Passion for Jesus info Blog

Unplugged

2011-01-05T17:06:00.001+08:00

My internet connection failed for more than 48 hours till now.

Out of the blues, it suddenly died, then began my attempt for reconnection and re-booting the computer times and again, then called the ISP x number of times, each tech had his/her only way of saying things, but nothing helps. Finally I set up an appointment for an onsite repair, which is 4 days down the road.

I vaguely am aware that I am online a lot of time. So, now unwittingly I went thru a partial unplugged experience. I heard of a Global Unplugged Experiement done last year among the universities, that the participants would refrain from using any media (internet, phone, newspaper, music, TV, any printed material including books ... etc).

For the last 48 hours, there is nothings to do with the internet, I found myself with time to read books, sleep earlier, house cleaning, shopping, yes I have been thinking of getting a new set of bowls for quite sometime, and even spent more time for supper. In a way, it is going back to pen-and-ink days, Sound like Back to Stone Age, don't I?

When I was about to go to the public libray to renew my borrowed books, (I usually would do the renewing online,) I met a cable TV repair man right out side my apartment door. I asked him about any disruption, and in 10 seconds he fixed my pain, my cable was plugged into a wrong socket!

I am back online, Hip Hip Hoorray.

Habits formed without our earnest attention, it just slowly creeps up on you. Are you not addicted to your own habits? The worst kind is your own way of thinking. We all think in a certain way without giving it a thought. That is the true self, isn't it? We are too addicted to being ourselves, and we cling onto our own senses and judgment and would even defend ourselves ferociously.

Why don't you try a little unplugged experience yourself. Take a 24 hour leave from the internet or TV could be a start. Dare to discover a little bit more about your true nature.

New year wish

2011-01-01T23:22:00.001+08:00

Did you stay up late last night for the New Year count down?
It is getting routine to say nice things at such a moment. And oftentimes, the "new wishes" are nothing but a repeat of last years sayings. I guess the top 3 are: good health, world peace and prosperity.

I come across an old hymn as my wish for the new year, He Leadeth me.

He leadeth me -- O blessed thought!
O words with heav'nly comfort fraught!
What-e'er I do, wher-e'er I be,
Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.

Wish you will experience the same, that your coming year will be a testimony of God leading you 365 days in a row. Wow!

Christmas or Xmas

2010-12-30T19:37:00.001+08:00

I remember in my childhood days, I began to notice that people wrote Christmas as "Xmas". I did not think twice about it, as people told me that it is just an easier way to wrote the long word.

As I became a Christian, I notice other Christians reacted negatively to this shorten form, saying that people have remove Christ even out of Christmas. Some even openly say that no Christian should write the X to replace Christ...

But any one can do a bit of research, what I found is that the "X" is not English alphabet, but Greek, it is the letter "Chi" , the initial letter of "Christ" in Greek. (Mind you, that The New Testament was originally written in Greek, the Greek is the official language, not English! )

If you think negative of Christ and put a big X there, surely you would turn Christmas into another episode of X-File, something comparable to the strange fiction, that fact is even hard to believe. All you get is truly a Xmas.

But if you follow the old tradition of using initials of Christ in Greek, (the most common one is the Xp combination, the first 2 letters of Christ in Greek, chi-rho, not English), you will not be erasing Christ, but getting back into the root of the whole thing.

Next time, when you see Xmas, just remind yourself that it is Greek!

What's the point about Christmas?

2010-12-30T00:14:00.001+08:00

The center key figure of Christmas is missing from todays culture. We can do all the shopping, dinners, and home gathering as much as we want but we can not find the focus of Christmas in them. These are not bad things on its own, but can hardly give meaning to Christmas.

What then is Christmas?Well, the name sys it all, it is CHRIST-mas. No wonder Christmas is never fulfilling if we left Christ out from our lives.

Without Christ in this holiday, we will revert back to traditions, home-comings (oh, do I pity those poor travelers got stuck in various airports during this cold holiday weekend!), feasts for no particular occasion, and making a lot of substitution, making Santa, the tree, the lights as the focal points. We have displaced Jesus Christ from our hearts and replaced by all these commercialized stuffs into our mind.

When we feel something is missing, what else to do? Well, people just keep doing more, thinking more of everything could fill up our lives, i.e. more shopping, more wine more food, more partying more fun. It will turned into a big vicious cycle.

