Sunday, November 29, 2009
I will be going off to OCIP tomorrow. Do pray for me!Pastor Lawrence preached today! He has really become a much better speaker since the last time I heard him, praise God. He raised a really interesting question today, which I'd like to ask you: why do you read the Bible?Oftentimes, Christians (including me) read the Bible for two (wrong) reasons:1) I want to learn what I must do to get blessed. (Self-righteousness)2)God will be more pleased with me if I read the Bible, so I shall. (To earn favour with God)Do you know what our focus should be on when we read the Bible? It is to see Jesus in the Bible.Now, the Bible should always interpret the Bible, so here is proof. Let us look at how Jesus revealed Himself to His disciples. His disciples were in deep sadness after Jesus's death, and Jesus spoke with them, though they did not recognise who He was. His disciples were even in doubt about whether Jesus was the chosen Messiah!What did Jesus say?He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27)Even in The Old Testament, there are so many "Jesus sightings"!Consider Daniel. He was a type of Jesus. He was thrown into the lion's den, his exit barred by a stone. Jesus was sealed in a tomb, barred by a stone. But just as the lions had no power over Daniel, death had no power over Jesus! Read about it in the book of Daniel.Joseph was rejected by his brothers and left for dead, but was glorified later at the Pharoah's right hand and saved his brothers from famine, forgiving them of everything. Jesus was rejected by His brothers (the Jews) and left for dead, but was glorified later at God's right hand and has redeemed His brothers from sin, forgiving them of everything! Read about it in Genesis!Jesus is altogether lovely. No one else is. And by beholding Jesus, we are transformed into His image. For God is the author and the finisher of our faith, not us!I'd like to go into more detail, but I have to pack for tomorrow. Have a blessed rest!
Abba, You love me.
8:56 PM