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https://www.crossway.org/articles/4-reasons-we-avoid-the-book-of-revelation/#:~:text=1.,that%20when%20reading%20the%20Bible.
Revelation 21: 3-4
3 See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’Revelation has everything to do with how we invest the capital of our lives, what is worth getting excited about, or being afraid of.
Revelation speaks:
to our big and little compromises with the world around us,
what we expect our money can provide for us.
There is nothing more practical than prayer,
Revelation invites us to share the ache of the persecution endured by our brothers and sisters around the world and throughout history. And it speaks into this ache, telling us that the days of evil having its way in this world are numbered.
FAITH – LOVE- HOPE
Bedrock – feel – forgivenessFAITH:more precious than gold.Faith is the bedrock. We are protected by the power of God through faith
LOVE: Although you have not seen him you love him. And even though you do not see him now you believe in him + rejoice with an indescribable joy
– you cannot see Love you can only feel it. God is Love
HOPE: forgiveness = hope
By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.What for John is the best example of love?
When a person sacrifices (all) for another – so God sacrificed his son / Jesus sacrificed himself to save us.
As an aside we learnt that God forgave us – forgiveness is very important for love.
James calls us to truly TRUST in God – to pray & listen & act.
We are Christians through our deeds – so listen + act
St Paul speaking to the Hebrews to encourage them:
God is portrayed as a parent who loves us – he disciplines us / suffering to get us on the right path. He forgives us / grace .
The old covenant / 10 commandments was all about discipline with no grace and no way could we keep the 10 commandments all the time – so we are all sinners.
The new convenant add forgives / grace – very important.
When we fall short of God’s will, we can expect Him to “discipline” us, the same way a loving father corrects a wayward child. That chastening is not a sign of hate—it’s proof that the Father loves us enough to pull us back towards the right path.
A comparison is made between the manner in which the old covenant was introduced – reasonable fear,
as opposed to how we perceive the new covenant offers us peace and security, and very importantly grace; this is the only way we can be members of “a kingdom that cannot be shaken”
Paul urges the church to grow up!
God has given us each many gifts – some to be apostles, teachers, craftsman, admin … etc BUT he gave us all LOVE + GRACE / forgiveness . Paul urges us to “grow up” and use LOVE + GRACE at all times. Amazing if we could get the whole human race using their gifts LOVE + GRACE …. but we need to start with ourself ❤️?❤️
31) Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, 32) and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.*
14) We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 15) But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
16) from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
19) For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20) and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
Christ was God in human form & showed us the way – love (heart & practical providing food/ shelter – loaves/ fishes feeding 5,000…), courage…
God through Jesus also showed us forgiveness …. Jesus met with sinners/ did not shun them & God reconciled with us through Jesus ‘s death & resurrection – forgiveness so important as can always “start again”
wow what a book the bible is!
I found Romans 12 a tremendous summary:
We are freed from sin by the grace / forgiveness of God – therefore do not allow ourselves to be persecuted or a slave to sin. Don’t keep beating ourselves up!!
We are all equal and each of us has special gifts -respect each other.
Love – the greatest gift that we all have . Be genuine
When they go low we go high – never give into evil.
2. Do not be conformed to this world,* but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
4…..as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function,
9 Let love be genuine;
20. No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
To live by the spirit is to experience “an entire psychic change” through which we become God centred life vs Self centred life:
A God centred life:
– sin/ death is not our master or to be afraid of – we have been set free by God’s grace / forgiveness. We are forgiven & we forgive others– Love thy neighbour as thy self.
– more open minded , loving, peaceful , joyous life
We cannot keep the 10 commandments (the law of moses). We cannot be sinless – thoughts, words, deeds….
Becoming a Christian gives a person the power to overcome sin but it does not make one sinless.
Disconnect between our best intentions and our real-world sinful actions,
Only way to overcome is to stay close in pray with God and accept God’s grace / forgiveness for our sins and always be mindful we are not a slave to sin, it holds no authority over us, be aware of our desires and do not become a slave to them.
Accept God’s grace & forgives & forgive others
11 “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus”.
We have been freed from the penalty, authority, power of sin. We are forgiven.
BUT we haven’t fully lost our desire to sin. Sin still attracts us (old habits) . Paul tells us to stop giving our bodies over to be used by sin and to give them over, instead, to be used by God for righteousness. We’re alive now. Why live like sin still owns us .
LOVE
Love your God with all your heart & soul & mindLove your neighbour as yourself
-rarely will anyone die for another person – if they do it should be for a good person
– Jesus died for sinners / ungodly people !! (devil)
– The devil/ sin was tricked and Jesus /God overcame death & Jesus resurrection – God/ Truth / God’s way > devil / sin
– God forgave is / he is at peace with us / he always give us his Grace/ God’s love had been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. Meet God/ Holy Spirit through prayer
– we are reconciled with God – even though there is sin in the world & us God has shown his Grace / forgiveness is always there . This is a change as in old testament God at war with human – now after Jesus death / resurrection no longer at wat but at peace and God’s Grace / forgiveness is always present