That's it, the more we try to remove Christ from Christmas, the more we will feel unfulfilled at Christmas.

Christmas Mood

2010-12-28T17:54:00.002+08:00

We were in the city center just a couple of days before Christmas. To our surprise, we felt the Christmas Season atmosphere has dampened in compare to our memories of yesteryears. We saw fews lights, fewer decorations, fewer Santas, very few traditional Christmas carols, though there is no shortage of people wandering back and fro looking for something.

It causes us to wonder, what should be the Christmas atmosphere?
Perhaps we all have different expectations groomed by our year after year celebration. What is your concept of a "merry Christmas"?

This may be a short list of your expectations:

Christmas cards: this used to be the first reminder of Christmas when we open the mail box way before the holidays and began to receive REAL Christmas cards, then hang them up on a string... but how many cards did you receive this year? Some how, even e-cards are getting fewer and fewer...
Christmas gifts: great excuse to go shopping, probably people enjoy the long hours of shopping experiences more than the people to whom they give the gifts to!
Christmas deco & lights: great photo session with friends and a must for boy/girl friend.
Santa: another great photo session especially for those who have young kids.
Christmas songs and /or the annual church event: surely it is time to get emerge into 'proper' Christmas spirit with the oldies tunes.
Christmas home deco & tree & huge family reunion with the long lost cousins: Keep busy...
Christmas dinner: no excuse not to go! Otherwise will surely feel like a scrooge to eat by your self on the 24th.
If none of the above appeal to you, there is always the last but not the least option: fly away to a strange land to break away from the familiar home town atmosphere.

What is Christmas to you?

Merry Christmas and Happy new year 2011

2010-12-26T16:05:00.003+08:00

Time surely flies.

Now we are at the close of 2010 and it will be a new year before you know it.
We will be re-starting the blog once again.
Do drop in for a visit soon.

Cheers.

The new book has ARRIVED TODAY

2007-03-31T18:56:00.000+08:00

The long awaited book has ARRIVED hot off the press today.

Praise the Lord.

This is a combined effort of the brothers and sisters in the church. They all have a part in the authorship to producing this book in its final form.

In the past two years, we all learned valuable lessons of how to function as a Body of Christ to work in harmony and in unity for God's Kingdom.

The idea of producing the work in the form of a book came only after a year of their projects. Although we had intended the book to be printed by last Christmas, the delay has been good for us.

In the coming months, may the Lord be pleased to use the brothers and sisters as they launch out into the deep to spread God's message to their friends, families, colleagues, and loved ones.

We printed 1000 copies.

We pray that each person holding these copies will truly be blessed by the message inside and if the Lord will, we will consider doing a Part 2 of this series.

Preface of the coming new book

2006-11-09T15:50:00.000+08:00

Preface

Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Launch out into the deep…” (Luke 5:4) This was the theme of our Tsuen Wan Church Easter Camp in 2005. Truly, we experienced the wonder of God’s working, and our hearts were challenged to go forth to launch out for the Lord.

Why did the Lord Jesus command the disciples to launch into the deep? Of course that’s where you find the fish. During the camp, we studied about the Lord’s commission to us, and how He imparts many spiritual gifts to His people for His work. We also examined what spiritual gifts the Lord has given to each one of us specifically. We prayerfully asked the Lord to use our gifts to build up His Body, so that our Tsuen Wan church can be more effective in fulfilling the Great commission of preaching the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

In the camp, we designed four different creative projects to help brothers and sisters to grow in the Lord in unity, as well as to develop their spiritual gifts to preach the Gospel. They each launched out on one project and worked together as a team for one whole year.

The projects were:

To acquire the discipline of writing out their daily quiet time and to boldly share their meditations with others.
To cultivate an interest in reading devotional books and to inspire others to a closer walk with God in this spiritual journey.
To learn the creative skills of story telling in order to communicate more effectively the message of the Gospel.
To discover and explore innovative ways of presenting the Gospel through today’s multimedia.

Just as Simon Peter replied to Jesus, “at thy word I will let down the net.”, we also responded to God’s call and let down our nets after the camp. The projects were designed in such a way that each participants had to put into action the Biblical truths they discovered in their learning, so that their sharings were from their life experiences.

