Observation: Luke 43-45

"He that doeth righteousness is righteous--life is the outcome of character; that as men are so they will live."
 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good," granted that a man is sound at heart, it is certain that he will spend a good life, that he will shrink from the veil and pursue and practice the holy thing. If a man is radically corrupt, it is certain that his life will be unworthy and sinful. Character must come form into conduct, behaviour is the manifest action of the secret spring which is within the soul." Every tree is known by his fruit" men must form their judgment about us, and they must judge us y the lives they witness. If, therefore, we don't manifest a Christan temper and a loving spirit, if righteous principles are no visible in our daily dealing, and we don't give evidence of caring more for truth and for God and of the establishment of his Holy Kingdom on the earth--we must not complain if men count us a ungodly--our godliness, our spirituality, everything out to shine out clearly and unmistakably from our daily life.

Romans 12:4-6 thought

The illustration of the body with its members to set forth the mutual dependence on each other of the several members of the Church with their several gifts and functions, and the importance of all for the well-being of the whole. Christ is regarded somewhat differently, as the exalted Head over the Church, which is his body. the references to gifts means that various members of the body have various capacities as Christians. So we have diversity in Christ's church--varied methods and functions--but they all carry a unity of Spirit of faith and love in Christ and obedience to Hid Divine Word.

Ephesians 2:18-20 thoughts

Further illustration of identity of position of Jews and Gentile, and of the work of Christ in bringing it about. Our access to the Father is assumed as a matter of spiritual experience; the converted Ephesians knew that in their prayers and other exercises they felt they really stood before God. This came to pass through Christ; God has made peace through the blood of the cross. There is no longer a restriction upon our access to God "we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him." Gentiles are no loner strangers, but members of the household of God. They have been born again, and have become Children of God by faith. This positions ought to make us jealous for our Father's honour, loving in all our relations the members of God's household.

vs. 20: we have an image of Christian as stones by a temple. The foundations was built by New Testament officers--apostles and Prophets in a new dispensation, with Christ the chief cornerstone, determining the lines of the whole building Jesus if THE Origin, Foundation, Support of the Church, but he gives it its shape and form, he determines the place and office of each stone, he gives life and character to each member.

Revelations 3:20 discussion

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." (KJV)

Christ's rebuke and call to repentance are here characterized in terms of the risen Lord seeking admittance into the believer's heart and life

-The church at Laodicea has shut Christ out by allowing their ears to grow dull and their hearts wax so hat that they are insensible to his world. Despite their spiritual sleep and slumber, Christ stands without, entreating the believer to yield room to the Lord.

-The image here is that Christ seeking communion and table fellowship with the estranged believer and the church. TO sup together is an expression of mutual affection. The fellowship meal was an important part of the early Church's weekly assembly (Lord's supper). In the gospels, Christ use the image of table fellowship to portray the Kind and his knights and nobles about his table supping and administering the kingdom together. .

My Thoughts on I John chap.2 verses

vs. 1: address those who are walking in the light and yet sin through frailty. to walk in light we must confess our sin if we sin, we have a righteous Advocate, who is Jesus.

vs. 2: Christ is an offering rather than the one who offers. Our sins are the subject matter of his propitiatory work. The propitiation is for all, not for the 1st band of believers only. No man--Christian, Jew Gentile--is outside the mercy of God--unless he places himself there deliberately, "loving darkness rather than light."

vs. 3: walking in light involves obedience

vs. 4: "Knowing him" really is having fellowship with him-just as not keeping his commandments is the same as walking in darkness

vs. 5: "His Word" referring to "his doctrine"--from vs 4 we see that really knowing God involves loving him--that what really matters is our love of God rather than God's love for us. Knowing God implies keeping his Word and keeping his word involves loving him, and being in him and have that fellowship with him and his Son in which the Christian's life consists.

