201鸡

new year. new beginnings.

i am excited for what's to come. slight sense of fear, but a good kind of fear.

and. i should be thankful.

Lord, help my unthankfulness.

grasping and clinging on to You. use me Lord, as your vessel. Help me submit to your ways, help me walk according to Your righteous paths, and lead me in your Will,

day by day.

jesus on every page

via http://jesusoneverypage.com/

What do we find when we open this book
Let’s open the covers and take a close look
Wherever we turn, wherever we read
A familiar name is what we meet
It’s Jesus on every page

He wasn’t idle and quiet for thousands of years
Just watching and waiting till His turn drew near
He was busy and active in grace and in power
His mercy was growing – seed, bud, and flower
It’s Jesus on every page

He is the Word by whom all things were made
The Promised Seed who defeats the Serpent’s raid
He came as the Covenanter to save a people
Abram saw His day, Jacob saw him as an Angel
It’s Jesus on every page

With the blood of a lamb He painted His salvation
With an outstretched arm He defeated the Egyptian
Redemption, Relationship, Rules in that order
Dwelling with sinners, in the center, not the border
It’s Jesus on every page

He skillfully taught using visual theology
Levitical Priests offered sacrifice daily
No blood? No remission, no forgiveness of sin
But need more than sheep, for conscience has pain
It’s Jesus on every page

The Father chastised His people’s rebellion
The years numbered forty in the desert of Sin
Yet still sent His Son to be their faithful leader
Glory-cloud by day, by night a fiery pillar
It’s Jesus on every page

Moses chose Christ’s reproaches, and spoke of Him often
But his sinful bad temper barred him from Canaan
His last written work, Deuteronomy to author
Where He promised THE prophet, “one like me, but better”
It’s Jesus on every page

Y’shua called Joshua to conquer the land
He united the tribes into one mighty band
Much good was accomplished, Israel greatly blessed
But Y’shua gives better land, vict’ry and rest
It’s Jesus on every page

Jesus the Angel stopped Israel’s extinction
He saved, and saved through, Barak, Samson, and Gideon
Yet still each man did what in his eyes was right
Believers scanned the horizon, no good king in sight
It’s Jesus on every page

Hope dawns in four chapters of godly romance
God sends a redeemer, His kingdom to advance
God says of  a Gentile, “Ruth, you shall be mine!”
A Moabite? Yes, in the Messianic line
It’s Jesus on every page

Hannah predicts God’s Anointed, Messiah,
King David arises, “Is this our desire?”
He is the man after God’s own heart
Eternal king and kingdom now start?
It’s Jesus on every page

Yet, David, Solomon, and every successor
Sin and fall short in serious measure
Israel’s divided, then distant exile
Faith in Messiah faces Babylon trial
Is Jesus on any page?

Yet God is still faithful, He keeps covenant
Moves heathen king Cyrus, Israel to replant
Nehemiah and Ezra rebuild with great joy
God’s kingdom is coming, the devil to destroy
It’s Jesus on every page

But Satan’s still busy, Haman wants all Jews dead
Messiah’s line and purpose now hangs by a thread
Esther ventures by faith, her fate no one knows
It’s her time, not Haman’s, he’s on the gallows
It’s Jesus on every page

Job’s innocent suffering no fault of his
He’s sure precious gold is the end of all this
Not only a picture of a Redeemer to come
The Redeemer comes early and shows Job his home
It’s Jesus on every page.

We sing the Psalms to Him as God only wise
We sing the Psalms of Him using faith as our eyes
We sing the Psalms with him who sang them below
In times of rejoicing, and when the tears flow
It’s Jesus on every page

From Worship leader to Wisdom teacher
One greater than Solomon’s there and here
Although Madam Folly may call us to whoredom
In Jesus is hidden all knowledge and wisdom
It’s Jesus on every page.

The best life without Him is vanity of vanities
The worst life with Him is verity of verities
Education, possessions, cash, joy, toys, and friends,
But what will they profit, if no Christ at the end.
It’s Jesus on every page.

