Renewed to Honor

Post tenebras lux After Darkness Light Portion: John 8:12 Why are we learning this?  To understand the Bible as a whole: The Bible talks from Genesis to Revelation that God is not unlike any gods that nations believe. He is a God who loves to be with people. He made people in His Image and wants to have communion - relationship - face to face meeting with people To understand the Trinity: We have seen what Trinity is: The Father is God, the Son is God and the Spirit is God. They are not ⅓ God - each person is 100% God, and there is only 1 God. The 3 are One. Jesus is God: Jesus uses the same portion that God used in the story of Israel (I AM) to say that Jesus is the same God There are almost 300 times the statement is used Jesus used the Exodus to teach us the kingdom of God Portions we looked last time (Spiritual Darkness/ Need of Light) We too walked in darkness John 1:4, John 8:12, John 3:19-20 Psalm 139: 11,12 - Comfort in darkness + Psalm 18:28 Isaiah 9:2 - People who walke

  There are times we go through Spiritual Darkness. Here is a sermon I spoke on how the Spiritual Darkness is to an unbeliever and  to a believer.  John 1:4, John 8:12, John 3:19-20 Psalm 139: 11,12 - Comfort in darkness + Psalm 18:28 Isaiah 9:2 - People who walked in darkness /Physical darkness, Spiritual Darkness Luke 11:34-35 Psalm 119:130 - the unfolding of the Word gives light 1 Peter 2:9 - why we are called Revelation 21:23 - The future Additional Resources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tQdleC3YvYRqRTK0K3W0tBvJ7TJ4KDBXgxEcPTdzU7E/edit?usp=sharing http://www.romans45.org/spurgeon/sermons/0031.htm

This is an extract from CH Spurgeon. He humbled Himself." — Philippians 2:8 - Charles Haddon Spurgeon Jesus is the great teacher of lowliness of heart. We need daily to learn of Him. See the Master taking a towel and washing His disciples' feet! Follower of Christ, wilt thou not humble thyself? See Him as the Servant of servants, and surely thou canst not be proud! Is not this sentence the compendium of His biography, "He humbled Himself"? Was He not on earth always stripping off first one robe of honour and then another, till, naked, He was fastened to the cross, and there did He not empty out His inmost self, pouring out His life-blood, giving up for all of us, till they laid Him penniless in a borrowed grave? How low was our dear Redeemer brought! How then can we be proud? Stand at the foot of the cross, and count the purple drops by which you have been cleansed; see the thorn-crown; mark His scourged shoulders, still gushing with encrimsoned rills; see hands and

I have had fun watching the Beefeaters or the Yeomen Warders shout loudly at people who stand in their way. They would should terms like " Stand back from the queen's guard ". Search it on YouTube!!  In the same manner over this advent season i felt the verse from the O Holy Night hymn stand out "Fall on Your Knees" I wanted to learn more and the more I dug in, the clearer the rabbit hole became. Let me explain, the verses seem quite arbitrary. The hymn begins with a uncommon theme calling a night Holy, and then goes flat on the theology stating that the should should feel the worth of Christ and then rising to the place where there is a shout to fall on your knees as if there was a change in the scene.  This was strange, but then my rudimentary theological understanding kicked in. The hymn was a translation by John Sullivan Dwight, an Unitarian minister. This made sense as the Unitarians are not Christians. The guy who translated the original work from french d

A Wikipedia page shows that people the earth called as Great . Among this list are several kings, emperors, mighty ones who conquered many lands. These are indeed the mighty men, great leaders of earth. A close look at their lives tell that they were in power either by proxy, conquest, inheritance or abduction or election. All these so called greats were either nobodies or princes until they took the power in their manner. There has not been a baby who could be called King. Yet, the wisest of men from the east came to meet the one who was born King (of Jews) [Matthew 2:2]. The came to worship him. They came to make the peace treaty with him before he declared war. A tactical move in wisdom.  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (Psalm 2:12 ESV) Jesus did not come as a prince to inherit the kingdom or a revolutionary to take over a kingdom (in fact Jesus moves away) but was born King. Born

