cross unnecessary because even if he did not die, some were decreed to be saved anyway.
Throughout the thousand years history of the Old Testament , no such decree was explicitly mentioned. Even in the New Testament no such decree was mentioned either.
Such decree was only a product of deductive thinking and logic of some people.
They reasoned: That since the Bible mentioned some people will go to hell then, not all people will be saved. If not all people will be saved, therefore Jesus did not die for all. He did not die for all because God limited his atonement to a chosen few by an eternal decree before the foundation of the world. He chose some to be saved to demonstrate his love. Others will be roasted in hell because He is just.
That might be a very good reasoning and logic. The problem is, it is not Biblical and it is wrong theologically. People who believe this way may be sincere ... and sincerely wrong.
It is sad when people claims to believe in God's sovereignty when they are actually believing in the superiority of their thinking not recognizing the true identity of God as Trinity and not knowing Jesus Christ as the Second Adam that reversed the effect of the fall in the life of humanity.
What logic can refute the following explicit verses from the Bible:
- John 12:32: “I [Jesus], when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”
- 2 Corinthians 5:14: “Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.”
- Colossians 1:19-20: “God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
- 1 Timothy 2:3-6: “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.”
- 1 Timothy 4:9-10: “This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance…that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.”
- Hebrews 2:9: “We see Jesus, who…suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”
- 1 John 2:2: “[Jesus is] the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”
- See also John 1:29; 3:17; Romans 8:32; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19; Titus 2:11; and 1 John 4:14.
These passages make it plain that Jesus died for all humanity. The Bible is very clear .
ONLY the twisted logic and reasoning of man will interpret those verses to mean something, it does not mean.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Are unbelievers included?
We are proclaiming the "Gospel" - the good news that God loves all mankind both believers and unbelievers. It is sad, however, that some people are opposing this message and can not really believe the extent of God's grace. They even claimed that when the Bible speaks of God's love it is exclusively for believers only.
When Paul went to Athens, he met UNBELIEVERS, his spirit was provoked because the city was full of idols.He reasoned in the synagogues and in marketplace. Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were there too (Acts 17:16-21)
He stood in the midst of Areopagus addressed the Men of Athens who are very religious and yet are idolaters. They even have an altar: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. (verses 22 - 23 )
He explained that this Unknown God is the Creator - that He gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.(verses 24-25). That they should seek God , in the hope that they might feel their way toward Him and find Him. (v 27)
YET...Is God distant to this unbelievers of Athens?
YET he is actually NOT FAR from each one of US. ( Paul and everybody there listening to him, most of them are unbelievers) verse 27
"In him we live and move and have our being" and even some of YOUR own poets have said. " For we are indeed his offspring." ( verse 28 )
Being then God's offspring we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone an image formed by the art and imagination of man... (verse 29 )
Let us make that more simple:
Being then God's offspring, let us gave up idolatry. Because the unbelievers of Athens are God's offspring (children), they must gave up idolatry.
Paul told them their real identity ( God's offspring ) , Who they are already in Christ. And because of their identity, he made them realized their having idols is not appropriate for who they are so they must repent of it.
Paul NEVER said, You must give up idolatry SO THAT you will become God's offspring.
As a result of knowing and believing their identity "Some men joined him and believed among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them . (verse 34 )
THE GOOD NEWS is for unbelievers , DO NOT BE DECEIVED when others say that the Bible is for BELIEVERS only, for how can you evangelize, how do you do mission when you can not quote from the Bible because you were made to believe that unbelievers can not apply those verses to themselves.
The news is really good - you are included by grace...
When Paul went to Athens, he met UNBELIEVERS, his spirit was provoked because the city was full of idols.He reasoned in the synagogues and in marketplace. Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were there too (Acts 17:16-21)
He stood in the midst of Areopagus addressed the Men of Athens who are very religious and yet are idolaters. They even have an altar: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. (verses 22 - 23 )
He explained that this Unknown God is the Creator - that He gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.(verses 24-25). That they should seek God , in the hope that they might feel their way toward Him and find Him. (v 27)
YET...Is God distant to this unbelievers of Athens?