I am the bridegroom seeking a bride
A people to marry and love
To nourish and cherish right at my side
I can’t wait to come down from above
I’m Jesus on every page

I’m Wonderful, Counselor, the Prince of Peace
I’m butchered for sinners in atoning sacrifice
The Spirit’s upon me, good news for the meek
To set free the captives and strengthen the week
I’m Jesus on every page

Jeremiah predicts I’ll make covenant new,
A covenant effective, it’s something I’ll do,
I’ll be you prophet, your priest, and your king,
In grace I’ll forgive and forget all your sin.
I’m Jesus on every page

I’m calling the wicked, Turn why will you die
I’m the good shepherd who tells you to fly
I’m the new temple, God’s glory to share
I’m Jehovah Shammah, the Lord who is there
I’m Jesus on every page

Two kingdoms are warring to death in Daniel
The furious conflict is hot and hostile
But in visions, in furnace, and in lions’ den
Final victory’s mine, not devil’s or men.
I’m Jesus on every page.

Some of the prophets are smaller
Their message is often quite grim
But even there, jewels of Jesus are shining
They still speak clearly of Him
It’s Jesus on every page

In Hosea He allures the unfaithful
He promises His Spirit in Joel
Obadiah says He’ll conquer the malign
He uses useless Jonah as a sign
It’s Jesus on every page

In Amos, He roars like a lion
In Micah, He pardons all our sins
In Habakkuk, He gives hope in famine
In Zephaniah, He sees us and sings
It’s Jesus on every page.

Nations’ glories flow to Jesus in Haggai
Zechariah opens His fountain for sin
In Malachi John the Baptist gets a mention
Then 400 years of silence begin
Where’s the Jesus on every page?

Four centuries, no Jesus, no page
Dark, dismal, depressing the age
Then choirs of angels erupt in the skies
Christ Jesus is born, with real human eyes
Again, Jesus on every page

No more just predictions and pictures
No quick visits in mere human form
He’s come to be like us and be with us
Unleashing a devilish storm
They hate Jesus on every page

The Promised Seed bruised, but not beaten
Four Gospels record His great win
No longer pages dripping blood red
Conqueror’s gold is the color instead
We love Jesus on every page

mondays.

it's gonna be a big commitment.

over 34 mondays :D

oh Lord, help me love You by loving your Word.



long time ago, i used to sk8.

Vans Go Skateboarding Day 2013, Singapore from Vans SG on Vimeo.

and i used to use here to blog. and i used to ROCK. listen to metallica! (coming this saturday!!)
now i cycle. and i attempt to run, and i fail terribly in obeying Him. by His grace and mercy alone. Lord rescue me.

it's 2013!

i wanna do this when i grow up

The Distinguished Gentleman's Ride Singapore from Juffrie Friday on Vimeo.

sk8 in shanghai.

Shanghai 5 from Charles Lanceplaine on Vimeo.

rom 8:28

Romans 8:28: All Things for Good?

The apparent discrepancy between this profound affirmation of faith and our human experience makes Romans 8:28 one of the difficult sayings of Paul. For how can we see the hand of God at work in the killing of a young child by a drunken driver? Where are God's loving purposes revealed in the agony of a cancer victim's last weeks? What measure of good can be discerned in the massacre of a Christian congregation by guerrillas? All these kinds of experiences and events seem to contradict Paul's affirmation. It is therefore imperative that we understand what it is that Paul is saying and how, in light of his own experience, he was able to say it.

Apart from anything else which might be said about this text, it is clear from the context that it expresses Paul's deep faith and trust in the loving purposes of God. We must remember that this affirmation is not the result of abstract rationalization or theologizing. It is, furthermore, not a word that emerges from the lips of one whose life coasted along in serenity, uninterrupted by the stresses and strains, the pains and perplexities, the turmoil and tragedies that most human beings experience to one degree or another.

No, this word of confidence and hope is written by one who, according to his own testimony in an earlier correspondence, was "under great pressure" and "despaired even of life" (2 Cor 1:8); he was "hard pressed on every side" and "perplexed," "persecuted" and "struck down" (2 Cor 4:8-9); he experienced "beatings," "imprisonments," "riots" and "hunger" (2 Cor 6:4-5). It seems clear that we have in Romans 8:28 no "armchair theory," but a profound affirmation of faith that emerges out of experiences which, on the surface at least, would not seem to support that affirmation.

What then is the "good" toward which God works? I believe we can only discover that when we take the whole context of the passage seriously. In Romans 8:1-18, Paul shows that Christians are people who are "in Christ" (Rom 8:1), whose existence is determined and empowered by the Spirit of Christ who dwells within (Rom 8:9-11). On the basis of this reality, we are "children of God" and "heirs with Christ" (Rom 8:16-17 RSV). We are therefore no longer in bondage to "the law of sin and death" (Rom 8:2).