Now, more than a year has passed, what did we experience? Through these projects, we witness God’s miraculous wonder in our launching out. The Lord united our church in one spirit to produce this book. This is a joint effort of the whole Body. As one family in God, even our Sunday school children participated in a daily devotional one-year Bible reading plan which you will also read about in these pages.

Jesus’ concluding words to Simon Peter, “Don’t be afraid, from now on you will be fishers of men.” (Luke 5:10).

We, too, pray that this book can be a means to spread the Gospel to our families, friends, colleagues, neighbors, and everyone we come into contact with.

May God bless you!

Raymond and Rosablanca Suen
Tsuen Wan Christian Gospel Disciples Church
November 6, 2006

A new book

2006-11-09T15:40:00.000+08:00

It's been half a year since I last posted here. The caring of the church and nurturing brothers and sisters to grow in the Lord had taken up most of our time that there is little time left to work on the website.

Almost a year ago, our church b/s ventured out on some target projects to launch out into the deep for the Lord. And now some fruits are bearing forth from their labor.

Today, I just wrote the 'preface' of the book that the brothers and sisters are going to take to the printers to publish, hopefully in time for this year's Christmas to give to our families and friends as Christmas gifts.

Usually a book is written by only one author or two at most. But this book is put together by all the brothers and sisters in the church. They each contributed as they could to put into writing the wonderful workings of the Lord in their lives in the past year.

May the Lord bless them as well as the readers.

A FOCUS SPIRITUAL GOAL

2006-04-20T00:09:00.000+08:00

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

2006-04-19T01:20:00.000+08:00

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

2006-04-07T00:17:00.000+08:00

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

2006-04-03T22:44:00.000+08:00

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?

Are you able to believe?

2006-03-28T12:07:00.000+08:00

I am pondering on a saying of Jesus when He stood trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin.

When they brought Him to their council, they said, "If you are the Messiah, tell us."

He replied, "if I tell you, you will not believe". (NRSV Luke 22:67)

We often think people do not believe because they have not heard the simple Gospel message, and so the church looks for ways to simplify the message into 3 or 4 'spiritual' principles, so that one can present the 'whole' message in a minute of two.

It is shocking to hear it from the mouth of Jesus: 'if I tell you, you will not believe'.

This is not the only incident that Jesus said things to this nature as in John 8:43, He said "Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word."

What is stopping the ears? What is blocking their believing?

The key is not just whether people have heard the Gospel or not, it is in the understanding and accepting the Gospel message.

How do you interact with the Word of God? In the parable of the sower, Jesus said there are 4 types soils, representing 4 types of people hearing the Gospel message. Only one will bear fruit.

The Jewish sages said,"There are four types among those who sit before the sages: the sponge, the funnel, the strainer and the sieve. The sponge absorbs all. The funnel takes in at one end and lets it out the other. The strainer rejects the wine and retains the sediment. The sieve rejects the coarse flour and retains the fine flour." (Avot 5:15)

Ask yourself, are you more like a sponge, a funnel, a strainer or a sieve?

What have you retain from last Sunday's message? What have you retain in your expeiences of life in the last 24 hours, or in the last year? Had God been showing your lessons of life that you so quickly let go?

Are you able to hear, understand, accept and believe that Jesus is the Messiah?

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
(Rev 2:7,11,17,29; 3:6,13,22)

Can you see now how crucial this statement is to all the 7 churches in Revelation as well as to our churches today?

Prayer of St Francis midi

2006-03-23T22:41:00.000+08:00

Dear friends,

Last Sunday I promised you all, I will try to post my playing of the song "Prayer of St Francis". Here it is.

Enjoy it, sing along with it, and make this also your prayer today.

PassionForJesusInfo blog address

2006-03-23T17:11:00.000+08:00

Dear readers,

Please take note that this will be the offical addresses for the Passion For Jesus Blog (English) = www.passionforjesusinfo.blogspot.com

For Chinese readers, please go to = www.p4j.mysinablog.com
or use the link on www.passionforjesus.info

Thankyou for your visits.
May you love Jesus more day by day.

RR

Prayer of St Francis

2006-03-23T16:43:00.000+08:00

Originally posted on March 19, 2006 Sunday

Prayer of St Francis:

Make me a channel of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love
Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord
And where there's doubt, true faith in you

Oh, Master, grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console
to be understood as to understand
to be loved, as to love with all my soul

Make me a channel of your peace
Where there's despair in life,
let me bring hope
Where there is darkness, only light

And where there's sadness, ever joy
Make me a channel of your peace
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned
In giving to all men that we receive
And in dying that we're born to eternal life

This is my prayer today.

