Thinking Aloud

This is a phrase Paul has used four times in his letters to Timothy and Titus. We may trace a connection between these ‘’Trustworthy   Sayings’’ even though they occur in different letters and under different circumstances. The first time it occurs is in 1 Timothy 1:15, ‘’ This is a trustworthy saying , and everyone should accept it: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--and I am the worst of them all’’. That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners is the greatest piece of news ever uttered in to the ears of mortal man. That the Redeemer had His work cut out for him before His arrival is joy to our hearts. Paul’s sharing his anti-Christian past here is designed to persuade the reluctant sinner to come forward to accept the grace. We understand the basic and the most glorious truth in the book of God that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners . He came into this world to destroy the works of the Devil, and to search o...

Crucifixion is a method of  capital punishment  in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden beam and left to hang, perhaps for several days, until eventual death from exhaustion and  asphyxiation . It was used to punish  slaves ,  pirates , and enemies of the state. Crucifixion was usually intended to provide a death that was particularly slow, painful, gruesome, humiliating, and public. Thousands have been punished in this manner over the centuries. Constantine the Great , the first Christian  emperor , abolished crucifixion in the Roman Empire in 337 AD out of veneration for  Jesus Christ , its most famous victim. Jesus’ Crucifixion was not a random affair. Jesus was not murdered on a Jerusalem back street by one of Caiaphas’s thugs.   was not a political assassination brought about through collusion between government and temple authorities. After several hours of agonizing in Gethsemane , He received from  ...

John 15:19   The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. The above warning is one of the many Jesus uttered during the course of his teachings to His disciples. Jesus helped his disciples prepare for the rejection many of them would suffer for being Christians. Being God’s person will usually create unfavourable reactions from others who are resisting Him. Following Jesus is no guarantee of a peaceful, comfortable life or wealth or high social or civic honours. Actually, the opposite is true.   Discipleship is costly. Jesus foresaw this early in His ministry and had warned them during the Sermon on the Mount. ‘’Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets befo...

1Thes 5: 16 Rejoice at all times.  17 . Pray without ceasing.  18   Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus THE three precepts of these three verses may be called the standing orders of the Christian Church. Whatever our circumstances are, the duties here prescribed are always binding upon us. We are to rejoice always, to pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks. 1 Thes 5:16 Rejoice at all times                                                                 Luke   2:10-11   says the   angel told shepherds that he was bringing them the good news of great joy for all the peopl...

1 Corinthians     10:1   Now I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the fact that all of our ancestors who left Egypt were under the cloud. They all went through the sea, 2 and they all were immersed into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food. 4   and drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that went with them. That rock was the Messiah. 5   But God wasn't pleased with most of those people, and so they were struck down in the wilderness. 6   Now their experiences serve as examples for us so that we won't set our hearts on evil as they did. 7   Let's stop being idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to play." 8   Let's stop sinning sexually, as some of them were doing, and on a single day 23,000 fell dead. 9   Let's stop putting the Lord to the test, as some of them were doing, and were destroyed by...