Marbaniang, Domenic

Pride is the opposite of Love for Pride is esteeming self above others, while Divine Love calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves. It should be interesting to see how a reversal of Love's qualities as enumerated in 1 Corinthians 13 would look like on Pride. Pride does not suffer long and is not kind; Pride envies; Pride parades itself, Is puffed up; Behaves rudely, Seeks its own, Is provoked (touchy and fretful), Thinks evil (keeping record of wrong done to it); Rejoices in iniquity, but does not rejoice in the truth; Never bears anything, Never believes anything, Never hopes anything, Never endures anything. Pride always fails.

Passage 1: "Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." (Matthew 16:28) The other Gospels mention kingdom of God or kingdom present in power (Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27). There are a number of interpretations of this, but the more prominent ones relate to the Resurrection of Christ, His Ascension, and the subsequent Outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 1. The Mediatoral Kingdom View. The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge by R. A. Torrey suggested this coming to refer to His coming in the “mediatorial kingdom which our Lord was about to set up, by the destruction of the Jewish nation and polity, and the diffusion of the gospel throughout the world.” However, Matthew 16:27 refers to this coming as being in the glory of the Father to reward each man according to his works. 2. The Resurrection and Pentecost View. Commentator John Gill suggested that Jesus spoke “rather, of the appearance of his kingdom, i

But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Whenever God speaks, it is Today, and He demands that we respond positively to His voice as soon as we hear His word. Those who neglect to receive the word immediately or procrastinate to obey, harden their hearts. When a person listens to the voice of God and hardens his heart  from obeying God, he puts himself in the path of hardening, and the more a person gets hardened the more difficult it is for the word of God to find a place in his heart. Such a heart becomes like a stone that will take lot of hammering to break. 1. The Rebellious Heart Hardens Itself Against the Voice of God Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, They alway

The word “celebrate” comes from the Latin celeber or celebr meaning “frequented or honored”. Thus, to celebrate means to commemorate or honor an event or an accomplishment. People usually celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, feasts and festivals, or achievements. Celebration originates in God. Zephaniah 3:17 talks about God rejoicing over His people with singing. Jesus, in His parables of the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, and the Lost Son, pictures heaven as filled with rejoicing every time a lost soul is won to the Lord. Now, there may be disagreements among Christians regarding dates, events, and days of celebration; yet, celebration, in some form or the other, is present among Christians all over the world. However, one must be careful to not depart from the simplicity that is in Christ when it comes to New Testament Celebration. The Simplicity of Christ’s Foundation From the beginning, the Church has faced the threat of being led astray from the simplicity of Christ’s foundation. The threa

As Christians How Do We Handle Doubt? The Bible tells us that the “just shall live by faith” (Rom.1:17). However, oftentimes, doubt invades our hearts trying to expel faith and control our life. Christians must learn what doubt is and how we can handle doubt. We must understand that doubt is not rational questioning of false beliefs, hasty conclusions or theories. Doubt is a choice to disbelieve in face of sufficient reasons to believe. Doubt is an attempt to find reasons, unreal as they may be, to believe in anything else than what has been made clearly evident by God; in that, it is idolatrous since it finds a false alternative to God’s truth. Doubt is an action inconsistent with belief in God. There are chiefly seven Greek expressions that have been translated as “doubt” in the New Testament (KJV): aporeo (Jn. 13:22; Gal.4:20) meaning “to be perplexed”; diaporeo (Ac. 2:12; 10:17) meaning “to be thoroughly perplexed”; meteorizo (Lk. 12:29) meaning “to suspend as in mid-air”; airo psu

PRINCIPLES OF LONG LIFE 1. Seek first the Wisdom of God above all things So God said to him, "Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for--both riches and honor--so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. (1Ki 3:11-13) The lips of the righteous feed many, But fools die for lack of wisdom. (Pro 10:21) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. (Hos 4:6) 2. Make the Lord God your dwelling place Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. In their

True Profitable Labor. “What profit has a man from all his labor under the sun?” (Eccl.1:3) The Bible asks us to stop for a while and consider the purpose and profit of our pursuits in life. God instituted that man should work for 6 days and rest on the seventh. Also, the Bible tells us that those who do not work for a living should not also eat. “We gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat” (2Thess 3:10) Yet, it is important to understand that life and work is not just about filling our stomach and surviving in the world. Psalm 90:10 tells us that our life is full of labor Psalm 104:23 tells us that man goes to his labor till evening Yet, the wise king Solomon had this to say about all human labor: Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun. (Eccl.2:11) Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had to

The Psalm contrasts between two kinds of people: One who is blessed, the other who is not; One who is like a strong tree, the other who is like chaff; One who is planted by rivers of water and is well nourished, the other who is driven away by the wind; One who brings forth his fruit in his season, the other who shall not stand in the time of testing or judgment; One whose leaf never withers (he is always in good health and right relationship with God), the other who shall not stand in the gathering of the righteous (he has no place among those who are in right standing with God); One whose every work shall prosper, the other whose way shall perish. The Bible promises prosperity in every act that the one who is blessed does. To be blessed means to be strong, well-nourished, vivacious, healthy, and prosperous in the will of God. This is not prosperity gospel. The Bible is not telling us that the godly will not have trials; however, the Bible does promise that God has given us His promis