Transformed By The Written Words #1Book1Week June 2021

Have you ever read a sentence or paragraph that contains such a profound nugget of truth that it jumps off the page and hits you right between the mind's eyes? Bam?!! Sometimes you say to yourself, "That's exactly what I've been thinking but could never put into words!" And sometimes you're just amazed, "I never thought of it that way before. That's so true! That's it!"

Every reader has experienced special moments like these when we're instantly transformed by the written words a.k.a. books. Those moments of insight wake us from our slumber of self-contentment or shake our self-absorption - and push us to grow. Slowly we move out from darkness to light; from stuckness to solutions; from despair to hope. Author of Wake Up And Live!, Dorothea Brande describes the experience this way:

"I found the idea which set me free. I was not consciously looking for it. I was engaged in a piece of research in a different field. But I came across a sentence in a book I was reading which was so illuminating that I put the book aside to consider all of the ideas suggested by that [one sentence]. When I picked the book up again, I was a different person."

"I was a different person." Wow, this line is VERY relatable! I know exactly what Dorothea means because that's what happened to me. When I finished reading James White's The Forgotten Trinity, for example, my knowledge, confidence, and love for the triune God of the Bible grow. When I considered the importance of sleep outlines in Matthew Walker's Why We Sleep, I was more aware of my sleeping habits. When I listened to J.C. Ryle's Repentance, I was reminded to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ together with the call to repentance. That is one of the hidden powers of reading. It can transform us and make us different - and better, gradually - than we were one month or year earlier. Will you emerge from the pandemic stronger, better, and more knowledgeable? Or, weaker, worsen, and remain the same? READ BOOKS ���������

#ServeToLead #GrowingLeaders #LeadersAreReaders #BeADifferentPerson #GrowDontJustSurvive #LetsMakeReadingCoolAgain

To read my #1Book1Week reviews of these books and others, CLICK HERE

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The Forgotten Trinity: Recovering The Heart of Christian Belief (1998) by James R. White, Book Review

 The Forgotten Trinity: Recovering The Heart of Christian Belief (1998) by James R. White

I’m a Triunetheist or Trinitarian. I believe in the doctrine of Trinity because it is clearly taught in the Scripture. Like the existence of God, in the past, in my fallen humanity, I don’t like to believe that God exists (I’ve considered becoming an atheist) - but He does. Or, like the life, the death, and the resurrection of my Lord Jesus Christ, I used to wish that it wasn’t true or that He is a myth but the vast evidence in history and Biblical accounts - and my conviction - just can’t erase the truth from my heart and mind. Or, like the mystery of the Holy Spirit, I was lost in trying to understanding who He really is (the old translation “Holy Ghost” doesn’t help at all. For once, I thought He was a ghost! Scary!) but when I dive deeper into the Scripture and through personal experiences, truly, the Holy Spirit is a fully divine person. Some may think that these are very subjective approaches but one must understand that the truth is both subjective and objective (even fictional characters like Sherlock Holmes and Patrick Jane make guesses and theories all the time). There is no living creature who is purely objective. If you want to understand the concept of trinity, I suggest, you need to search the Scriptures, examine the historical accounts, apply reason, challenge your preconceived ideas, and be open with the supernatural experience. The Triune God can be known, if it’s true; and yet not fully known or comprehend, if He is God. 

Now, let's go to James White’s The Forgotten Trinity. Not only Mr. White is an accomplished and excellent Christian apologist, but he is also a very articulate author. I’ve read many theology textbooks on the Trinity. The excellent ones are by Wayne Grudem, Millard Erickson, and Charles Hodge. But what makes The Forgotten Trinity the best so far is, in my opinion, that it is precise, concise, and non-technical (except the Greeks!). This is a lay-person-friendly book. It is written with specific goals: to outline proofs that the doctrine of the Trinity is clearly taught in the Scriptures, to lead Christian readers to a knowledge of God’s truth & to invoke love and worship toward the Triune God or as Mr. White says, “I desire that you will join with me in being able to say, ‘I love the Trinity.’” What is the Trinity? He defines it as: Within the one Being that is God, there exists eternally three coequal and coeternal persons, namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The three foundations of the Trinity that Mr. White sets at the beginning of this book are very important too that I’m afraid most anti- or non-trinitarian often missed and misunderstood: Foundation #1 Monotheism: There Is Only One God; Foundation #2 There Are Three Divine Persons; and Foundation #3 The Persons Are Coequal and Coeternal. “Every error and heresy on this doctrine will find its origin in a denial of one or more of these truths.” Currently, I’m reading a book on Christian heresies, sects, and cults - so, I very much agree!