The birth of Jesus and the events that surrounding the birth often has the term "come and see". The Shepherds were told to come to Bethlehem and see the King. The wise men were led by the God with the star to come and see the new King and worship him. Jesus tells his disciples when he calls them "Come and See"(John 1:39). After the shepherds saw Jesus, they went out and said what God has done. So are we, when Jesus calls us he tells us to come and see that He is good. We too are led to him when we were called. Once we see and taste that He indeed is good, our response is Go and Tell (Romans 10:14,15). We too are the "come and see" - and - the "go and tell" people.  Also read:  Come & See  (my personal story of conversion)  Desiring God: Bethlehem’s Supernatural Star

God of God, light of light, Lo, he abhors not the Virgin's womb; Very God, begotten, not created: O come, let us adore Him, (3×) Christ the Lord. The thought of God occupying the womb of a normal woman seems hard for any religion to bear, yet Jesus was incarnated in the womb of Mary. This was how God decided to come and save all of us, his people.   There were always people who thought of Jesus as a created being, in the current times Jehova Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). This was not the first time this thought was taught in the public. It was easy to teach, even Islam teaches that Jesus was a human being. But the Christian church taught that Jesus was not created and declared it often. I would recommend some additional resources  below. Simply put: (see resources) Jesus said that that Jesus said " I AM " - equating himself as God Jesus said He is the light Jesus said He was one with the Fathe r Jesus being a good and honest teac

One of my favourite carols is `O Come O Come Emmanuel`. I love this because of two things. 1. The song starts in a minor chord showing sadness and with longing - showing the need for a saviour, a world that is waiting for a saviour. This hymn is a very old one, written in year 900AD in Latin then translated into German and English. There is this longing in each one of us to have this saviour come to us.  2. The song does not let us go without any hope, it tells the lands and the church to rejoice because Jesus has indeed come. The song calls Jesus - Emmanuel, the one who sets people free, Son of God, rod of Jesse, the one who has won over hell - sadness - gloom and doom, the one who holds the key of David, the one who gave the law on Sinai, eternal wisdom - the desire of nations and bringer of eternal peace. Here is a link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZggySBrroc&list=PLEbaWnqglIou1cQU-hkc7BuScoCr-6SH-

This is dedicated to all who are in the household of people in ministry, especially each and every pastor's wife and my own wife. I am writing this on a day i am forced to lie down as I have hurt my knees. And this incident was not isolated, it has been the a terrible time of being hurt physically. A tumour on the leg, a tear of the feet tendon, now a knee swelling. This was a fruitful time for the ministry as I been mentoring and helping people and this has been affecting even my poor wife who fears that these attacks (even spiritual) may only increase. So I want to encourage her and let her know that the reason I wake and get out of the bed has these reasons. I love her dearly and find her the best and precious and I want her to be encouraged through this.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.1 Peter 2:9  ESV Quick Summary Who we were: no one, but God chose to love us and show his mercies Who we became: royals because Jesus paid the price, and he gave us worth- this means that you matter How should we live: in step with the Spirit, in accordance with the word How should we declare: excel and proclaim his excellencies.  The Bible talks about us being part of the world yet not in the world. The early Christians have done more to transform the  Graeco - Roman  world than any culture. The modern thoughts on dignity, respect, honour and value for human life has been based on the life the early Church lived.  They were called  Exiles : People who were away from their home country. This is because they were refugees living in another world as they lost their kingdom through Adam but t

37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. J ohn 7:37–39 (ESV) Story so far Last week, we looked at the question Jesus posed the believer? Are you following me because you saw the miracles and were convinced that I am sufficient or are you following me because you got he blessings and want more? This week we shall dwell into this topic even deeper. Also we been looking at John. John said "The word became flesh and tabernacled  among us" John 1:14 Timeline :  The book of John is not a literal or chronological narrative. The aim of the author is to explain who Jesus is and why is Jesus the reason for life. This is eviden