I am also playing this song and leading this song for Sunday worship to make this our prayer for this coming week. Soon I will post a recording for you all readers.

"Saved Alone"

2006-03-23T16:42:00.001+08:00

Originally posted on March 10,2006

What would go through your mind if you received an email from your friend with this subject heading 'SAVED ALONE'?

How would you react if you received an email from a family member with this subject heading 'SAVED ALONE'?

If your family is away from you, and you receivd this IMPORTANT message in your mobile phone "SAVED ALONE", what does that do to your soul?

Back in the 19th Century, Horatio G. Spafford, received a telegram from his beloved wife 'SAVED ALONE'.

He and his family (wife and 4 daughters) were to go to England to join D.L. Moody in one of their evangelistic campaign, and from there on to go on to preach in Europe. But Spafford was delayed by some matters, so he sent his wife and kids ahead of him and would later on catch up to them on the other side of the Atlantic.

His wife and children were on a trans Atlantic ship travelling to England. But a tragic accident occured, the ship sank. All 4 children died and only the mother survived. The mother sent a telegram back to her husband with only 2 words (at that time, telegram was very expensive) SAVED ALONE.

Spafford quickly went on the next available ship and met up with his wife. In their grief, they met up also with D.L. Moody and he uttered these words: "It is well with my soul, May God's will be done."

This is how the song "IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL" came into being, words uttered by a suffering soul who learned to be content to let God's will be done.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot
Thou has taught me to say
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

It is well with my soul
It is well with my soul
It is well, it is well, with my soul

Not too long ago, a friend had asked me to play this song for him.

In the near future, I hope to play this song for you readers and post it on the net. As you listen, let these words nurture your soul.

Are you wise? Or are you a fool?

2006-03-23T16:42:00.000+08:00

Originally posted on March 09,2006 Thursday

This is a famous quote from Jim Elliott's journal:

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

When Jim died he was only 29. So young. So much potential. So much talents. He had so much going for him. He had so much skill, so outgoing, so eloquent, so poetic, a wrestler champion, a speaker on demand and everyone loved hearing him preach. And most of all he loved God so much.

I read his expressions in his journal and his straightforwardness and heart for God touched me deeply when I turned 22. His life inspired me to give my life totally to God.

Sometimes in the quietness of our heart, we think: It seems like Jim had become "a fool" for dying so young. All that gone at one shot. It seemed like an accident from the human point of view.

Just imagine what would happen if he had lived longer? This is how we humans tend to think. He could have lived another 29 years with a lot of effectiveness, etc.

But from his quote "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." it said it all about his life. What he could not keep, he gave it all, for eg. his health, his life, his youth, his time, his energy, etc.

And in return, what did he gain? A POWERFUL testimony turning a lot of people to the Lord even after his death.

My Beloved, do not seek to live long.

Do not seek to extend your life by seconds, weeks, months or even years.

LIVE FULLY today in the will of the Lord.This is how you become wise and not fools.

Jim and the 4 missionaries who died of a martyr death left a deep mark today in the American's hearts, not just theirs, but all over the world now.

Their lives were NOT wasted.Though they had died young, their deaths still speak.

Let their testimony speak to your heart this year, being their 50th anniversary.

Let us learn to be wise in the way we live.

50th Year Anniversary of the martyrs

2006-03-23T16:40:00.000+08:00

Originally posted on March 08

50th Year Anniversary of the martyrs

Today is the 8th of March. Exactly 2 months ago, on 8th of January Sunday, I preached. It was a special day that day, but I had not the time to write down my sharing with you readers so I will do so today.

What was so special on 8th of January? On Jan 8, 1956, Jim Elliott and 4 missonaries died a sudden death, a martyr death for God, exactly 50 YEARS ago.To many of us, it may not mean anything at all.

Where were you on that date?

Although this event happened before I even entered into the world, but I look at this event as something awesome, inspiring, and it triggers my heart to passionately love God as a result.

If you were around on that date, the news went on the headlines and Time magaine put an extensive report on this event. 5 young missionaries were speared to death by the Aucas Indians in the dense jungle of Ecuador.