The book is divided into 14 chapters and progressively builds up from what is the Trinity, who God is, the nature and person of Christ, the truth about the Holy Spirit, brief church history, and finally, on Christian devotion, the Gospel and the Trinity. Usually, I try to read one book a week but this book took me about two weeks to finished, not because it is long but because I take time to savor, think, pray and examine (almost) every Bible passages that are quoted. I’m a Trinitarian like Mr. White, so I’m on his side. But it never crossed my mind that he or any theologian or preacher or apologist (or me, as a matter of fact) is 100% right. Only the Word of God is inerrant, infallible, and inspired - everything else is commentary. I’ve listened to almost a hundred debates on Christianity, Islam, atheism, other religions, cults, and social issues. I’m fully aware of alternative views, different interpretations, and refutes out there about the Trinity. But I’ve made up my mind that the Trinity is fundamental to the Christian faith. No Trinity, no real Christianity. Period. Let me end this somewhat review with a Christian hymn: “Holy, Holy. Holy! Lord God Almighty! All Thy works shall praise Thy Name in earth and sky and sea; Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and Mighty! God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!”

Here are some of my recommendations of James White’s debates on the Trinity:

1) With Michael Brown vs. Anthony Buzzard & Joseph Good, Unitarians https://youtu.be/kYhaH0ftujI The Best!
2) Vs. Roger Perkins, Oneness (or, Unitarian) https://youtu.be/U-KMGuXCs-c 
3) Vs. Adnan Rashid, Muslim https://youtu.be/Y6G3AIqmB3I 
4) Vs. Shabir Ally, Muslim https://youtu.be/NKeMsW2b71U 
5) Vs. Dan Baker, Atheist https://youtu.be/UNZh-4pDio0 

#ServeToLead #PreachTheWord #LeadersAreReaders #GrowingLeaders #TheTrinity #DoctrineAndTheology #JamesWhite #LetsMakeReadingCoolAgain

To read my other #1BookWeek reviews, CLICK HERE: https://legasitv.blogspot.com/search/label/Book%20Review 


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Angelus' Quote: The Triune God Is Uncomprehend

 

This is a good read 😊 Augustine (of Hippo) was once walking by the seashore pondering the doctrine of the Trinity. He came upon a little boy who dipping water from the ocean with a shell and pouring the water into a hole of sand. "What are you doing?" Augustine asked the child. "I'm going to put the ocean in this hole," the boy replied.

Augustine went his way. But, he confided to his friends later that he was struck with the thought: "And are you doing the like in thinking to comprehend the depths of God in the limits of your finite mind?" If you try to understand the Trinity, you will lose your mind. But if you deny the Trinity, you will lose your soul ⚡📖👈 #ServeToLead #GodTheTrinity

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Young Men and Women, Christ Is All that Matters

“Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us”

(Colossians 3:11, NLT)

Paul compresses his comprehensive creed into these 12 words: “Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.” Each word brings to light all the excellences and glories of Jesus Christ our Lord. I love how New King James Version simplified it: “Christ is all and in all.” Letter to the Colossian church aims primarily at the exaltation of Christ in His glory and splendor. Of the 95 verses in this letter, Christ is mentioned more than half! Christ, Christ, Christ. “Christ is all and in all.” The Colossian Christian were being taught and lured away by the false teachings of Gnosticism (you're required to have ‘special knowledge’ to get to know God, to put it simply).  Paul here directs their attention toward Jesus alone as the source of wisdom and knowledge – Christ is all that matters.

Paul tells them that in Christ, “dwells all the completeness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). A hymn by an unknown author puts it wonderfully,

In Him most perfectly expressed,

The Father’s glories shine,

Of the full Deity possessed

Eternally divine.

