From: christlife@googlegroups.com
Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:17:25 +0000
Subject: [ChristLife] Digest for christlife@googlegroups.com - 2
Messages in 2 Topics
To: Digest Recipients <christlife@googlegroups.com>
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Today's Topic Summary
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Group: christlife@googlegroups.com
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/christlife/topics
- WHO KNOWS THE HOUR? [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/christlife/t/dce160e680e1c1fc
- Fulfilling the Law [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/christlife/t/e7c600ae58b1923
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Topic: WHO KNOWS THE HOUR?
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/christlife/t/dce160e680e1c1fc
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From: Bayo Afolaranmi <spiritualdigest@gmail.com>
Date: Jan 14 06:00PM +0100
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/christlife/msg/15aac8129432b078
Dear Beloved,
WHO KNOWS THE HOUR?
"Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come…" (Ecclesiastes 9:12 NIV).
The death of Reverend Josiah Adegoke Adeleke, my mentor, friend, and
brother in Christ, in a ghastly auto accident with another friend, Reverend
Chris Tayo Orodiji, on Tuesday January 11, 2005 is still a mirage to me. In
spite of the fact that I was there at the mortuary giving them final bath
and dressing in preparation for their burial, and the fact that I was one
of those that lowered their coffins into their graves, I still find it
difficult to believe that those two great men of God who died at their
prime age in active service have gone forever. I will see them only in
heaven when I also die or at the marriage feast of the Lamb after the
rapture of the saints.
Both of them were very intimate friends who had shared with me many things
about our personal, educational, and especially ministerial endeavors. So,
all the plans, dreams, and aspirations they had have gone with them
unfulfilled! So, they have abandoned their promising ministerial careers
for the rest of us! So, they will not publish those books they have written
their outlines! So, they have left their pregnant wives and very young
children behind to face the struggles of life alone! So, they have….
Their short lives and sudden death are indeed a challenge to the living
that "Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He springs up
like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not
endure…. Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his
months and have set limits he cannot exceed…. But man dies and is laid low;
he breathes his last and is no more. As water disappears from the sea or a
riverbed becomes parched and dry, so man lies down and does not rise; till
the heavens are no more, men will not awake or be roused from their sleep"
(Job 14:1-5, 10-12 NIV).
Their short lives and sudden death are a strong confirmation of the words
of Solomon, "'Meaningless! Meaningless!' says the Teacher. 'Utterly
meaningless! Everything is meaningless,'" and "What does a man get for all
the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun?"
(Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:22 NIV). What really are we living for if death can
render everything meaningless within seconds without warning? Why are we
struggling to become somebody on earth when it is certain that we will
leave everything one day? This makes the words of Paul in Philippians 1:21
relevant here: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (NIV).
Living for Jesus Christ will make our living on earth meaningful and our
death a gain for us. GOKE and TAYO lived for Christ and their death is
indeed a gain for them and Jesus Christ. Who are you living for?
Their short lives and sudden death are now a warning to me that I have to
"discharge all the duties of [my] ministry" (2 Timothy 4:5 NIV). Again, the
words of Paul to Archippus clearly come to mind: "See to it that you
complete the work you have received in the Lord" (Colossians 4:17 NIV). I
have to be up and doing because I do not know when God will also call me
home. I do not know what people will say when I am no more. I do not know
whether my Lord will commend me with words like, "Well done, good and
faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you
in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!" (Matthew
25:21 NIV). I do not know….
Their short lives and sudden death are indeed a challenge and a warning to
us to "Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to
which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of
many witnesses" (1 Timothy 6:12 NIV). If those two great men of God could
die at their prime age, then, anyone may be the next to be called home.
Let me conclude with these words of Solomon, "Moreover, no man knows when
his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken
in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon
them" (Ecclesiastes 9:12 NIV).
In His service,
Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor).
NB
This message was first sent out on January 30, 2005. I am sending it out
again in honour of these two late revered ministers of God.
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Topic: Fulfilling the Law
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/christlife/t/e7c600ae58b1923
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From: Jacob <jninan@gmail.com>
Date: Jan 13 05:07PM -0800
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/christlife/msg/250d1a6ded103aad
Jesus said that even the minutest parts of the Law would be fulfilled.
He came to fulfil the Law, and not to break it as some who observed
Him thought (Mt.5:17,18). The Pharisees, and other such people who
only understood the letter of the Law and missed its spirit, felt that
Jesus had no regard for the Law because He refused to abide by their
literal and extra-literal interpretation of the Law. But Jesus kept
pointing out that they had missed the intent and spirit of the Law.
We realise that the Law was given to a people who had been slaves in
Egypt for 430 years, who hardly knew God. They were more familiar with
the gods and practices of Egypt. So the Law and the 'old covenant'
which was given with the Law were only an introductory level course
for Israel. The Law focused on external behaviour, rituals,
ceremonies, festivals, etc., at this stage, God knowing that a final
fulfillment would come later when Jesus brought in the new covenant.
The Law was merely symbolic of the ultimate reality that would be
unveiled with the new covenant.
Immediately after mentioning that He had come to fulfil the Law, Jesus
explained how this was to be done. The law against murder, e.g., would
be truly fulfilled in a person who would stop even hating his brother
(Mt.5:21,22), and the one against adultery when a person would not
even commit adultery in his mind (vv.27,28). What is happening here is
that what was given under the Law in a primitive form was getting the
full meaning now. In the same way, all the rituals, sacrifices,
offerings, festivals etc., would find fulfillment in what Jesus came
to do in the new covenant (Co.2:16,17).
So now when we read things in the Old Testament we have the privilege
of looking not only at how things were taught in those days to Israel,
but also how they find their ultimate meaning in the new covenant. It
is sad to see Christians reading the Old Testament without this
understanding and getting confused about what they should and should
not do.
Unfortunately there seems to be a resurgence of OT ideas among
Christians, with some of them taking up Old Testament practices,
imagining that by repeating them with special regard to shapes,
colours, procedure, etc., they can bring down God's blessings. You see
how people are promoting the use of prayer shawls, seven sprouted lamp
stands, ram's horns, feast of the tabernacles, etc. What they have
missed to remember is that now that Jesus has come and established the
new covenant, the old covenant has been made obsolete (He.8:13). Now
that the veil protecting the Most Holy Place has been removed, we all
can have direct, individual access to God all the time through the
blood of Jesus (He.10:19,20). Our relationship is now spiritual based
on faith and not on forms or procedure.
There are many practical implications to this in the way we Christians
conduct ourselves. May God open our eyes to see them clearly, and
teach us to walk in the fullness of liberty.
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