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Showing posts from March, 2012

Leaving Ninety-Nine to Find the One

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven. [For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.] What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish” (Matt. 18:10-14) God’s love for people is unsurpassed by anything else. To help us understand the essence of this divine love, Jesus makes this spiritual reality tangible by paralleling it to a snapshot in the life of a shepherd. In the ancient world, one hundred sheep was the average size of a flock. One of the normal routines was for a shepherd to leave behind his flock

Like a child

Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 18:3-4). Jesus’ message about becoming like a child in order to enter into and become great in the kingdom of heaven challenged the disciples’ perspective on things. The disciples argued about how one can be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, but their master told them they had to become like children to be great. But what does it mean to be like a child? Children in many respects are considered innocence not having reached the age of accountability. They are also impressionable, learning to think and behave through their interactions with others. They also can be very curious and adventurous in exploring their world—because it is all new to them. All these are commendable qualities of children, and I believe Jesus would have been well aware of them and much more. Neverthel

Faith Like A Mustard Seed

“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you” (Matt. 17:19). On one occasion, a man fell upon his knees, and said to Jesus: “Lord, have mercy on my son” (Matt. 17:14-15a). Here is a father who wants desperately to help his son out of dire straits. He used words like “lunatic” and “very ill” to describe his son’s condition, noting that the boy’s illness made him make him fall into the fire and the water, in other words, it left him in a state of self destructiveness (Matt. 17:15b). The condition was more than just a case of epilepsy; rather, the cause was spiritual. The boy had given into the sirens of demons, and the malevolent spirits set out to destroy him. Compounding the problem was the man brought the stricken child to the disciples, but they were unable to cure him (Matt. 17:16). The disciples had the place of authority to act, but they could not carry out their

Out of 1 Came Every Nation

Someone once asked me about whether or not the Bible talks about the nation of China. The Bible neither names country of China nor speaks of the people from that part of the world per se. It can also be further added that the Bible neither attempts to name every single country in existence in the days of the Old Testament writers and the New Testament writers, nor does it list all the nations that came into existence prior to its composition. Some allow their imaginations grow wild in identifying the “great red dragon” in Revelation 12 with China, or the Chinese Communist Party but this is not what John is writing about. The prophet is speaking about the Devil’s attempt to extinguish the light of the fledgling church in first century. Behind the Christians being persecuted by Rome and even their fellow Jewish countrymen was an intense spiritual warfare to destroy the community of Christ; however, God preserved His people through that great tribulation. What the Bible teaches is t