Jesus is the complete embodiment of all there is in God. Jesus Himself declared: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father… I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (John 14:9, 11). Paul here demolished the Docetic* heresy which maintained that Jesus has no real body and the Cerinthian* heresy which separated the man Jesus from the divine attribute.

Christ is the all in all of creation. “Everything was created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:16). “Everything” here means the whole universe. This is the Christ-centred universe – a Christocentric universe! He is its nerve center. Paul is underlining the central activity of Christ in creation. The whole creation is designed to reveal Him. The natural points us to the spiritual.

Christ is the all in all of the providence. “He existed before anything else” (Colossian 1:17). J. Oswald Sanders writes, “Christ occupies the whole sphere of human life and permeates all its developments. Nature is not a machine. Its laws are formulated and administered by the risen Christ.” It is by Him that all things unified, hold together and “in him, we live and move and exist” (Acts 17:28).

Christ is the all in all of the redemption. He “purchased our freedom and forgave our sins” (Colossians 1:14). Through His blood we have redemption! He alone has redeemed us. He paid the debt of our sin not with silver or gold but by His own precious blood. Jesus nailed our sin to the cross thus “ canceled the record of the charges against us” (Colossians 2:14). At the same time, He gloriously defeated “the [evil] spiritual rulers and authorities” and held them up to public shame and disgrace (read Colossians 2:15).

Christ is all that matters

And you know what? He lives in all of us. Wow!

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus Is the Embodiment of "God Is Love" (1 John 4:7-8; 13-16)

John the disciple of Jesus, was known as "the son of thunder" had become "the Apostle of love."
Love effects

“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who love is child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love”

(1 John 4:7-8, NLT).

This is the third (or more) time that the Apostle John brings up the subject of “love”. So it must really have been a great concern for him – especially God Himself. But each time John talks about love, he doesn’t just repeat himself but talks about love in a deeper way, that is why I love God’s Word because it is never boring. How John knows about “love” so much? Because John had lived with Jesus physically on earth and after the resurrection, Jesus lives in him (and all of us) thru the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the embodiment of God, love in action. So John can say with confidence: “God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love” (1 John 4:13-16). John is not talking about theory or principle, but the reality of love – John has seen Jesus and he knows that “God is love.”

From our previous studies we have already seen that love and hate are like light and darkness. And that we show people that we are God’s children by the way we treat other people. But here John ties the subject of love into the very essence of who God is – “God is love.” John says that love begins with God. Since the very beginning of time, God has cared about the world and people. The Bible says, “For God loved the world so much…” (John 3:16).

[Basically, there are three ways the word “world” is referred to: 1) the physical world, 2) the world's evil system, and 3) the people of the world. We are to love 3) and care for 1) but to hate 2) totally.]

Way back in the Book of Genesis, we read that God created people in His image – in the likeness of God (see Genesis 1:26). We are different from the tigers and monkeys, the pigs and the fish. We are special and different from everything else that God has made. And to be created in the image of God, we must love, since God is both the source and origin of love. It is just God's nature to love. Thus, by knowing Jesus we know God (John 14:7), we then learn to love; and by loving other people - especially our brothers and sisters in Christ - we learn to know God and His Son. It works both ways. The word “know” here is more than just a head or intellectual knowledge. To know God is to share our lives with God. It is the deepest kind of friendship or relationship – the best kind of all.

“Let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God.

Anyone who love is child of God and knows God.”

And Jesus says, “If you had really known me,

you would who my Father is” (John 14:7).

Do you know who God is? Do you know what love is? Know Jesus.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus Is God's Son: The Liar & Antichrist Denies This Truth (1 John 2:22-23)

“And who is a liar? Anyone who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Anyone who denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist. Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father, either. But anyone who acknowledges the Son has the Father also”

(1 John 2:22-23, NLT).

Remember, the Apostle John was writing this letter to Christians, not to non-Christians. So, he reminds us here that the ultimate lie from those who called themselves ‘Christians’ is to deny that Jesus is God’s Son. In fact, if some people lie about this, they really can’t be trusted on anything else important. As I read the Scriptures, God’s Word clearly teaches that a person cannot know God without knowing the Son, Jesus Christ.

Again and again Jesus Himself said that to know Him was to know God Himself; to reject Jesus was to reject God. “My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Luke 10:22). One time, Jesus insisted that He and God were one and the same: “If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me. For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me… I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. and I know his commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells me to say” (John 12:44-45, 49-50); “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30).

