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Showing posts from December, 2017

What Really Convinced the Shepherds to Go See the Baby in a Manger?

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Image from ShareFaith. You'd probably say an angel told the shepherds to go to the manger scene so they ended up there. Not quite. But this is what most people think happened. Actually, the angel simply tickled their imagination and aroused their curiosity. Anyone proclaiming the good news about Jesus Christ should use this Kingdom principle instead of "trapping" people into attending their churches each Sunday. But why shepherds? Why did they have to be there? Why not prominent people like Herod or the rich? Shepherds were the poorest people and the lowest type of laborers at the time. They were unschooled and often rough mannered. And yet, they were the first to be told of the birth of Jesus. But first things first---take note that God chose to send his Son to a poor family when he came to the world to save us. It was no accident. It was pre-planned. Father, Son and Holy Spirit sat down and carefully planned all this and decided to go to a poor and weak nati

Truth Versus Experience

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Image from Top Documentary Films. Many times, bible truth does not coincide with our experience in the mundane world. For instance, we are told to be holy for God is holy. That's truth. We can be holy. Otherwise, God would not have told us so. But actual experience tells us otherwise. We find it easier to fall into sin than live in holiness. So, some people conclude, it's impossible to live holy in this world. That's why we are saved by grace. But God intended that grace and righteousness should go together. "Grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" [Rom.5.21]. It's not grace versus holiness but grace and righteousness. It's a package. However, just because in our experience we often fail to live righteously, we conclude that holiness is not really feasible in this life so we must rely on God's grace alone. Then we form doctrines out of that, saying no matter how we live, as long as we hold on to God