vs.6: Christianity is a habitual condition. Obedience, not feeling, is the test of union, and the Christian who is really such has least to tell of "experiences" of such visitations. He who is ever in the light has few sensible illuminations to record: nothing less than the "measure of the structure of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13) is to be aimed at. "Ye therefore shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)

vs.7: verses 7-28 talk about (mostly) what walking in the light excludes--things to avoid--Antichrists. vs. 7 and 8 are simply an intro

vs. 8: the real, perfect, the very light--Christ is the perfect light as he is the perfect bread and perfect vine

vs. 9-11: walking in the light excludes all hatred towards brethren, for such hatred is a form of darkness. "hate" is not to be watered down into "neglect" or "fail to love." Love is love, and hate is hate, and between the two there is no neutral ground, anymore than between life and death. "He that is not with me is against me." "Love is the moral counterpart of intellectual light."

vs. 12: John is apparently writing to those who have had their sins washed away in the blood of Christ, therefore he writes this Epistle

vs. 13-14: old and young men referring to age as Christians--mature Christians

vs. 15: "the world" meaning the sinful elements of human life--which is all that is alienated from God. St. John is not condemning a love of those material advantages which are God's gifts, nor of nature, which is God's work. He's forbidding those things the love of which rivals and excludes the love of God. "You cannot serve God and mammon."

vs. 16: not talking about loving material objects--but not loving evil dispositions and aims of men--lust of flesh, lust of the eyes (curiosity, covetousness), pride of life--the empty pride in fashion and display. It includes the desire to outshine our neighbors.

vs. 17: If a Christian live, he lives to the Lord; if he dies, he dies to the Lord. If he toils, he does God's will. If he suffers, he bears it. If he be on earth, he fulfills his Father's will in his life--"he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."

vs.18: the "last time" here refers to the end of a world as was known in John's time--(Rome would fall), Because why would an inspired writer tell the Church that the "last time" was here, if it was not there? I believe this refers to the terrible persecution under Nero (Anti-Christ), and the fall of Jerusalem.

vs. 19: speaking of people who had abandoned the Christian faith, so they wouldn't be persecuted

vs. 20-22: so an Antichrist denies the Messiahship of Christ and both Father and Son virtually (see II Thess. 2:4) because..

vs. 23: to deny Jesus as Christ is to deny the Son of God--and to deny the Son of God is to deny the Father also, for "no one knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him."

vs. 24: let good seed abide in your heart and not be snatched away by evil. Then not only will it abide, but you also will abide in the Son and therefore with the Father.

Headcovering in Asia

An itinerant Taoist wears a small traditional head covering called a “pagoda,” which is a small oriental imitation of a temple or sacred building. During the fall and winter, Taoists will wear a protective hat or head covering. Why? This is not only because of the Taoist religion, but also have some relations with health preserving. According to Taoists, the head is one of the most important parts of the body, and they believe the hat is a protection to their head.

According to F. Roy Willis of the University of California—women (and probably men) of ancient Sumerian civilization (around 2500 B.C.) wore head coverings of wool and leather—Sumerian priests, however, would not wear any head gear (and would go bald) as a desire to be regarded as humble, as many serious Buddhist monks and nuns do today.

Chinese Buddhist monks and nun will, however, cover their heads for certain ritual/ceremonial purposes and for warmth. There are different types of the hats they wear depending on their status and the occasion.

Shinto priests of Japan wear various forms of headgear (eboshi) depending on their hierarchical rank. The “kammuri” hat is worn only by the highest-ranking priests. It is the same type of hat worn by emperors, court nobles, shogun, and daimyo (feudal lords) of pre-modern Japan.

Iceland

 

Iceland only has 320,000 people living in it. It is a beautiful country , with a rich Norse heritage.

A translation of the Bible was published in the 16th century. Important compositions since the 15th to the 19th century include sacred verse, most famously the Passion Hymns of Hallgrímur Pétursson, and rímur, rhyming epic poems. Originating in the 14th century, rímur were popular into the 19th century, when the development of new literary forms was provoked by the influential, National-Romantic writer Jónas Hallgrímsson. In recent times, Iceland has produced many great writers, the best-known of which is arguably Halldór Laxness who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1955. Steinn Steinarr was an influential modernist poet.

Iceland has also been called the land of the elves.