When the 5 missionaries went to preach the Gospel to them, this was not a haphazard event but a well-planned one. They prayed and looked to God for guidance. Their 5 wives & children were praying with them at another village.

Days before, the 5 missionaries had already made friends with the Aucas by 'throwing' down gifts to them. There were friendly contacts before they actually touched down. Finally they were met with hostile reactions leading to their death.

We know a little bit more of the 2 missionaries involved: One is Jim Elliott because of his journal and his wife's continual involvement in ministering to these once hostile Aucas.

The other one is Nate Saint because his son, Steve had gone back to minister to these very people who had killed his father. Who can do such a task? Only with God's forgiving love to love our enemies. 2 years ago, Steve took a camera crew to do this film called 'End of the Spear', this time, to let the Aucas tell their stories. Indeed what a touching story!!

And this film was released on 20th of January to tell the whole world of this event that happened 50 years ago, and the after-stories of what had taken place in the last 50 years -- to celebrate the 50th anniversary of these martyrs death.

Some years ago, a film was produced "Through gates of Splendor" but it was told from the point of view of the Americans.

Now the story is being told from the OTHER SIDE. Have you watched it yet? Apparently it is being shown in the theatres now. It's not shown in Hong Kong yet. I would like to get a hold of it to watch it.

On 8th of Jan, 1956 - 5 men died suddenly.
On 8th of Jan, 1956 - 5 women became widows suddenly.
On 8th of Jan, 1956 - Their children were left behind without a father.

The men who died were all YOUNG men.
Jim Elliott was only 29.
The women left behind were all YOUNG wives and YOUNG mothers.

It is hard for us to imagine what lives would be like for these 5 young girls?

Can you imagine such traumatic emotions as they heard the news of the death of their spouse?

These women are now in their 80's. Two of them have gone on with the Lord in the last year. But when the film was made 2 years ago, all 5 widows were still alive -- the Lord had kept them alive -- and there was an interview with each one of them at the end of the film.

Very touching indeed!!!!!

Tragedy can turn people sour towards God, to themselves, and to the people around them. But not these godly women.

What is their secret?

Let's tap into their secret to find out the key to living abundantly for God.

Building a Passion for Jesus on the Word of God

2006-03-23T16:39:00.000+08:00

Originally posted on Febuary 08,2006

Building a Passion for Jesus on the Word of God

The Bible was not originally written in English.

In the epistle to the Romans, Paul of Tarsus wrote from Corinth to the Christians in Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire, saying that, ‘They are Israelites, and to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises’ (Rom9:4).

The Bible that we have can be divided into 2 parts: the Old Testament was written in Hebrew & Aramaic; the New Testament was written in Greek.This reflected the cultural, historic & linguistic lineage of the faith.

Therefore, whenever we do serious studies of the Bible, we should bear this in mind, and go back to as close as to the original source if possible. Even though the original manuscripts are not available today, there are a few dependable versions of Bible in the original languages and many software (eg e-sword) which are easy to use.

The problem with working with translations is that, often times the words in Greek or Hebrew do not have an exact expression in other languages, be it in English or Chinese or any other modern languages. Then the translators will usually work out a fuller expression of the sentence according to their interpretation.

In short, we may be reading tinted interpretation (and perhaps misinterpretation shaded by the particular beliefs of the translators) and lose sight of the intended meaning of the Word of God. It may be shocking to come to this realization.

Often times, we have loads of preconceived notions of the ‘Biblical truth’ handed down from centuries of church traditions that we do not even bother to investigate to see if they are truly what the Bible says. And our faith ends up "faith in Church Traditions" rather than "faith in God."

So let us dig together in our pursuit to understand the Bible also in its original form, so that we can understand the Word of God more accurately and to know God based on His Words and not church traditions.

Passion for Jesus DVD series

2006-03-23T16:38:00.000+08:00

Originally posted on Febuary 07,2006

Passion for Jesus DVD series

Often times when we read the Bible, we merely read the names of the places without any knowledge of where they are nor what they are like .

In order to understand the Bible more accurately, we went to the Bible lands, and took tens of thousands of pictures and many hours of video, not only for ourselves, but also to share with you that these places in the Bible are REAL places that happened in REAL time in history.

We will be putting them together into a mega series of multi-media presentation.

The first part is ready for you to have as your own, "A Series: on Patmos and the Seven Churches of Revelation".