We see that our faith as Christians depends on the unique relationship that Jesus, the Son had with God the Father. It was so unique and different from the relationship an ordinary human being could have with God; it was a one-of-a-kind relationship. I know this can be difficult to understand, just as it is difficult for me to explain. But all I can gather from what the Scriptures and the Spirit teach is that to deny that Jesus is God’s Son is to deny God the Father as well; to believe that Jesus is God’s Son is to have a correct view of who God the Father is. We can know God partially from nature, even the world around us. But we can know God fully only through and by knowing the Son, Jesus Christ.

Friends, it’s all wrapped up together in one package. You can’t have Jesus without God the Father, and you can’t have God the Father without believing that Jesus was God’s Son. To believe otherwise, according to John, is to tell a terrible lie. “Anyone who denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist. Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father, either. But anyone who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” Amen.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus bring the Father Great Joy

“One day when the crowds were being baptized, Jesus himself was baptized. As he was praying, the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, ‘You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.’” (Luke 3: 21-22, NLT)

Can you hear that powerful voice “from heaven” saying, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy”? Can you imagine? Imagine. God’s words convey a dual expression of divine love and joy. Jesus was God’s “dearly loved Son.” We only need to chew on this concept for a few seconds to begin to understand both the depth of love and the depth of sacrifice involved here. (Btw, here, at Jesus’ baptism, God unmistakably certified Jesus as his Son and the Holy Spirit also appeared. The Trinity made an appearance! For those who wonder how God can be ‘three in one,’ Jesus’ baptism captures the Trinity in action, expressing one mind and purpose yet in three distinct ways).

A hymn from the early church describes the momentous significance of Jesus coming from heaven to the dusty roads of Judea: “Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8).

The sacrifice was immerse, and it was undertaken with purpose and conviction. We don’t know at what point in life Jesus fully understood his mission to die for the sins of all humanity. However, we do know that it was clear to him during his three years of traveling and teaching, for three separate times he told his disciples he was going to die and rise again. The events that unfolded did not take Jesus by surprise. He came to do what God had planned from ages past.

Jesus brought his Father great joy because he willingly took upon himself human form in order to die for sinful humanity – for us. The Father looked upon his human Son, fresh from the waters of baptism, and spoke from heaven of his love and joy for all to hear. “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.” How joyful God was!

Pray and praise God for the extraordinary gift of his Son.

Ask him to help you pursue the godly, worshipful life that makes him rejoice over you.

In Christ, Jesus live in you, you also can bring joy to God. God, is a Joyful God.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus is in Kuching Town

“[After Jesus raises a widow’s son from the death] Great fear swept the crowd, and they praised God, saying, ‘A mighty prophet has risen among us,’ and ‘God has visited his people today.’ And the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding countryside”

(Luke 7:16-17, NLT, bracket mine)

The people of the town of Nain said, “God has visited his people today.” Their statement was more accurate than some of them may have intended it to be. It was true that God visited his people by bringing the dead boy back to life (Luke 7:11-15), but this miracle was not performed by an ordinary prophet of God (as Muslim said Jesus was); this miracle was performed personally by God himself – by the God-man, Jesus Christ the Nazareth. Apostle Paul once wrote, “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body” (Colossians 2:9, NLT). The people of Nain had not only seen the miracle in which the dead boy came back to life, but they actually saw God himself perform the miracle!

All of this is a mystery to us. The doctrine or teaching of the Trinity and of Jesus’ incarnation are beyond our human comprehension. How can God be in heaven as a spirit (who has no flesh and bones) and at the same time be on earth as a man? We cannot understand, but we can believe that it is true. I know that it is true. It is the truth.

Although the teaching that God is everywhere is mystery to our intellect, it is a comfort to our heart. It is comforting to know that wherever we are living, God the Father who made us still continues to preserve us, his children. It is comforting to know that Jesus who redeemed us from sin, still walks next to us in this life today. It is comforting to know that God the Spirit who has brought us to faith in Jesus, continue to keep us in that faith. Only if we remain faithful, God is faithful to us.

