making disciples...
For some time, I have been thinking a lot of the trials and difficulties that a minister of Christ is suffering. And such sufferings are very true to what is happening in my ministerial life. The title of today’s message is exactly the question that I want to ask to God.
And I just want to thank my friend Tom Smith for sending this sort of lament sermon. It has touched my inner soul. I hope this will also touch yours. Blessings!!!
What is Prophecy?
Easton Bible Dictionary defined Prophecy as: “Prediction, was one of the functions of the prophet. It has been defined as a ‘miracle of knowledge, a declaration or description or representation of something future, beyond the power of human sagacity to foresee, discern, or conjecture.’”
Prophesying is God’s giving of the word to a prophet who will tell the people about what’s going to happen in the future. It maybe about destruction, repentance, hope, etc. Anything that God wants for his people to know.
Another interesting thing about prophecy is the abuses of many religious leaders in our time. We can see many of them out there in the streets and some even exists on televisions.
But God himself warned us about them in Deuteronomy 18:18-22:
“18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. 19 Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. 20 But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.” 21 You may say to yourself, “How can we recognize a word that the LORD has not spoken?” 22 If a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.
Prophecy is usually done by a prophet. The Old Testament gave us so many prophecy about the coming Messiah. We also have to note that the OT was authored by about 50% prophets of its total authors. We also have to take note that the New Testament was closed by the book of prophecy, the Revelation.
Truths About Prophesying
(Verses from main points were taken from 1Corinthians 14)
Prophesying Is to Be Desired (v.1)
We have to note here that Paul is giving emphasis on the two kinds of gifts of the Holy Spirit, prophesying and speaking in tongues. However in this passage we can see that Paul has made a point that we are to desire spiritual gifts especially the gift of prophecy because prophecy edifies the Church.
There is nothing wrong in asking God for a the gift of Holy Spirit. However, as we have learned, it is the Holy Spirit who gives it as he determines.
Desiring to have a spiritual gift means desiring to serve better inside the Church which is the body of Christ. It also means that it is very important that we have to place our hearts in the gift that God gave so that we can serve him better.
Prophesying Edifies The Church (v.4)
How does prophecy edifies the Church? Verse 3 gave us three things that prophecy can do to us; strengthening, encouragement and comfort.
Prophecy can strengthen us in times of trials. When we know what is it\\ exactly is going to happen in the future, especially if we see hope, then we are most likely be strengthened and not give up the hope.
Prophecy encourages us to continue living faithfully. When we hear or read prophecy, we feel encouraged to continue faithfully. We are encouraged to turn our backs from the world and focus our eyes on Jesus.
Prophecy comforts our souls whenever we hear encouragement. It gives peace of mind. There is no such comforting words than the words of encouragement.
The book of Revelation is a prophecy which gives us the picture of what’s it going to be in the end of times. We have seen that it already made mentioned of catastrophic events for many nations in the end. But we also see hope for those who remains faithful to the end. We see that those who hope and stayed with the Lord allow us to see a better place for those who wait for the Lord.
Today’s sermon is all about the biblical true love. Here we will discover how deep true love is. In contrast to how the world defined it, love is beyond description. All we can do is to draw a small picture on what it is.
The Real True Love
Text: 1 Corinthians 13
Introduction
Last time we talked about becoming a part of the body of Christ. We talked about how important it is for each part to function well. If a part of the body does not function well, he becomes the cause of the pain of the whole body. And this is exactly the same in the body of Christ. When members of the body of Christ refuses to function well, then the body of Christ experiences pain and difficulties to move on.
The passage in chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians ended up in saying, “And now I will show you a way that is beyond comparison.” And then it was immediately followed by the lesson about love. Today, we will have a closer look of what really love is.
Some people defined love as:
* Love is blind.
* Love is not blind, it sees, but it doesn’t mind.
* Love is like a rosary, full of mystery.
* Love is like a bubble gum, kung mupilit makabuang.
People have defined loved in many ways. Today, we will be looking at the real meaning of love and what it really does for us.
“If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father, which is in Heaven, given good things to them that ask Him?”
Matthew 7:11
A gift is that which is freely given
From one person to another;
There are no strings attached or a hook inside
When given by a friend or brother.
No, gifts are given to express one’s love
To someone who may not deserve them;
They’re given on purpose by the one who gives,
Not because of pressure or momentary whim.
KJV Bible versus NIV Bible, Which One is The Best?
I was deeply intrigued upon reading this article concerning the issues against New International Version. For so long, I have found NIV to be a Bible that is very much easy to understand especially that English is not my first language. I have been using New International Version for so long that I have made so many notes within my Bible.
However, just yesterday, a friend of mine forwarded this very intriguing article that I found to be a MUST to read especially if you are a pastor, a Bible interpreter, or a worker. I am not so skeptic against Bible translations. But I think this article is worth my time to read. And I found it very helpful to take note of the things that I need to look at a Bible Interpreter.
By far, as I have remember in my training which includes Bible history, background and some glimpse (not detailed) about these codexes like Textus Receptus, Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, its just, its the only available manuscripts out the there that can be a reference for the newer translations.
Now, to set up the reliability issue, let’s put it in this way, Dr. William Grady is a scholar who have his personal opinion about the validity and reliability of Textus Receptus. But how about the opinion of other Bible scholars who would say Vaticanus and Sinaiticus are more reliable? Which scholars are more reliable then if they have the same degree?
By the way, Dr. William Grady is the author of Final Authority: A Christian’s Guide to the King James Bible to which I really wish I could get my hand on this very intriguing book.
Furthermore, I am not so sold out to say that KJV is the “ONLY” true and authoritative translation of the Scripture for the main reason of its historical background. I believe I have already said this several times in preaching. King James is homosexual. To avoid having conflicts with Puritants (which we know one of the major group reformers) he granted them the authority to translate this new English version that came to be known as KJV. This simply means that it was born out of King James’ personal interest. But in fairness, I would certainly admit that King James Version of the Bible is really the finest by far.
The Sermon below tackles about the Biblical teachings about marriage, marital relationship and divorce. Our world today is full of marital problems, and the moral values of Christians when it comes to marriage have degraded rapidly and in a very alarming state. In the US, the highest rate of divorce is within the Evangelical churches whose ratio is 1:2.
Christians seems to have forgotten the values and Biblical teachings about divorce and marital relationship. This is because people has been so concerned on the exemptions rather than the Biblical teachings itself. As a result, more and more people wants to justify their own personal view to indulge themselves into the temptation of divorce.
In contrast to this, Jesus Christ gave a very strong emphasis about the divorce. May this sermon help our marriages.
Christians Were Also Victims of Typhoon Ondoy
For the last few days of following the news, I could not help but to let tears fall from my eyes seeing my fellow Filipinos suffering from the catastrophic effect of the Typhoon Ondoy. There were already close to 100 death toll and still unknown total numbers of missing people.
We are not talking about remote places, we are talking about the capital city of the Philippines, Manila along with surrounding metro provinces like Rizal, Bulacan, Pampanga, Cavite, etc.
Typhoon Ondoy already have damaged about Php95M worth of crops in Calabarzon alone (Inquirer). Hundreds of millions in damaging properties like vehicles, houses, appliances, etc. Thousands were in evacuation areas. Hundreds of people were now getting sick.
My dearest brethrens, I encourage you all to pray for the Filipno people. We are in the midst of crisis.
We have lots of Christian brothers who were also affected by typhoon Ondoy. And worst, there is another typhoon threatening the Philippines within two to three days. Pray that God will intervene on these catastrophic event. May God save the Philippines.
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