Lawrence and Christine Family Blog

Essence:

1. The second coming of Christ is often mistaken with what many believe to be the rapture mentioned in 1 Thess 4. The studies of end times pivots on a believers' stand in the realistic existence of a thousand-year reign by Christ, and the timing He should return with regard to begin that millennium
2. The "grow-cold" behaviour and outlook to Christ's sovereign purpose of the church, personal accountability to the gospel will plague a growing proportion of christians in this age of grace, concurring Isaiah's word that all hypocrisy and falsehood be exposed in raw judgement
3. The sole prevalence of the gospel and the indwelling awareness of the triune Godhead in these days (leading to the second coming of Christ) will bring true peace into our hearts amidst mounting uncertainty in our world

Personal Challenge:
1. How realistic is Christ's second coming understood by you today?
2. The gospel of Christ feeds our fundamental belief and committment to God's revealed purpose and our reason for existence. A faithful steward of God is strongly commissioned be an expert on each component of this truth
3. Shifting from a life of superficial pretense into a engaged life of spiritual service and fruitfulness marks a gigantic step towards crossing the divide of mere knowledge of the truth and living in it daily. Are you really a christian?

Interesting Fact:
Daniel's prophesy of the seventy-week translates to an actual transpiring of a total of 483 years today (from the year Daniel prophesied to the year Christ was crucified). The remaining "one week" that translates to the last 7 year is believed to only begin from the 7-year tribulation mentioned in the book of Revelation.

Posted in: Quiet Time on Friday, July 13, 2007 at 0 comments  

Isaiah 1
Essence:
1. The critical daily challenge for us as we awake to a new day - reacknowledging our standing in God's cosmic order and humbly yielding ourself to his leadership to live that day for Him.
2. Defying the above exercise is automatically understood as an afront to the Creator, putting God's people right on the road to a life of compromise, lack of purposedful living and a barren spiritual career
3. The classic traits of a spiritually sick christian/church:
4. Christianity is not about fulfilling a routine legalistic list of works for men to see but a lifestyle of pure dependence to please God and contend His holiness in our lives
5. The total depravity of men stains every single believer, putting him at constant risk of losing that intricate balance of righteous living and obsence pursuit of the world's lure

Personal Challenge:
1. Sweep every affairs and pressing tasks to the ground for a brief moment today, and attempt to enter God's holy ground by reading Isaiah 1.
2. Forget about trying to technically dissect the passage but focus on the above essence. List an item to act upon as the burden is placed. it must be one that can be acted upon in the next 12 hours of so.
3. Share with your SF that one thing you did that week.

Interesting Facts:
God chosed to move a total of four of his servants (out of forty) to cover the time Isaiah lived, giving us a hint of the destitute spiritual state of God's people at that short time frame.

Posted in: Quiet Time on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 at 0 comments  

Ever wonder as the week begins, there is always that air of uncertainty as to what value is our daily work worth in the eyes of our Creator? Well, that's usually what i get at the back of my mind as I walk out of my house door.

That's probably a good time for me to check my dear compass of faith, as to what God really wants me to do this week. Last week's SF was an excellent one, with us gracing the topics of dealing with uncertainties in life, church vision, and of course the need to foster a stronger emphasis on prayer.

Upon request, we will as an SF dwell in the next few weeks about end times, plus a good dose of video presentations from the Gospel of John etc. Its an often neglected topic and a useless one if we only seek to do so with a focus to only gain head knowledge and not applying each learned truth.

Posted in: Quiet Time on Monday, July 02, 2007 at 0 comments