A FOCUS SPIRITUAL GOAL

What do you think is the most tragic thing that can happen to a person?

Some may say:
..... when one becomes unemployed...
..... when a loved one dies.....
..... remaining single....
..... unable to have a child....
..... when a newborn is discovered with defects...
..... unable to sleep....
..... when one discovers he/she has terminal cancer....
..... one's health getting weaker and weaker...
..... the loss of eyesight....
..... got paralyzed after a tragic accident....
..... and so the list goes on....

To tell you the truth, even if you find yourself in one of those above situation, that is NOT the WORST that can happen to you. Do not lament if your find yourself caught in the above seemingly tragic situation.

Nothing is more tragic than to discover that one does not have a spiritual goal in life.

Without a spiritual goal in life, you have lived your life IN VAIN.

Why? All the hours of your life have been wasted because you had so far only lived physically.

However, all physical living will pass away, as in our health, our jobs, our families, our money, our hobbies, and yes, even this website, etc.

Only what is spiritual in God remains and has eternal value.

For the remaining hours of your life:
Ask God to grant you the privilage of knowing Him.
Receive a spiritual goal from God.
Focus on your spiritual goal.

Not any kind of spiritual goals, but a FOCUS spiritual goal.

Paul has ONE focus goal:

ONE THING I DO: I PRESS ON TOWARD THE GOAL TO WIN THE PRIZE FOR WHICH GOD HAS CALLED ME HEAVENWARD IN CHRIST JESUS. (Philippians 3:14. )

My beloved friends-- set this goal before you from this day onward.

New logo for blog

Here is our new blog logo.

The background photo was taken on top of the Areopagus Hill, Athens. We were sitting there looking at the ancient agora.

Two thousand years ago, Paul was here, preaching to the Athenians. His heart was burning with a passion for love for the people, pleading them to come and have faith in the Lord Jesus.

May we all come to know Jesus and walk passionately with Him.

Seven churches of Revelation

Can you name all the seven churches of Revelation in the correct sequential order?

Actually, the seven churches were seven cities in modern Turkey. In New Testament times in the first century, the entire region was part of the Roman Empire.

The seven cities were Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum (some Bible use Pergamos), Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.

At that time, Christian meetings were held in houses. Most likely there were more than one house church in each city. Some cities were large and famous as they were the regional centers of their time. For example, Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamum all took pride in their history. Pergamum was the Capital of the once powerful Pergamum Kingdom..

http://www.passionforjesus.info/ is pleased to present a series of DVD presentation, one on each of the cities, as well as a digital photo collection of over 2,000 jpg on these 7 places, together with Patmos Island.

There are numerous features in the web site, including jpg with zooming control, swf, avi movie, and free wall paper with scripture verses... Oh yes, we are working on the powerpoint files for instructional presentation purposes.

There are so much that we want to do. Each multimedia has its own role of function. When we put everything together, hopefully we can create a fuller picture with all these audio-visual tools.

In the long run, we hope to find time to do a thorough job. We know that these ppt, jpg, maps and resources will be a great help for those who are ministering to the church week after week.

We are also working on the devotional journal, which has detail information on the places as well as some of our experiences while we were there in person.

We strongly recommend the site www.passionforjesus.info for those who are making plans to visit these Biblical places, and to anyone who takes interest to understand the NT church.

The main site is in English, with a mirror site in Chinese.

If you have some good ideas & suggestions, write us an email.
All positive comments are welcome.

In the heat of the day

In the Bible, miracles happen and often take place without our full awareness.

Here in Gen18:1-15, God takes the initiative to meet with Abraham. There was no bang, no trumpet, no blinding bright light, no angelic being with wings hovering in mid air. All Abraham saw were three men. They were real human figures that were as common as anybody else. They were strangers. If you had met these strangers, would you have time for them?

We often ponder at the tenderness of God when He approached Adam & Eve after they had committed sin. When did that take place? In the cool of the day! It could have been an enjoyable experience walking with God in the cool of the day, but Adam & Eve ruined it with their self-centered lust.

Now God appeared to Abraham in the heat of day. How inconvenient! The heat in Middle-East in the summer can be intolerable. Tourists are often taken by surprise that the shops are closed from noon onwards for many hours. Their tradition is to do as little as possible and retire to their home, taking afternoon naps. No different from Abraham in those days, he was taking life easy and relaxing under the shadow of his tent. Only fools would do otherwise.

We can almost picture Abraham half-reclining sipping his tea and watching the sand shifting in the wind. When he lifted up his eyes, he saw the three men, standing there talking to one another without motion. They were waiting for Abraham’s response.

We may not fully understand Abraham , but he knew what he had to do. He RAN to meet them, in the heat of the day, with the sun blazing above them. Yes, Abraham ran.

What was the urgency? Only to persuade them to rest for a little while, with a little water to wash their feet, so that he could play host to them: just relax and don’t be in a hurry.

However, Abraham himself moved with a drum set to a different beat: he hastened, asked Sarah to quickly prepare bread, ran and told the servants to slaughter the tender calf with haste. Everything was done on the double.

There was another surprise: Abraham did not sit with the guests nor take the role of the host, he could have engaged them with his hospitality. Instead, he stood by them as a servant while they ate. What a friend to three strangers!

Today, our interests in others well being are rapidly receding. We are drifting further from one another, even among friends and family, even between spouses. There is a lot for us to learn from this incident. Abraham is a spiritual example for us. If we dare to call ourselves the spiritual sons of Abraham, should we not do as Abraham had done?

Have you been in a rush lately?