From a spectacular miracle we know that the same God who was present bodily in the God-man Jesus in the town of Nain about 2,000 years ago are still present today in our town and among us. Jesus is in my town – Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. Jesus is in your town too. It doesn’t matter where we live, for Jesus’ sake, our God is with us. Jesus is Emmanuel, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). He will help us. He will forgive us. He will guide us. If our doubts ever arise concerning God’s presence, all we have to do is to read God’s Word, his words and promises, in Isaiah 41:10: “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand” (NLT).

Jesus is in our town.

Jesus is with us.

Jesus has come to help his people. Amen.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus Christ: Mr. Light of the World or Mr. Arrogant?

Sometime I met people who always seem to be full of themselves. Singing their own praises, full of their own important, and think of himself or herself more than anyone else. They are not the kind of people I like to get around with. But as I read the Scripture, I noticed that, Jesus, at first impression, seems to be a bit like that: he talks a lot about himself and seems to offer himself to others as the answer to their needs. I ask God who writes Bible: Does Jesus have any right to talk this way?

What about this (for example): “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12, ESV)? That is a strange thing for anyone to say. In what possible way can one man be the source of light for the whole world? What?! And is he telling us that apart from him and without him people are, in effect, in darkness? If you read this passage carefully, “I am the light of the world,” that would certainly seem to be the case, for he goes on to say: “Whoever follow me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (8:12).

As if it was not clear enough, Jesus repeats it: “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). Follow him, believe him, is what Jesus saying, because without him we are simply blind and will stumble our way through life, risking making wrong decisions and going to the wrong directions. Without Jesus it will be like walking in the dark!

Now, unless it is true (which I personally believe to be true), that is an arrogant talk! And for those who were there when Jesus said it, it was made worse because they would detect, realized in these words – “I am the light” – that Jesus was claiming to be divine. For them, “light” was a description of God Himself, and the ONLY one who had the right to claim to be the light of the world is God! So Jesus’ claim was daring indeed: He claimed to be what God alone is supposed to be, and therefore claimed to offer people light which would make a radical difference to their lives.

“I am the light of the world.” This was a shocking statement from Jesus (maybe not so much today, but during Jesus’ time, that claim is blasphemous if it’s not true), so to you, who do you say Jesus is: The liar of the world? The looser of the world? Or “The light of the world”? Seek Jesus for yourself, pray to God and read the Gospels first hand before you make any decision, because any decision you may make will make a difference in your life – either into the light or into the darkness. May you choose the brighter future in Him. Choose Light. Amen.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Can Jesus be Both Man and God? ("No Way!" or "Oh Yeah!")

Jesus was a man. All right. If we look at Jesus’ life, it’s hard to deny that. But what about his claim to be God (as I already examined in the last two blog posts)? Can he be both? The first followers of Jesus certainly seemed to think so. Two of the Gospel writers, especially, said so clearly in their account of the birth of Jesus.

Luke recorded the visit of an angel to Mary telling her that she would become pregnant and give birth to a son. Since she was then unmarried, she was understandably (okay, I don’t really understand actually) surprised and alarmed and asked how it could happen. The angel replied: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy – the Son of God” (Luke 1:35, ESV).

Matthew, on the other hand, highlights the experience of Joseph, Mary’s fiancé. Joseph was understandably (okay, once again, I don’t really understand) concerned when he discovered she was pregnant and he contemplated calling an end to the engagement. But God through a dream spoke to him and reassured him: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:20, ESV).

These part of the Gospel accounts, possibly more than any other, is difficult for some to accept – it sounds more like fantasy than fact (probably one of the great stumbling block for our majority neighbour). Yet it is entirely consistent with the rest of the Gospel accounts, and it provides an explanation of that contrast between the divinity and the humanity claim of Jesus.  Both Luke and Matthew tells us that Jesus was born of Mary and is therefore – man; but was conceived by the Spirit of God and is therefore – God. And that is what early Christians have believed down the centuries until now, that Jesus was both – man and God. The Apostles’ Creed (if you worship in a Protestant Church, you might be familiar with this), one of the earliest statements of Christian faith and belief, states that: “I believe in Jesus Christ… He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.”