YET he is actually NOT FAR from each one of US. ( Paul and everybody there listening to him, most of them are unbelievers) verse 27
"In him we live and move and have our being" and even some of YOUR own poets have said. " For we are indeed his offspring." ( verse 28 )
Being then God's offspring we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone an image formed by the art and imagination of man... (verse 29 )
Let us make that more simple:
Being then God's offspring, let us gave up idolatry. Because the unbelievers of Athens are God's offspring (children), they must gave up idolatry.
Paul told them their real identity ( God's offspring ) , Who they are already in Christ. And because of their identity, he made them realized their having idols is not appropriate for who they are so they must repent of it.
Paul NEVER said, You must give up idolatry SO THAT you will become God's offspring.
As a result of knowing and believing their identity "Some men joined him and believed among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them . (verse 34 )
THE GOOD NEWS is for unbelievers , DO NOT BE DECEIVED when others say that the Bible is for BELIEVERS only, for how can you evangelize, how do you do mission when you can not quote from the Bible because you were made to believe that unbelievers can not apply those verses to themselves.
The news is really good - you are included by grace...
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
What is your morning prayer?
Prayer is an expression of our communion with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We pray because we are connected - we do not pray to be connected.
Every morning some people pray like this way:
" Father , thank you for this day, please be with me in all my activities , work and where ever I may be. Bless my plans and please come and be with me. In Jesus name , Amen"
Hmm ... of course God answers prayer not scrutinizing every word that we used but he answers it by grace. However the words we say in our prayers reflects our understanding about who God is and who we are in Him.
Consider the following truths:
1. You are in the presence of God all the time. it is not on and off presence. This is a reality because of our union with Christ.
2. When you slept last night. after saying your prayer. God did not go home in heaven and left you alone soundly asleep,planning to go back before you wake up or when you call Him back.
3. When you wake up in the morning. you just need to acknowledge that God is there and did not leave. He is the first Person who greets you good morning and you do not need to call him back from heaven to be with you again for that new day.
You may say something like this :
" Father thank you for watching me as I rest through your gift of sleep. I was safe all along because you embrace me while asleep. I have a very good morning because my day starts with you and as always, you will be with me because I am united to you in your beloved Son, Jesus Christ in the communion of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Prayer is very important... because in prayer we commune... Let us live a life of prayer...
Every morning some people pray like this way:
" Father , thank you for this day, please be with me in all my activities , work and where ever I may be. Bless my plans and please come and be with me. In Jesus name , Amen"
Hmm ... of course God answers prayer not scrutinizing every word that we used but he answers it by grace. However the words we say in our prayers reflects our understanding about who God is and who we are in Him.
Consider the following truths:
1. You are in the presence of God all the time. it is not on and off presence. This is a reality because of our union with Christ.
2. When you slept last night. after saying your prayer. God did not go home in heaven and left you alone soundly asleep,planning to go back before you wake up or when you call Him back.
3. When you wake up in the morning. you just need to acknowledge that God is there and did not leave. He is the first Person who greets you good morning and you do not need to call him back from heaven to be with you again for that new day.
You may say something like this :
" Father thank you for watching me as I rest through your gift of sleep. I was safe all along because you embrace me while asleep. I have a very good morning because my day starts with you and as always, you will be with me because I am united to you in your beloved Son, Jesus Christ in the communion of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Prayer is very important... because in prayer we commune... Let us live a life of prayer...
Saturday, May 14, 2011
How close are you to God ?
We have known and believed that our God is a relational God. This is why the Bible says "God is love".
Because our Creator is relational, each of us is also born with a desire to relate and be close to someone. We will be hurt if we are rejected by someone that we want to relate with.
Deep in our hearts, each individual , even those whom we see and label as bad or worst sinners have that longing to relate with God, they just do not know how or they judged themselves as too bad to be able to relate. But for sure they want to be close.
Christians of course understand the essence of relationship. That is why we are taught by some preachers that when we read the Bible God is talking to us, and when we pray we talk to God. Understood in the right perspective, our relationship with God is what really matters in our Christian life. Even what we call "Christian Living" or "Christian Ethics" will be taken cared of if we are conscious of our relationship with God.
The most important question then is: How close is God to us and how close are we to Him?
Do not be too sure you know.... the answer may surprise you....
