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Past, present, and future blessing       [Romans 8:1-2, 14-18]     Among the blessings that God has given to us Christians in Jesus Christ, I heard the word through our church retired pastor last Wednesday prayer meeting that the three blessings shown in Romans 8:1-2 and 14-18.   The three blessings are past blessing, present blessing, and future blessing.   I want to meditate on these three blessings again.   First, what is the past blessing?   It is that there is now no condemnation for us who are in Christ Jesus.   Look at Romans 8:1 – “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”   The Scripture says that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.   What does it mean?   In order to understand this word, we need to know the meaning of the word “condemnation.”   The original Greek word for the word, “κατάκριμα,” is a court term and refers to conv...

  J. I. Packer on the Surprise Blessing of Trials MARCH 28, 2022   |    JEREMY LINNEMAN © Lightstock SHARE TWEET EMAIL Advertise on TGC MORE BY JEREMY LINNEMAN How COVID Has Affected Our Friendships—and What to Do About It We’re Hurt, and Healed, in Community Want Real Self-Help? Cultivate Humility with Andrew Murray Why Prayer Often Feels Impossible If God Can Show Up in Bethlehem . . . I remember where I was when I read these words by the late theologian J. I. Packer: “A certain type of ministry of the gospel is  cruel . It doesn’t mean to be, but it is.” What is the cruel sort of ministry Packer had in mind? His answer would haunt me. I was going through a particularly hard season of depression and had been suffering from chronic illness. It was a season of trial and discouragement that had lasted far too long—or so I thought. I’d prayed. I’d talked with wise counselors. I’d prayed more. But this difficult season was unrelenting, and my spirit wasn’t lif...

Eight blessings (4): The blessing of those who hunger and thirst for righteousness       [Matthew 5:6]     Are you living with a sense of satisfaction right now?  Are you happy now?  There is a quiz developed by Dr. Ed Dinner in the United States to measure happiness (Internet).  There are 5 questions in the quiz, and you have to score them when you answer them.  Answer 1 is “definitely not”, answer 2 is “no”, answer 3 is “somewhat not”, and answer 4 is “Neither this nor that”, answer 5 is “slightly yes”, answer 6 is “yes” and answer 7 is “strongly yes.”  After answering each of the five questions from 1 to 7 in this way, if the total score is 31-35, “extremely satisfied”, 26-30 is “very satisfied”, 21-25 is “slightly satisfied”, 20 is considered “moderate”, 15-19 is “slightly dissatisfied”, 10-14 is “very dissatisfied”, and 5-9 is “extremely dissatisfied”.  Then I am asking you those five questions:   (1) ...