To say that Jesus is both (100%) man and (100%) God is neither to twist the evidence in the Scripture, nor to dismiss part of it, but rather to face up realistically to the whole Scripture’s evidences. But, yeah, you must examine the evidence yourself. Start with actually reading the Gospel story in the New Testament yourself. Don’t settle for what people’s saying (like religious teachers in your university or campus or school or on TV channels), seek for yourself. If you seek Jesus with all your heart, you will find Him. I pray you will have peace in Him, amen.

Jesus is asking us, “Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:13-16)

Do you know Jesus of the Bible?

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus was so Human

“Jesus wept” (John 11:35, ESV)

No doubt we are right when we said that Jesus is the Son of God. When he said “I Am” or “The Father and I are one” or “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” or “I am in the Father and the Father is in me” – he is claiming to be equal with God. He was God. But if we examine the life of Jesus, we find a fascinating contrast. To be equal with God is to be more than human. Yet, in his life, he appears to be very much an ordinary man, displaying thoroughly human characters and behaviour.

There was a time, for example, when children were brought to him for blessing. The disciples tried to send them away (perhaps they were very tired that day), but Jesus welcomed them, took them in his arms, and blessed them (read Mark 10:13-16). And on another occasion, when the disciples asked him who was the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus replied by taking a child as an illustration and saying: “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3, ESV).

Not only did he enjoy natural human activities such as the company of children, he also experienced the same physical weaknesses that we all know so well. In the New Testament, we find him tired after walking on a journey and resting for a while by a well (John 4:5-6); he was hungry after going without food for 40 days (Matthew 4:2); and thirsty as he was dying hung on the cross (John 19:28); he became exhausted by a long campaign of preaching and teaching – and to my amazement, on one occasion, he actually fell asleep in the back of a boat, and (more amazement!) managed to sleep through a violent storm (Mark 4:35-38). Jesus was so human.

He also experienced every human emotion too. He knew the joy of celebration and was happy to be a guest at a wedding (John 2:1-11); he was angry with the corruptions in the temple (John 2:13-22) and he knew the sadness of losing a close friend, and was not ashamed to weep openly at the grave (John 11:33-36). He, this I like, felt great compassion for people in their need; whether it was for a crowd “because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34), or for an individual such as the rich man whose wealth kept him from finding eternal life – we are told that Jesus “looking at him, loved him” (Mark 10:21). Jesus was so human. He, I believe, is still a man even today (Read the Book of Revelation if you don’t believe me). Jesus is – the Son of Man.

Do you know that Jesus is not only the Son of God, but also the Son of Man?

That He is both fully God and fully man? (Seek the Scripture)

Do you know Jesus of the Bible?

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Before Abraham was Born, Jesus says "I Am"

“I am telling you the truth. Before Abraham was born, ‘I Am’”

(Jesus says about himself, John 8:58, TEV)

It all begins in the time of Moses, Israel’s great national hero. When God called on him to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, Moses was reluctant to accept – in fact, he played hard-to-get or in my local language: ‘Jual mahal!’ (Read about it in Exodus 3). He offered all sorts of excuses for not going. One of the more reasonable was that he couldn’t explain who had sent him. Moses said to God, “When I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ So what can I tell them?” (Exodus 3:13, TEV). God replied (and it’s a little difficult to make it sound sense in English): “I am who I am. You must tell them: ‘The one who is called I Am has sent me to you’” (3:14).

Clearly, in the New Testament John 8, Jesus’ use of the phrase “I Am” would remind His hearers of that incident and of that special name for God. More than that, the fact that Jesus said, “Before Abraham was born, ‘I Am’”, and not “I was”, would suggest something else: that He was claiming to be what only God really is – eternal. Only God can legitimately claim “I Am” at any time, past, present, or future; but there is Jesus saying that He is also eternal, that His birth in Bethlehem was not His beginning, that He had always been in existence, even before Abraham.

This was highly provocative. Jesus must have realized that His words would imply these things and would arouse the anger of His critics (as He always does). By applying the name “I Am” to Himself, Jesus was talking for Himself something that was properly God’s alone – Jesus was claiming to be equal with God. Morgan G. Campbell writes, “These are the words of the most impudent blasphemer that ever spoke, or the words of God incarnate.” His critics took it as blasphemy, and in their Law, the punishment for that was death by stoning. So angry were they by now, that they dispensed with arrest, trial and sentence. So clearly understood Jesus’ statement that they grabbed the nearest stones and trying to kill Him there and then. Even today, the real Jesus is so hated by the enemies because He, in God’s Word, says, “I Am.”

