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라벨이 assurance인 게시물 표시

愿我们的旨意与神一致。 [罗马书 15:1–6]

  愿我 们 的旨意 与 神一致。     [ 罗马书 15:1–6]   最近,在周三 祷 告 会 后的 领 袖 查经时间 里,我 们 一直在 研 读 《 约 拿 书 》第四章。 研 读 越深,我越 发 感到神要 教 导 我的功 课 可以 概 括 为 一句 话 :“不要成就我的意思,只要成就祢的意思。” 约 拿作 为 神的仆人和先知,却因神收回了原定降在尼尼微人身上的灾 祸 而向神 发 怒——要知道, 这 些人已 经 悔改 并 离弃了罪 恶 。他 发 怒的原因何在?因 为约 拿渴望成就的是他自己的意愿,而非神的旨意。 约 拿的意愿是什 么 呢?那就是毁 灭 尼尼微人。他 极 度渴望——甚至抱着一 种 “不 达 目的誓不 罢 休”的 决 绝 心 态 ——要神降灾于他 们 。看着 约 拿的 态 度,我反思了何 为真 正的 属灵 成熟。 简 而言之,我 认为属灵 的成熟在于 将 自己的意愿放下在十字架前, 并 顺 服主的旨意。 换 言之,一 个属灵 成熟的基督徒, 会 像耶 稣 在受 难 前夜于客西 马 尼 园 向父神 祷 告那 样 祈求:“然而,不要照我的意思,只要照祢的意思。”那 么 ,主 对 我 们教会 有何旨意呢?   在今天的 经 文——《 罗马书 》 15 章 5 至 6 节 ——中,我 们 看到使徒保 罗为罗马教会祷 告:“但愿 赐 忍耐 与 安慰的神,叫 你 们 彼此同心,效法基督耶 稣 ,好叫 你 们 同心合意,用一口一舌 荣 耀我 们 主耶 稣 基督的神和父。” 总 之,保 罗 向神祈求 教会 的合一。 这 是因 为教会 的合一正是 教会 之首——主的旨意。那 么 ,我 们该 如何促 进 “ 胜 利 长 老 会 ”( Victory Presbyterian Church )的合一呢?我祈愿我 们 都能留心 并 顺 服神借着今天的 经 文所 教 导 的功 课 ,致力于在多 样 性中 维护教会 的合一。首先, 为 了 维护教会 ——即基督身体——的合一,我 们 必 须寻 求取 悦 邻 舍,而不是取 悦 自己。   请 看今天的 经 文, 罗马书 15 章 1 至 2 节 :“我 们坚 固的人 应该 担代不 坚 固人的 软 弱,不求自己的喜 悦 。我 们...

Three Important Assurances

Three Important Assurances Good morning!   May God receive glory from us this Lord’s Day and May God bless you all and your families!   Few weeks ago, during Monday afternoon zoom prayer meeting, I asked a sister in Christ 'What is your most need?'   and she said "Assurance."   So I shared 3 assurances based on Romans chapter 8: (1) Assurance of Love [(Rom.8:38-39) "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor heights, nor depth, nor any other created things, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord"], (2) Assurance of Salvation [(Rom.8:24) "For in hope we have been saved, ..."], (3) Assurance of Victory [(Rom.8:37) "But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us"].   May God give these 3 assurances to you all! God bless!

“If God is for us” (11) (Romans 8:35-39)

“If God is for us” (11)       [Romans 8:35-39]     Look at Romans 8:38-39: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  The Apostle Paul used the conjunction “For” (γὰρ) at the beginning of verse 38, which is a conjunction connecting the words in verses 38-39 with the words in verse 37, “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.”  In other words, the Apostle Paul said to the Roman church saints, “I am convinced” (v. 38), because “in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (v. 37).  More specifically, even if we face tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword-like danger of death (v. 35), in all these things we overwhelmi...

“If God is for us” (1) (Romans 8:31-34)

“If God is for us” (1)       [Romans 8:31-34]       Look at Romans 8:31 – “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?”  Here, the conjunction “then” connects the word before and the word after.  Here are some of the opinions of scholars regarding the word before: (1) Romans 3:21-8:30, (2) Romans 5:1-8:30, (3) Romans 8:1-30, (4) Romans 8:26-30.  My opinion is that the conjunction “then” connects with Romans 8:29-30.  Romans 8:29-30 describes the five stages of God's salvation.  That is, (1) God foreknew (loved), (2) predestined (chosen), (3) called to believe Jesus, (4) justified, (5) glorified.  The Apostle Paul said, “What, then, shall we say in response to this?” (v. 31)  Here, in the English Bible, the singular “this” is used, but if we look at the original Greek, it is “these things” as a plural.  And “these things” refer to the five stages of God’s salva...

Assurance of salvation (Romans 8:28-29)

Assurance of salvation         [Romans 8:28-29]                          Look at Romans 8:28-29: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.   For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.”   The word “salvation” does not appear in these verses.   But if we look at the content, the Apostle Paul is talking about salvation.   In particular, these verses are about the assurance of salvation.   That's why I have chosen the title of the meditation, “Assurance of salvation.”                First, what is ‘salvation’ in Romans 8:28-29?        ...

The result of justification (5): Having assurance of hope (Romans 5:3-4)

The result of justification (5): Having assurance of hope     “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Romans 5:3-4)                      Even when we Christians face sufferings for our faith (of course, even when there is no sufferings), we should hope for the glory of God and rejoice.   Like the church in Philadelphia in the Book of Revelation (Rev.3:7-13), our church must keep the word of the Lord and not deny His name even though it is a crucible of suffering with little strength (vv. 8-10).   We must keep our faith in times of sufferings.   For this too, God must give us grace, the Holy Spirit can help us, and the Lord must hold us.   How, then, can we rejoice in sufferings?   How can we rejoice when Satan knows that his time is short, fe...

‘You may know that you have eternal life.” (10) (1 John 5:13-21)

‘You may know that you have eternal life.” (10) [1 John 5:13-21]         The fourth assurance is the assurance that we belong to God. In other words, it is the assurance that those who are born of God, that is, those who are born again (regenerated) belong to God and not to this world ruled by Satan.         Look at 1 John 5:19 – “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” The Apostle John says there are only two kinds of people in this world: (1) children of God, or (2) children of Satan (MacArthur). Look at 1 John 3:10 – “This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.” The Apostle John says that it is possible to distinguish clearly between the children of God and the children of the devil (v. 10). The way to distinguish it is that “Anyone w...