Sharing is Caring

God who helps me       [Psalms 121]         Once, during a gathering of Westminster Theological Seminary alumni, I had the opportunity to have a meal with a missionary couple serving in China, along with their four children. As the children were all boys, while the missionary pastor was interacting with them, his wife shared a unique aspect of her mission work in China.   She explained, showing us pictures, that she took an interest in reaching out to women engaged in the profession of prostitution.   The pastor would travel by bus for about ten hours and then walk for two more hours to teach in a remote valley where foreigners were a rare sight.   The people there showed genuine affection, and upon witnessing this, the pastor confessed that he, in fact, received grace from them.   After a brief period of engaging in mission work, when the pastor's wife made a prayer request for us, she expressed her desire to bec...

"What a wretched man I am!"       [Romans 7:14-25]     Are you guarding your heart well?   Are you guarding your heart well when Satan's thoughts try to come into your heart?   There is a book called “Freedom From Sinful Thoughts” written by Pastor Heinrich Arnold, a Christian counseling pastor (Internet).   In this book, the author emphasizes the importance of fighting and struggling against the evil thoughts that come into us countless times.   The reason is because if we neglect and let them come into our thoughts, then the evil thoughts will grow and eventually bear the fruit of sinful actions.   The moment we voluntarily enjoy evil thoughts, we are being manipulated by the forces of darkness without even realizing it.   Because a change in behavior begins with a change in mind, we cannot enjoy true freedom in Christ unless freedom from sinful thoughts precedes it.   Indeed, how will we fight and overcome evil ...

Seven words on the cross (4)       [Matthew 27:45-49]                       This is the fourth word Jesus said on the cross: “Eli Eli lama sabachthani.”                    Look at Matthew 27:46 – “About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’--which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”   Here, “About the ninth hour” means about three in the afternoon (v. 46).  And when Jesus cried out with a loud voice, it means that He cried out to Heavenly Father with a loud voice.  Here, when Jesus cried out on the cross, it means that Jesus desperately cried out to Heavenly Father with all His might.                   About 700 years ago, the pro...

  ‘Sin living in me’           [Romans 7:17-20]                         Look at Romans 7:17, 20: “As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.    …    Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”    The Apostle Paul repeatedly said twice that “it is sin living in me.”    Here, “me” refers to the Apostle Paul himself.    Who is Paul?    He was a zealous persecutor of the church.    Look at Philippians 3:6 and 1 Timothy 1:13 – “as for zeal, persecuting the church …” (Phil.3:6), “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, …” (1 Tim.1:13).    While on his way to arrest Christians in Damascus, he met Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). See the conversation between Je...