Joshua's birthday celebration (19/8/16)

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QC and accountability (29/4/16)

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Joyce and I shared about our attending the wake of a son of a Christian couple I had known from my JC days. This young man had been having problems at work and had just broken up with his long-standing girlfriend. We saw the broken hearts of the parents and remembered also our own bereavement when Doreen died. Suicide is always the hardest way to die in how it affects the family of the deceased. I know we have spoken on this issue before, but we again affirmed that suicide is not an unforgivable sin - but one in which the sinner has no chance to repent. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which is truly unforgivable, is when the sinner has no desire to repent.So the believing Christian who is truly saved should be saved even if he/she sins and takes his/her own life. Not every one of us will have the opportunity to confess our sins if we die suddenly, after all. We also did a brief recap of "why bad things happen to good people". Our response then is: 1. There are no good...
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Paradigm 29: Discipleship and absolute surrender (31/7/20)

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In this chapter Edmund Chan asserts that we have "substituted commitment for surrender". The committed life emphasizes what we must do for Christ; the surrendered life, what He has done for us. The Christian life "is not try, but trust". The first emphasizes what we can do, while being surrendered means we know we can do nothing apart from God. One is 'doing', the other is 'being'. One exalts our competence; the other, our character. One centres on operations, the other, on obedience. One issues out of good intentions, the other, out of God's intention.  We can be outwardly committed, but not inwardly consecrated and surrendered to the will of Christ. We must see that it is not we who work for God, but God who works in us. We said that commitment involves a choice, whereas surrender meant giving up choices. One was active, the other, passive. Commitment is to have a purpose with an end in mind. Surrender is to give up purpose. The word 'su...
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Study 5. Luke 2:1-21

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  9. Why did God have His Son born in the circumstances described in 2:7, rather than in a royal or at least comfortable, household? (see Luke 6:20, 9:58, 22:27; 2 Cor 8:9)   The verses tell us that Jesus was poor and came to serve. He upended the world's idea of 'blessing' as being rich. This indeed is the pattern of all God's working in the Bible. He chooses the small and insignificant (Dt 7:7-8), like king David (1 Sa 16:11) and peasants in Galillee  to exalt and to accomplish His great and wise purposes. 10. What does 2:1-20 reveal about: Jesus' identity (2:11) 'Saviour' (cf. 1:47, Jn 4:42) 'Christ' - the Messiah, the Anointed One. (cf. Jn 1:41, 4:25) - empowered for ministry. 'The Lord ' (cf. Acts 2:36; 2 Cor. 4:5; Phil. 2:11) How people and angels reponded to his coming (2:8-20)  The angels were 'praising God' The shepherds were filled with great fear. They quickly went to look for the baby, told Mary and Joseph what the ang...
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