When you explore the link http://passionforjesus.info/product01.htm, first of all, be ready for the overwhelming amount of photos, we are talking of 2,000 to 2,500 high resolution jpg in each series.

We are providing a thumb nail of the photos, 20 thumbs to a page. Just viewing the thumbs would take time. There are hundreds of pictures on Patmos Island, hundreds more on Ephesus, hundreds on Smyrna... Just be careful of the shocking photo-fatigue.

Hope that you will love to read the Bible more, because NOW you can visualize the places for yourself!

Hurghada Map

2006-03-23T16:36:00.000+08:00

Hurghada Map

This is a map of the Hurghada region.

Hurghada, Egypt

2006-03-23T16:35:00.000+08:00

Originally posted on Feb01,2006

Hurghada, Egypt

Today, there was a terrible fatal traffic accident at Hurghada, Egypt, involving a bus full of Hong Kong tourists.

We were there last year. We went into Egypt, and passed by Hurghada on our way to Sinai, as part of the Passion for Jesus experience.

Hurghada is not mentioned in the Bible. It is a small touristy resort town on the western shore of the Red Sea, 400 km south of the Suez Canal (5 hours by car). It is approximately South West across from the tip of the Sinai Peninsular. There is a ferry service from Hurghada to Sharm el-Sheikh, which is tourist town right at the tip of the Sinai. We almost took that ferry route but the schedule did not fit, so we finally took the over-night local bus from Luxor all the way to Sharm el-Sheikh, and then caught another bus to St Catherine Monastery, which was the high-light of our trip. This total journey took us 18 looooong hours and we survived.

We are still preparing and sorting the Sinai photos, so in due time we will share our Sinai experience with all of you.

For all tourists to Egypt, Cairo is the usual arrival/departure point. The sights within the large Islamic metropolitan are quite an eye opener. Then the Luxor-Aswan Nile cruise is definitely a must. Hurghada is something of a detour. You have to go out to the coast of the Red Sea along the lonely desert road.

Hurghada is linked by road to Cairo (6 hours), and to Luxor in the south West (4 hours). Its beaches are ordinary, but it is most famous for the diving and Red Sea marine life. Unfortunately we had no time to dip into the water because we wanted to spend as many days and nights as we could at Sinai desert remembering that Moses was there for 80 years, 40 years by himself and another 40 years with the Israelites.

The recent news tragedy happened on this Hurghada road, apparently due to over-speeding on the highway. It brought an abrupt end for the many happy-going holiday-makers: from the peak of the 5-star enjoyment of life to nothing.

For those families involved, our hearts go out to you. Nothing would remain the same as before.

There has been hourly news in Hong Kong updating the report of the tragedy. Perhaps we can all learn something precious from this incident.

While listening to the heartcries of the families involved, we can see that people are busy planning and hoping that life can be glamorous, and also enjoying just a pleasure of life.

One thing comes out very clearly in the report: there is a fact of life that we do not want to face: all physical life will end one day, sooner or later.

Yes, each one of us has to go through that stage. No matter who you are, regardless of how good you are at your job, how rich you are, how poor you are, how educated you are, how big your family is, we will all retire, get old, succumb to sickness...... etc.

How are you preparing for that day to arrive?

It will perhaps arrive at an inconvenient time for you.Yes, Christians will also die one day. Some Christians are always seeking for healing. Christians also die.

Can we be like the group of martyred missionaries who said (among them was Jim Elliot): “we are ready for heaven”.

Are you ready?

Why are we interested in the Holy Land?

2006-03-23T16:34:00.000+08:00

Originally posted on January 31,2006

Why are we interested in the Holy Land?

We have been studying the Bible for more than twenty years.

The Bible contains the utmost important message pertaining to our relationship with the Almighty God. Salvation in a simple term is: how do you stand before God? Are you in a right relationship with Him?

The Bible has a lot of narrations of previous human-God encounters. The Biblical events contain a lot of names, time and places. It is a historical record of the old days.

We are often fascinated by the people in the Bible, how they were moulded by God from an ordinary person to becoming a man of God, bearing the godly marks that they truly had encountered the Living God. They bore witnesses through what they did, what they said, and how they lived their lives.

It is a pity that we could not learn more about these people beside what was recorded in the Bible. However, the places they trod still exist upon the face of the earth. Their marks can still be seen in these places with their life stories engraved in our hearts.