Is Jesus really the “I Am”?

Do you know Jesus of the Bible?

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Karl Barth on the "Otherness" of God

Karl Barth (1886-1968) is a name that every serious students of theology should know, period. He is widely regarded as the most important Protestant theologian of the twentieth century. His famous works are commentary The Epistle to the Romans and Church Dogmatics (seriously, it’s a thick book to read. I only read the summary from time to time). Barth’s Romans commentary, which first published in German in 1918, caused a sensation on account of “its vision of dialectic between God and humanity,” writes Alister E. McGrath editor of The Christian Theology Reader (1995). He continues, “There is a total gulf between God and the world, which can never be bridged from our side. The fact that we know anything about God is itself the result of God’s self-revelation, not human activity or insight. God is totally distinct from human thought and civilization.” This relentless emphasis on the “total qualitative distinction” between God and humanity established Barth as “a radical voice in the theology of the period immediately after the First World War”.

On the “Otherness” of God from The Epistle of Romans (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1933), Karl Barth wrote:

“[Paul, in the book of Romans] appeals only to the authority of God. This is the ground of his authority. There is no other. Paul is authorized to deliver – the gospel of God. He is commissioned to hand over to humanity something quite new and unprecedented, joyful and good – the truth of God. Yes, precisely – of God! The gospel is not a religious message to inform humanity of their divinity, or to tell them how they may become divine. The Gospel proclaims a God utterly distinct from humanity. Salvation comes to them from him, they have no right to claim anything from him. The Gospel is not one thing in the midst of other things, to be directly apprehended and comprehended. The Gospel is the Word of the Primal Origin of all things, the Word which, since it is ever new, must ever be received with renewed fear and trembling…

Jesus Christ is our Lord. This is the Gospel and the meaning of history. In this name two worlds meet and go apart, two planes intersect, the one know and the other unknown. The know plane is God’s creation, fallen out of its union with him, and therefore the world of the ‘flesh’ needing redemption. The world of human beings, and of time, and of things – our world. This known plane is intersected by another plane that is unknown – the world of the Father, the Primal Creation, and of the final Redemption. The relation between us and God, between this world and his world, presses for recognition, but the line of intersection is not self-evident. The point on the line of intersection at which the relation becomes observable and observed is Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, the historical Jesus.” (Bold mine)

The unknown God is known through Christ our Lord

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Athenagoras of Athens on the Christian God

In this defense of the Christian faith against pagan criticisms, written in Greek around the year 177 and addressed to the Roman emperors Marcus Aurelius Antonius and Lucius Aurelius Commodus, Athenagoras sets outs the main features of the gospel in a lucid and reasoned manner. The early Christians were accused of atheism on account of their refusal to worship the emperor. In this extract, in which Athenagoras explains what Christians believe about God, important anticipations of later thinking of the Trinity can be detected. The work is known by various names, including Apologia, Legatio and Supplicatio pro Christianis. In excerpted of his writing he wrote,

“So we are not atheists, in that we acknowledge one God, who is uncreated, eternal, invisible, impassible, incomprehensible, and without limit. He is apprehended only by the intellect and the mind, and is surrounded by light, beauty, spirit, and indescribable power. The universe was created and ordered, and is presently sustained, through his Logos (that is, Jesus Christ)… For we acknowledge also a “Son of God.” Nobody should think it ridiculous that God should have a Son. Although the pagan poets, in their frictions, represent the gods as being no better than human beings, we do not think in the same way as they do concerning either God the Father or God the Son. For the Son of God is the Logos of the Father, both in thought and in reality. It was through his action, and after his pattern, that all things were made, in that the Father and the Son are one…

[The Son] is the first creation of the Father – not meaning that he was brought into existence, in that, from the beginning, God, who is the eternal mind (nous), had the Logos within himself, being eternally of the character of the Logos (logikos). Rather, it is meant that he came forth to be the pattern and motivating power of all physical things… We affirm that the Holy Spirit, who was active in the prophets, is an effluence of God, who flows from him and returns to him, like a beam of the sun.”

