The human body has many members, yet each one has a unique role to play. The health and welfare of the body depend on the proper functioning of each member.
12:5 That is how it is in the body of Christ. There is unity (one body), diversity (many), and interdependency (members of one another). Any gifts we have are not for selfish use or display but for the good of the body. No gift is self-sufficient and none is unnecessary. When we realize all this, we are thinking soberly (12:3).
MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997). Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Ro 12:4–5). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
What is Spiritual Blessings?
The concept of blessing in the Bible is sometime very different from what the normal human being considers it to be. The mention of this word is found in Genesis 12. Strong's Concordance gives the following definition of bless: The Hebrew word for bless is barak which means "to kneel"; by implication to bless God (an act of adoration).
The blessing of God to Abraham was not only in the form of material possession but Abraham's relationship to Him. The promises of God for the future generations was also a blessing which may not seem like one, to us. Therefore it will not be unscriptural to live a righteous life in the midst of ill health and consider it a blessing.
Early today I viewed an incredible video on the life of Nick Vujicic. He can teach us all many things about blessing. The link is pasted in this blog:
http://www.IWasBornToWin.com Born with no limbs, Nick Vujicic faces obstacles every day of his life. It's not how you start, it's how you finish.
In Genesis 26 & 27 we see the blessing of God on Abraham and Isaac, their descendants and all nations blessed in them and their seed. Isaac blessed Jacob with dew, abundance, being master over his brother and also Esau to live by the sword and to serve his younger brother.
Today as believers we are Abraham's seed because in Abraham all the nations were blessed. We are blessed as believers because we turned from our wicked ways and received the free gift of salvation by believing and confessing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The Holy Spirit that was promised now lives in us!
Blessing of Abraham = salvation + righteousness by faith + receive the Spirit of promise. Are we blessed?
Thursday, February 19, 2009
SEED - we believers are according to "His kind"
These are the generations of the heavens and earth (Gen 2:4), of Adam (Gen 5:1), of Noah (Gen 6:9), of Shem, Ham and Japheth (Gen 10:1), of Shem (Gen 11:10), of Terah (Gen 11:27), of Ishmael (Gen 25:12), of Isaac (25:19) and the list goes on and on...
The fusing of the sperm (seed) and egg gives rise to these generations. The Strong's Hebrew dictionary indicates H2233 reference to "seed" occuring 230 in the Old Testament.
H2233 = זרע = zera‛
Total KJV Occurrences: 230
seed, 221
Gen 1:10-12 (5), Gen 1:29 (2), Gen 3:15 (2), Gen 4:25, Gen 7:3, Gen 9:9, Gen 12:7, Gen 13:15-16 (3), Gen 15:3, Gen 15:5, Gen 15:13, Gen 15:18, Gen 16:10, Gen 17:7-10 (5), Gen 17:12, Gen 17:19, Gen 19:32, Gen 19:34, Gen 21:12-13 (2), Gen 22:17-18 (3), Gen 24:7, Gen 24:60, Gen 26:3-4 (4), Gen 26:24, Gen 28:4, Gen 28:13-14 (3), Gen 35:12 (2), Gen 38:8-9 (3), Gen 46:6-7 (2), Gen 47:19, Gen 47:23-24 (2), Gen 48:4, Gen 48:11, Gen 48:19......(only reference from Genesis are copied here).
God prophesied the "Incorruptible Seed" in Gen 3:15 and we have Jesus coming into the world born of a virgin Mary. Adam's corrupted seed was not part of this Child. Luke's account in the Gospel (Chapter 1 verse 35) the angel, answering Mary said, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God".
The 'generations of' or 'the genealogy of' Jesus is covered both in Luke 3:23-38 ending "...with the son of Adam, the son of God" and in Matthew 1:1-17 ending "...the 14 generations in all from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the exile to Babylon and 14 from the exile to the Christ".
I cannot begin to imagine what the generations on earth will be like if God only made Adam and another Adam and stopped there or Eve and another Eve and stopped there!
Praise God for make them male and female in His image and likeness. They were blessed and commanded to reproduce. Adam and Eve reproduced after their sinful nature and so according to their kind - sinful nature (initial or natural birth).
But thanks be to God for the second birth (Spiritual birth) so that we who believe and confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are now "born again" according to "His kind" - the incorruptible SEED!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
having weathered the storms of life...
A tribute to a departed family friend
This obituary was a couple of months old but I wanted to feature him in my blog because of his example of living life to its full.
KUALA LUMPUR: Former New Straits Times journalist David Lazarus, who rose to head the regional information section of the United Nations, collapsed and died at his home in Jalan Ampang here yesterday. He was 59.
With the NST in the late 1970s, he wrote, with a touch of humour, a travel column called Life In A Suitcase.
Lazarus had a stint as foreign correspondent with the now defunct Asiaweek and wrote for several newspapers in Montreal and London.
He joined the UN in the late 1980s and was posted as information coordinator at the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) in Nairobi, Kenya.
In 1993, he was posted as information chief of the United Nations Information Service in Bangkok and worked closely with United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific chiefs, Adrianus Mooey and Kim Huk Su.
Lazarus was instrumental in securing UN support for the then fledgling organisation, the Asia-Pacific Forum of Environmental Journalists.
His last posting was as the director of United Nations Information Unit in Jakarta. On retirement two months ago, he returned to Malaysia.
He is also the author of two books -- A Crack In The Mosaic: Canada's Race Relations In Crisis (1980) and Winds Of Change on politics in Malaysia at the beginning of the Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad era (1984).
Lazarus loved journalism, his job and people. He had a zest for life and lived it to the fullest. His colleagues found him to be highly motivated, determined and creative in dealing with challenges.
Above all, he was a good provider and a devoted father.
He is survived by his wife, Patricia, and children -- Annabelle, Adrian and Amelia.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Future outlook
In the genealogy of Adam we see Lamech naming his son Noah and saying, "This one shall give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed." The LORD in Genesis chapter 6, saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. This violent behavior of mankind caused the LORD's heart to grief that He had made them.
Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD and walked with God, like Enoch. The Hebrew account in Chapter 11 states, "By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family." Jesus uses this same illustration to warns us that at His judgement the world will be largely unprepared.
After Noah his wife and his three sons and their wives and all the animals (as commanded by GOD) entered the ark, to escape the flood (an incident which had not occurred since the beginning of creation),it rained. After seven day, every living creature that the LORD GOD made He wiped from the face of the earth for it rained for 40 days and 40 nights.
After the rain flooded the earth for 150 days GOD remembered Noah, his household and all the livestock and send a wind over the earth and the waters receded. He was there all the time helping Noah through this ordeal, for He had never left him nor forsook him. It was slightly more then a year that Noah remained in the ark but he was assured of God's covenant and was eventually blessed!
Our future outlook may look like Noah's and like him, we are children who follow after God's command and are favored by Him. It may take some time for us to come out of a bleak future outlook but be assured He never breaks covenant! If we endure we will be blessed. Like Noah, God remembers us.
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