"In that day... you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." John 14:20
In our humanity, we know what it means to be closer to someone. yet we understand it to be in terms of " togetherness" . We know we are close to each other when we are together. and the degree of closeness is tantamount to the frequency of togetherness.
To simplify it, we say , we want to be WITH each other: it is a "with-ness" relationship.
Our Lord Jesus, however, did not say that He is simply with us.... it is much closer than that... He is in us...
And how many of us run towards God and want to be with Him.?
Do you know that you are closer than being with Him , You are IN Him.
That is the GOOD NEWS: In Christ you we are adopted into the communion of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. YES you are closer than you could ever think.
REJOICE ALWAYS: You are closer than close because you are included by grace....
Because our Creator is relational, each of us is also born with a desire to relate and be close to someone. We will be hurt if we are rejected by someone that we want to relate with.
Deep in our hearts, each individual , even those whom we see and label as bad or worst sinners have that longing to relate with God, they just do not know how or they judged themselves as too bad to be able to relate. But for sure they want to be close.
Christians of course understand the essence of relationship. That is why we are taught by some preachers that when we read the Bible God is talking to us, and when we pray we talk to God. Understood in the right perspective, our relationship with God is what really matters in our Christian life. Even what we call "Christian Living" or "Christian Ethics" will be taken cared of if we are conscious of our relationship with God.
The most important question then is: How close is God to us and how close are we to Him?
Do not be too sure you know.... the answer may surprise you....
"In that day... you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." John 14:20
In our humanity, we know what it means to be closer to someone. yet we understand it to be in terms of " togetherness" . We know we are close to each other when we are together. and the degree of closeness is tantamount to the frequency of togetherness.
To simplify it, we say , we want to be WITH each other: it is a "with-ness" relationship.
Our Lord Jesus, however, did not say that He is simply with us.... it is much closer than that... He is in us...
And how many of us run towards God and want to be with Him.?
Do you know that you are closer than being with Him , You are IN Him.
That is the GOOD NEWS: In Christ you we are adopted into the communion of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. YES you are closer than you could ever think.
REJOICE ALWAYS: You are closer than close because you are included by grace....
Monday, May 2, 2011
Talk to Strangers....
There was a saying "Do Not Talk To Strangers". This is said with the intention that now a days we do not really know the purpose of anyone who might be talking to us. So, for our protection, we were advised that way.
However, if we are Christians we need to talk to strangers for several reasons but there is one important reason
We need to talk to people because we are Trinitarians. Ohhhh .... I do not mean that every time you talk to anyone you have to explain that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. No No No. BUT as Trinitarians we know and believe that our God is a RELATIONAL God. Since eternity each Person relate to the other, they communicate and love each other. That's the purpose WHY we are ADOPTED so that we are now included into that Triune relationship.
So... If we are to tell people people WHO the Trinity is. We do not always need to talk about that truth in a very religious way. but most importantly in a very RELATIONAL way. in other words BE RELATIONAL.
That stranger beside you in a bus, or anywhere may not yet know yet that he/she is now included into the relationship of the Son to His Father. You do not need to explain at once theologically this truth. You do not need to open your Bible at once and show several verses. BUT here is what you can do.
TALK ... COMMUNICATE... RELATE...
Your topic may be anything about family, work, friends, nature, foods, music , hobbies and others... that is all right because everything in this life is included by Grace...
However, if we are Christians we need to talk to strangers for several reasons but there is one important reason
We need to talk to people because we are Trinitarians. Ohhhh .... I do not mean that every time you talk to anyone you have to explain that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. No No No. BUT as Trinitarians we know and believe that our God is a RELATIONAL God. Since eternity each Person relate to the other, they communicate and love each other. That's the purpose WHY we are ADOPTED so that we are now included into that Triune relationship.
So... If we are to tell people people WHO the Trinity is. We do not always need to talk about that truth in a very religious way. but most importantly in a very RELATIONAL way. in other words BE RELATIONAL.
That stranger beside you in a bus, or anywhere may not yet know yet that he/she is now included into the relationship of the Son to His Father. You do not need to explain at once theologically this truth. You do not need to open your Bible at once and show several verses. BUT here is what you can do.
TALK ... COMMUNICATE... RELATE...
Your topic may be anything about family, work, friends, nature, foods, music , hobbies and others... that is all right because everything in this life is included by Grace...
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