[Source: Apologia, X, 1-4; in Athenagoras: Legatio and De Resurrectionem ed. W. R. Schoedel (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), pp. 20-2.]

“I [Jesus Christ] and my Father are one” (John 10:30)

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Sebab #6: Yesus Mati... Untuk Menunjukkan Kasih Allah kepada Orang yang Berdosa (6/10)

Kenapa Yesus perlu menderita dan mati?

Saya percaya bahawa ini ialah satu soalan yang sangat penting sekali pada abad ke-21.

Di sini ada sepuluh jawapan daripada Firman Allah.

Sebab #6: Untuk Menunjukkan Kasih Allah kepada Orang yang Berdosa

Besarnya kasih Tuhan kepada kita boleh dilihat melalui kesanggupan-Nya untuk mengorbankan diri bagi segala dosa kita: “Dia memberikan Anak-Nya yang tunggal” (Yohanes 3:16, BM). Apabila kita melihat betapa dahsyatnya pengorbanan yang dialami oleh Kristus di kayu salib, ia menjadi sangat jelas bahawa kasih Bapa dan Anak tiada terhingga hebatnya!

Kebesaran kasih Tuhan semakin bertambah nyata apabila kita sedar bahawa kita tidak layak dihadapan-Nya. “[Allah] telah menunjukkan betapa besarnya kasih-Nya kepada kita, kerana Kristus mati bagi kita semasa kita masih berdosa” (Roma 5:8, BM) Hutang kita terlalu banyak, hanya pengorbanan-Nya sahaja yang dapat membayarnya.

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*Dipetik dari risalah kecil '10 Reasons Jesus Came to Die' oleh John Piper (Wheaton: Good News Publishers) 

C.S. Lewis on the Spirit of God

The Holy Spirit is like a dove, not a dove.

Like I wrote earlier, think and read imaginatively when you read this long-unauthorized quote from C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity:

“The union between the Father and the Son is such a live concrete thing that this union itself is also a Person. I know this is almost inconceivable, but look at it thus. You know that among human beings, when they get together in a family, or a club, or a trade union, people talk about the ‘spirit’ of that family, or club, or trade union. They talk about its ‘spirit’ because the individual members, when they are together, do really develop particular ways of talking and behaving which they would not have if they were apart. It is as if a sort of communal personality came into existence. Of course, it is not a real person: it is only rather like a person.

But that is just one of the differences between God and us. What grows out of the joint life of the Father and Son is a real Person, is in fact the Third of the three Persons who are God. This third Person is called, in technical language, the Holy Ghost or the ‘spirit’ of God. Do not be worried or surprised if you find it (or Him) rather vaguer or more shadowy in your mind than the other two. I think there is a reason why that must be so.

In the Christian life you are not usually looking at Him. He is always acting through you. If you think of the Father as something ‘out there’, in front of you, and of the Son as someone standing at your side, helping you to pray, trying to turn you into another son, then you have to think of the third Person as something inside you, or behind you.

Perhaps some people might find it easier to begin with the third Person and work backwards. God is love, and that love works through men – especially through the whole community of Christians. But this spirit of love is, from all eternity, a love going on between the Father and the Son.”

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C.S. Lewis on Christianity God: A Critical Distinction

As you read this, read slowly, mindfully and imaginatively:

“All sorts of people are fond of repeating the Christian statement that ‘God is love.’ But they seem not to notice that the words ‘God is love’ have no real meaning unless God contains at least two Persons. Love is something that one person has for another person. If God was a single person, then before the world was made, He was not love.

Of course, what these people mean when they say that God is love is often something quite different: they really mean ‘Love is God.’ They really mean that our feelings of love, however and whatever they arise, and whatever results they produce, are to be treated with great respect. Perhaps they are: but that is something quite different from what Christians mean by the statement ‘God is love.’ They believe that the living, dynamic activity of love has been going on in God forever and has created everything else.

And that, by the way, is perhaps the most important difference between Christianity and all other religions: that in Christianity God is not static thing – not even a person – but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost a kind of drama. Almost, if you will not think me irreverent, a kind of dance”

(Excerpted quote from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Sell your text books and buy this book!)

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.