But to be free from the enslaving realities of sin and death does not mean that we can live our lives unaffected by the continuing presence of sin and death in this world. And it is precisely this dual reality of "freedom from" as well as "continuing experience of" that Paul deals with in the second part of the chapter.

Paul concludes his description of "life in Christ" or "life in the Spirit" by affirming in Romans 8:17 that this new life is lived in the tension between present suffering and final glorification. That is to say, freedom from bondage to sin and death does not mean the absence of either the reality of sin and death or the experience of this reality in the present.

The present reality of "peace with God" and "justification" (Rom 5:1) is but the first installment of God's gracious, redemptive action in Christ. There is much more yet to come. The "not-yet" dimension is already anticipated in Romans 5: beyond the present experience of being at "peace with God," there is the "hope of [sharing] the glory of God" (Rom 5:2) and the expectation of being "saved through his life" in the final judgment (Rom 5:9-10). This "not-yet" aspect of God's redemptive purpose is taken up again: in Romans 8:11 Paul points to the future resurrection of our "mortal bodies," which in Romans 8:17 he refers to as our "glorification." Then he goes on to show "our present sufferings" need to be placed in proper perspective in light of "the glory that will be revealed" (Rom 8:18).

In these verses our experiences, which do not seem "good" at all, are placed in the context of the totality of God's creation, which "in eager expectation" (Rom 8:19) and which is presently "subjected to frustration" (Rom 8:20) and in "bondage to decay" (Rom 8:21). It is a creation which "has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth" (Rom 8:22) just as we human beings "groan" inwardly (Rom 8:22). And just as the total creation "will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God" (Rom 8:21), so we can anticipate "the redemption of our bodies" (Rom 8:23).

The proper attitude for our living between the first installment of our redemption and its final culmination is hope and patience (Rom 8:24-25). Our present situation, says Paul, is a situation of "weakness" (Rom 8:26). If it were not so, patience and hope would not be necessary. Yet it is precisely in the midst of our weakness that the Spirit of God is present and working (Rom 8:26-27).

Thus Romans 8:28 must be seen within the context of the redemptive purposes of God. In all things--in our suffering, groaning, hoping, waiting; in "trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword" (Rom 8:35)--in all things God is working "for the good of those who love him." That "good" is the final and complete realization of God's love for creation, incarnated in Christ, from which nothing can separate us (Rom 8:39).

"In all these things," Paul is convinced, we can be "more than conquerors" (Rom 8:37). Not on the basis of our efforts, nor on the basis of blind faith, nor through a kind of stoic resignation, but rather "through him who loved us" (Rom 8:37) and called us "according to his purpose" (Rom 8:28). That good and loving purpose finds its completion when the whole creation, including our bodies, is freed from bondage to decay.

Prior to this final act in God's redemptive work, it is God's love in Christ that sustains us and empowers us--even in the midst of our experiences of sin and death--"to be conformed to the likeness of his Son" (Rom 8:29). God works in all things toward that good purpose. But only "those who love him" know that, because they are participants "with him" in the outworking of that purpose.

birdy

mixie.

Mashafix.com - Mixie Bikes from Mashafix.com on Vimeo.

slave to sin?

Romans 7:14-19: A Slave to Sin?

On plain reading, what we have in this text is the candid confession of a basic split within the person, of an inner division that leads to utter weakness. Paul's final word about this condition is in Romans 7:24: "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"

If this passage and the verses that surround it are a description of what the Christian life is all about, then they stand in stark contrast to the joy and freedom and newness Paul describes in Romans 5, 6 and 8. Indeed, it would seem that the "good news" of the gospel, expressed with such exuberance in Romans 5:1 and 11, has become the "bad news." For how can Paul say, in Romans 6:6, that "our old self was crucified with him" so that "we should no longer be slaves to sin," and then go on to say, in Romans 7:25, that "in the sinful nature [I am] a slave to the law of sin"?

Yet, despite these difficulties, the most common understanding of this text is that Paul is here speaking about an internal tension between the Christian's higher and lower selves. Some have even used this text as a biblical warrant for sinful behavior, as a cop-out from Christian responsibility.

