If a human being tries to seat himself in the “place of honor,” he will ultimately be put to shame; but if he seats himself in the “lowest place” (the place of Jesus Christ), God will exalt him. “Now He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them, ‘When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, “Give your place to this man,” and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, “Friend, move up higher”; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be e...
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...