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Showing posts from July, 2021

#170: I have sinned again (gutsy guilt)

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  "But God has already saved me, why am I still struggling?" "I am probably a candidate for hell". "There is definitely no way God is going to put up with my sinful behaviour". "I have sinned beyond forgiveness". "I keep backsliding, so I better do myself and God a favour by just continuing in sin." "God is punishing me for my sins, I cannot be saved" "I am better off on my own" If you are like me and have backslidden a lot of times, today's study is for you. But if you are the strong and mighty, we will meet on another Sunday. By God's grace today He will be delivering many from a trap that our adversary keeps us in. The more we grow in the knowledge of God, we realise that God's character is a spectrum; laying emphasis on just one aspect of God will give a skewed relationship with Him. One of such dilemmas that plague children of God in their walk with Him is His love and justice. If we focus on just on

#169: Babel (Man vs God)

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Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. Genesis 11:1 The narrative of the famous tower of Babel presents us with one of the most beautiful demonstrations of God's sovereignty and providence over the affairs of men. The chapter begins with a piece of very impressive information - the whole earth had a united front. They had formed a conspiracy; they spoke the same words - "come let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly; come let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth." ( vs 3&4 ) One aim and one objective - rebellion against the Most High. One could argue that they were building for themselves a tower and a refuge through the advancement in technology that would save them from God's judgement should He decide to send another flood. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men had built. ( vs

#168: Ruth and the Gospel (Part 2)

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  My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime; but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and am not silent. Psalm 22:1&2 Today we continue looking at the book of Ruth, but we focus on Naomi. The book of Ruth opens by telling us that this was in the days of the Judges.  We understand that those were hard times in the history of Israel. And in this particular era, there was a famine that was so severe that it seemed wiser to sojourn to the land of the Midianites - a sworn enemy of Israel to find food than remain in the promised land (meant to be flowing in milk and honey). Just like Naomi and her family, very often we pass through hard times; in such times it is important to ask: is God on holiday? As I meditate on the verses in Psalm 22 , I think of the agony of Jesus on the cross when he yelled on the cross. And just like Jesus and the psalmist, Naomi voiced out her pain: And sh

#167: Ruth and the Gospel (Part 1)

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  On this blog, we believe that the bible is a unified text that leads to Jesus. If the bible is the Word of God, and if God were to speak, what would He say? A systematic study of scriptures shows that from the beginning of time, God was always proclaiming the gospel. It was relevant to the ancients (pointing forward to Jesus) and as relevant to us today (pointing backwards to Jesus). Over the course of two webisodes, beginning today, we will be looking together at the story of Ruth as recorded in scripture through the lens of the gospel and see how this familiar narrative points us to our LORD and His saving grace. Today we will focus on the relationship between Ruth and Boaz. A Redeemer: It is so fascinating that scriptures described Boaz as Ruth's redeemer ( Ruth 3:9 ). And she answered, “I am Ruth your slave. Now spread your garment over your slave, for you are a redeemer.” We need to be in the condition that Ruth was in, in order to desire a redeemer. When we have come to the