That is the first reason how we developed an interest in the Holy Land, so that we can understand the Bible a bit more: the spiritual message coupled with from the geographical, historical, archaeological and cultural points of view.

This is one of the primary objectives of our DVD series on Passion for Jesus.We should always bear in mind that the Bible is a living book written with a specific scope of background.

If we detach the Bible from its roots, then we would inevitably impose our 21st century view point upon it. It would not be a fair nor rightful treatment. We could be twisting the truth with ignorance, without being aware of our ignorance in the first place. In that case, we could be easily just adopting Christianity and swallowing in a whole lot of ‘Christian jargons’ without much understanding of the Biblical truth. It would be a pity to have the living water so close within reach, yet still perish in thirst because of not going out to drink the water.

May the Almighty God draw us to seek and follow Him.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!

2006-03-23T16:32:00.000+08:00

Originally posted on January 28,2006

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!

Be careful how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. Eph 5:15-16 NRSV (New Revised Standard Version)

Time is running by fast; if we are to number our days, we only have approximately 8,000 hours remaining in 2006. If we deduct the working hours, sleeping hours, traveling time, and the time for eating, grooming etc, how many hours will remain for you to freely use?

Do you have any plans as to how to make good use of these hours? If you don't have one, you should consider using the time to build a lasting relationship with God.

Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord Eph 5:10 NRSV
Understand what the will of the Lord is. Eph 5:17b NRSV

That is the sure solution as to how we ought to live our lives carefully, to avoid the evils of this age.

Do you know what is pleasing to the Lord?
Do you know what the will of the Lord is?
Sure, you must have some idea.

Open your heart to God and search in the Bible.

Pray today.

Chosen the better part

2006-03-23T16:31:00.001+08:00

Originally posted on January 26,2006

Chosen the better part:

"There is need of only one thing, Mary has chosen the better part." NRSV Luk10:42

Mary had chosen wisely.
Martha was distracted by her many tasks.

However, it is easy to become a Martha.

We are always overloaded with too many tasks and too many commitments: to our career, our family & friends, even to ourselves, our interests, and pursuits.

With so many things on our hands, we are constantly juggling our piorities.

We are distracted. We cannot focus on a single course.

We like the hi-tech term "muilti-tasking". However, it is not a pretty thing to split your life into many tiny 'windows'.

What choices are you making today?
Mary had chosen the only one thing needful.
She had made the wise choice.

Life is a choice.
We all love to make choices. We equate "choice" as "freedom".

If we are not allowed to make our choices, then our freedom have been comprimised in some degree.

When someone breaks the law of society and is imprisoned, his freedom of choice is being restricted. He no longer has the privilage to make the usual choices of his physical realm. He simply cannot choose where he likes to go or when to do a certain things. His choices has been denied.

No one wants to be a prisoner.

Often times we have become a prisoner of our 'self'.

Actually, people around us know us by the series of choices that we are making. The choices we make in this life reflect what we want and who we really are as a person.

We should choose wisely and carefully guard our right to choose.

Mary has chosen to devote her time & life to Jesus.

Won't you?

One thing is needful

2006-03-23T16:31:00.000+08:00

Originally posted on January 25,2006

"One thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her." RSV Luke 10:42

So often we live our lives in this world without any purpose nor any specific goal. We just live day to day and what comes may.

It is an irony that we walk thru life without knowing where we are heading.

Mary has focused her life into ONE thing, that earned Jesus'praise.Jesus' word is very powerful, He said: "ONE thing is needful".Do you know what is the "one thing" in your life?

That seems easy to answer, for most people would say it is wealth, or health, or romance, or love, or family, or career, or experience, or even making a name for ourselves.... thus the common list keeps growing.

Seriously, ask yourself, what is the "One Thing" in your life?On the contray, Martha was anxious and troubled about many things. She was busy in trying to serve the guest, Jesus.

For Mary , her "one thing" is not actually a thing, but Jesus Himself. She sat at Jesus' feet, listening to Him. This is a focus that we may not fully understand.

She was in tune to the Lord Jesus, not just listening to what He had to say, not out of curiosity, not just hungering for knowledge.

She had a devotion to the Master, Jesus.
She had a PASSION for JESUS.

Are we sitting under Jesus' feet?

