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Matthew 1:29, Hebrews 7:22-25 •         Jesus is called the Saviour today, because none can save like Him. Some time ago, Israel thought they had saviours - the Passover Lambs - but they were not born for the purpose. They saved Israel from Egypt but could not save them from their sins. Jesus, however, was born just to save us and continues to save us well after His blood has atoned for our sins. •         The Passover lambs were killed to save the Israelites from death on the night God exacted the death of firstborns as the ultimate miracle that moved Pharaoh’s hand to set Israel free. But, on their journey to the Promised Land, only two of the people aged 20 years and above who left Egypt arrived in the Promised Land led by Joshua (whose name incidentally has the same meaning as Jesus). To Canaan and to Heaven - Similarities •         The parallels between Israel’s journey to the Canaan and that of the Christian to Heaven are as many as they are remarkable. In this ser

Main Readings: 1 John 5:1-16, Acts 1:6-8 Anybody who has really given his or her life over to God though Jesus has felt the need of assurance of eternal life (also called assurance of salvation) at a point in time. This is because coming to Christ involves leaving some unrighteous lifestyle and support system to put your trust entirely in Jesus in order to inherit eternal life. The question tends to be “What in this life will guarantee that God has received me and written my name down in the Book of Life?” (Mat 19:27-29, Ac 1:6-8). When these questions are answered correctly and the person knows that he or she has eternal life, he or she is no longer afraid to lay down his or life down also for Christ. In our zeal to assure converts of their security in Christ, we sometimes erroneously point to promises made to Israel under the Old Covenant as assurance of such security (See Deut 28:1-14). Eternal life however is a far greater promise made under the Old Covenant and its assura

ABOUNDING IN LOVE MEANS EXCELLING IN LOVE Main Readings: Matt 7:12, 1 Thess 3:12, 1 Cor. 13: 1-7 A.    Pre-Christ Love and Hatred for Enemies What is more manifest in the OT is absence of love beyond the following: ·         Skin – Adam gives away Eve to save his skin, Cain slays own brother when irritated (Gen. 3:11-12, 4:8) ·         Kinship – Abram was magnanimous, but not when his kinsman nephew is attacked (Gen. 14:14-16) ·         Law and Duty – David would attack anything or anybody that jeopardized both animals and people under his charge (1 Sam. 27:11) ·         Reactive Reciprocity – Joshua, under the law was magnanimous only up to the point of keeping a covenant or obeying the law (they did unto others only what others were guaranteed to do unto them. See Josh. 9) Beyond the above circles everybody else was considered an enemy even at the first instance of offence. It is rare to find people going out of their way to do acts of kindness or taking the f

What would you do with YOUR ENEMIES, those WHO CURSE YOU, HATE YOU, DESPITEFULLY USE YOU and PERSECUTE YOU? Ok. Now what would you do with the FORCES OF DARKNESS? And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit  ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. (Luke 9:54-56) FUNNY OR TRAGIC? The funny story is told of a preacher who threw out of his chapel gentleman who was disrupting the sermon. He was confronted later by his presbytery, who said, Jesus would have rather cast out the devil motivating the man’s action. He replied that casting the man out still equaled removing the devil from the chapel. As awkward as this story seems that is how some disciples initially wanted Jesus to treat sinners – burn them along with th