As so often, it is important that both the immediate and the wider context of this text be grasped if we are properly to understand Paul's meaning. When we do that, it becomes difficult to maintain the usual understanding of the text.

Paul's discussion of justification on the basis of God's work in Christ (Rom 1--6) shows that the whole person is reconciled to God--body, soul and spirit. Justification does not create a new moral or spiritual core within us which then has to fight it out with the rest of our being, our "baser instincts," our "flesh" with its passions and desires. That idea rests on both a misunderstanding of certain words Paul uses and an inadequate hearing of Paul's intention, revealed in the structure of his argument.

The troublesome word in Romans 7:5-25 is flesh, a word used several times in association with the dominion of sin and death (Rom 7:5, 18, 25). It is the contrast between "flesh" and the "I" with its higher aspirations which is largely responsible for the view that Romans 7 talks about a divided self in which constant warfare is raging.

When Paul speaks about "being in the flesh" throughout his writings, he is not talking about our physical nature as such, about physical passions and desires, but about a way of life, an orientation of life, a life lived apart from God's purposes for us. The Ephesians are told that they have been made alive, released from "the passions of [the] flesh." The passage then goes on to define "passions of [the] flesh" as "desires of body and mind" (Eph 2:1-3 RSV). This then defines the religious use of the term flesh, which for Paul included what in Greek thought was understood as the highest part of the human being, the mind.

A similar use of flesh is found in Romans 8. In drawing a contrast between two ways of life, Paul speaks of one way as "liv[ing] according to the flesh," "set[ting] the mind on the flesh," "[being] in the flesh" (Rom 8:5-8 RSV). Then he says, "But you are not in the flesh." Obviously, flesh is used here not with any physical, biological connotations. Rather, the religious use of the word flesh makes it possible for Paul to say that there was a time when "we were living in the flesh" (Rom 7:5 RSV) with the full recognition that Christians continue to be physical creatures.

When Paul, therefore, contrasts a "fleshly" with a "spiritual" way of living, he is not speaking about two distinct parts of the total self, but about two possible life-orientations of that total self. In the contrast between the "I" and "my flesh" (7:18 RSV), the "I" represents the total self insofar as it affirms the good, the will of God as expressed in the law; "my flesh" represents the total self insofar as it is powerless, dominated by sin, unrelated to God.

Beside these considerations of Paul's terminology, the structure of the argument supports the thesis that Romans 7:7-25 is not a description of "life in Christ." In Romans 7:5-6, Paul contrasts the former life ("while we were living in the flesh") with the new life ("but now" RSV). These verses serve as topical sentences for what follows: Romans 7:7-25 provides the interpretation of 7:5, while Romans 8 interprets 7:6. The former describes existence unto death; the latter, existence unto life.

Let us briefly trace the argument in Romans 7:7-25. Since the law exposes our sinfulness, is the law therefore sin? By no means! For the law is holy and spiritual, just and good (Rom 7:7-14). The reason we are in bondage to sin is because we are "fleshly" (Rom 7:14 RSV--remember the discussion above about this term). Now Paul goes on in Romans 7:15-24 to explain what it means to be "fleshly, sold under sin." It means that we fail to accomplish God's will, even though we acknowledge the goodness of God's law, even though we intend to live our lives accordingly (Rom 7:15-16). The self is so thoroughly in bondage to sin that one can indeed speak of a life in which the "I," which acknowledges God's law, is not in control (Rom 7:17-23). The result of such bondage is "wretchedness" (Rom 7:24). But now there is a new way: Through Jesus Christ our Lord, we are freed from this desperate condition in which, though we serve the law of God with our mind, our concrete, actual living is "fleshly," dominated by sin (Rom 7:25 RSV). In the next verse (Rom 8:1), Paul begins the description of this new life in Christ, this new life of the Spirit.

What Paul has given us is a description of the ultimate futility of life lived in external conformity to law, even though that law is God's law. Clearly, Paul's encounter with Christ caused him to see his former life "under the law" as bondage from this new vantage point. Now, he wants his readers in Rome, as well as us, to understand that legalistic religion leads to death. Only the grace of God revealed and enacted in Jesus sets us free from bondage to sin to experience the "glorious liberty of the children of God" (Rom 8:21 RSV).

http://www.ivpress.com/hardsay/