"Passion For Jesus" New Site in operation

2006-03-23T16:30:00.000+08:00

Originally posted on January 23, 2006

"Passion For Jesus" New Site in operation
We are happy to announce that the new site PassionForJesus.info is in operation.We will continue to add new pages to this site, please click and check.

Attitude of a seeker

2006-03-23T16:28:00.000+08:00

Originally psted on January 19,2006

Attitude of a seeker

Today, when we read the Bible, we often forget that the Bible was compiled almost two thousand years ago. We were not the original recipients.

By this simple fact, we should be aware that there is much historical background for us to learn before we can fully understand the Bible message correctly.

The Bible is not a fiction.
It involves real people, real places.

A lot of changes had taken places in the two thousand year span.

First of all, we should adopt an attitude to be as diligent as the Bereans (Act17:11). We are living in an age of knowledge explosion.

There is no excuse to be ignorant. Tons and tons of information are literally right at our finger tips if we care to look for them.

Passion for Jesus serves to bring you closer to the Bible, to the places where the first recipients were.

As we ponder thru the pages of the Bible, may the Lord speak more clearly to you.

Passion for Jesus

2006-03-23T16:24:00.000+08:00

Originally posted on January 18,2006

Welcome to Passion for Jesus blog.

We will be announcing a new web site very soon. The www.passionforjesus.info will be a Biblical and Holy Land related site. [This is a pre-launch announcement, the site is not active yet, but you can bookmark it and check it in a few days time.]

For our Chinese viewers, you can go to almega.com.hk

For more info and place your order there.

The entire A Series, namely "Patmos and the Seven Churches of Revelation" DVD movies have been released, check A1 to A8, from Patmos all the way to Laodicea. This is 8 DVD m-peg2 documentary-style movies. Packaged separately. The content contains the background and the Biblical message of each place.

All pictures are taken on location.

This DVD movie series is narrated in Cantonese, with optional Traditional or Simplified Chinese sub-titles. The English narration will be produced soon.

The upper corner photo is the cover box sample of A4 Pergamum.

The jpg collection for A series "Patmos and the Seven Churches of Revelation" has also been released.

This is a bilingual DVD-Rom (English and Chinese, for either English/ Chinese Windows). This single DVD-Rom contains more than 2,000 high res jpg (2048x1536), of Patmos, Ephesus, Smynra, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. These are the 7 churches mentioned in the Book of Reelation.

Perfect for church, seminars, camps, Sunday school, seminaries and personal use.

Why are we interested in the Holy Land?

2006-03-23T16:22:00.000+08:00

Originally posted on January 31, 2006

We have been studying the Bible for more than twenty years.

The Bible contains the utmost important message pertaining to our relationship with the Almighty God.

Salvation in a simple term is: how you stand before God.
Are you in a right relationship with Him?

The Bible has a lot of narrations of previous human-God encounters. The Biblical events contain a lot of names, time and places. It is a historical record of the old days.

We are often fascinated by the people in the Bible, how they were moulded by God from an ordinary person to becoming a man of God, bearing the godly marks that they truly had encountered the Living God. They bore witnesses through what they did, what they said, and how they lived their lives.

It is a pity that we could not learn more about these people beside what was recorded in the Bible.

However, the places they trod still exist upon the face of the earth. Their marks can still be seen in these places with their life stories engraved in our hearts.

That is the first reason how we developed an interest in the Holy Land, so that we can understand the Bible a bit more: the spiritual message coupled with from the geographical, historical, archaeological and cultural points of view.

This is one of the primary objectives of our DVD series on Passion for Jesus.

We should always bear in mind that the Bible is a living book written with a specific scope of background. If we detach the Bible from its roots, then we would inevitably impose our 21st century view point upon it. It would not be a fair nor rightful treatment. We could be twisting the truth with ignorance, without being aware of our ignorance in the first place. In that case, we could be easily just adopting Christianity and swallowing in a whole lot of ‘Christian jargons’ without much understanding of the Biblical truth.

It would be a pity to have the living water so close within reach, yet still perish in thirst because of not going out to drink the water.May the Almighty God draw us to seek and follow Him.

Note our New blog address:

2006-03-23T02:09:00.000+08:00

This is our New permanent English blog for www.PassionForJesus.info

Large 1024x768 FREE wall papers with Scripture verses are available for FREE Download.

All images are taken in the HolyLand with quotation from English or Chinese Bible.