To sacrifice our being for Christ

The Nazarene Jew Jeshua (Jesus Christ) put his own will aside and offered himself as a lamb for God, as a ransom for us all.

Now time has come that we should also let him and his heavenly Father see Who we want to follow and Who we want to have as our God. Jesus showed his love for his God, Who is the Only One God of Israel, the God of Abraham. He asked his followers to become one with his God like he is one with Jehovah God. Coming closer to the time of Great Tribulation it is time to show the world to who you want to belong. It is high time to show the world for what you care and what or whom you love.

Did you ever ask yourself for whom you would risk everything?

Today we still face this materialistic world. But we should know that time for this world is limited. Today there are still many people, kings, presidents, ministers, as leaders demanding people to follow them and who reign their country as if it belongs to them. But everything on earth belongs to the Divine Creator. When he created this world He had a purpose for it and it shall become a reality whatever man may try to do.

In the New Testament we do find Jesus telling many stories in the form of parables which should open our eyes and should let us think about the reign to come and to look for. He talks about a realm of heaven and calls us to put our hands to work and help get the ground prepared to receive the love of God.He gives many examples how faith without works is dead and how we should be careful not to loose the entrance to the Kingdom of God by not living up to God's Wishes or not fulfilling God's commandments.

When looking at the Scriptures we can see how we are challenged to train our eyes to look beyond the problems and to see the promises of the world around us. And we have been told, repeatedly, that the “reign of heaven” is small, even hidden, but it is always at work. We are called to look for the hidden treasure and to go for Biblical truth and not to be of this world, loving all those materialist and perischable treasures.

Look around us we should see what is good and what is bad and learn from it. Though there are many who think by the death of Christ everybody is saved and does not have to do anything any-more, we should know that we for sure still have to do a lot of work. Every day we should work at ourself. Every hour of the day we should try to build up our Christlike character. that shall not so easy as so many think. It demands an effort. 

Jesus asks us to come together and to meet each-other regularly to study the Word of God and to praise the Most High. Together we should form a unit, giving ourself as inhabitant of the realm of Christ. As partakers of his spiritual Body, we should feel united and work to keep everything around us pure and 'sanctified'.
Every one of the partakers of the Body of Christ should be wiling to give himself or herself to Christ Jesus, putting the own selfish I away. 

Each person on this earth should be looking for the hidden treasures of God and should know that the “reign of heaven” is like a discovery that disrupts all other priorities, and those who make the discoveries have their entire lives shaped by them. 

Those who love Jesus and want to have a good relationship with him and his heavenly Father should be prepared to put the earthly wishes aside and go for heavenly treasures. They should not be afraid for those of the world who do not want to know about God and who would laugh at those who want to give their life to God. But those who know better shall be happy to give their life to the One God and to present themselves as sons of the realm. For it is in the believe in Jesus that we want to go as partakers of the Body of Christ, willing to unite in his Church, which is the Church of God.

With the knowledge that there is the Unseen God Who has prepared the unseen realm and shall present the earthly realm to mankind, to those who are ready for it, we may have the assurance in the hope that one day the world shall have to face that reality of the Great Kingdom, which shall go above all kingdoms of the world.

Giving ourselves to Christ shall make our union sealed and secure.

The Metaphorical language of the Bible

To become a good Christian and to reach holiness it is essential to read the bible and to try to understand it. For some is the language of the Bible to old-fashioned. But for those we can only advise to look for a more contemporary translation. Today nobody in our Western world can bring in the excuse that he cannot find a Bible in a language he or she cannot understand. Everybody should be able to find several Bible translations on the market and one in a smoothly readable language which should be acceptable for that person. But one must take the biblical language used into account at reading the Holy Book.

On Saturday March 13 2010, god willing, the Dutch speaking Brethren in Christ shall keep their annual studies and meeting day in ‘t nieuw Kerkehuis, at the corner Daltonstraat/Leusderweg in Amersfoort. During that day we will take one of the most striking characteristics of biblical language use under eyes. It is the language which deters many people undeserved and where some have difficulty to come in to it.

Striking at the different denominations in Christianity is also how diverse people wish to approach those Biblical texts. Also the statements of the church communities lie sometimes far from each other, with the one which find that we need everything to take literally and the other one which find that it must be taken all figurative or as a tale.

On the study day the Dutch Brethren want show that it is a pity in fact that the figurative language and metaphors, which are characteristic for the Bible, are insufficiently recognized. Because it is just that metaphorical language that lets us to penetrate into the core of the biblical message. It is just the imagery language which that revives the book.

In the seminar the Brethren want to show three frequently used forms of picture language: the Parable, personalisation and the foreshadowing. It are the two last forms that ensure most problems in the church. Personalisation lets, as it happens, many believe that there is spoken of real people whereas it concerns individual characters, characteristic properties or situations. One gets also pictures which convert abstract terms into easily to understand (and recognisable!) key words. One must recognise them however. By personalisation, as it happens, many persons are confused or to found to mix the personages. Many cannot see or do not want to see the red wire which runs through the whole book.

The three forms of pictorial language can give us a deeper insight in truth and in the person of Christ Jesus. That are live pictures which provide the highest necessary insights, which we have necessary for a pure term of Jesus' position with respect to his Father and with respect to us as His children. But also for a pure insight in the real intention of the Mosaic law on the one hand, and the shortcomings of the Old Treaty on the other side. An insight that is necessary to be able to recognise what now exactly is the added value (and what not!) of the New Treaty in Christ, where our salvation eventually nevertheless depends on.

The Dutch Christadelphians want be supervisors of trainees who want to help us on getting a better insight to Bible reading.
 

It is, as it happens, this way only that we can become good bible readers when one has insight in the language use of those 66 books of the Holy Scriptures.

Everyone we would like to invite to attend a captivating study day and chance of making contact with other believing Christians and to gather sociably with bible study and two meals.

Dutch text / Nederlandse tekst >Studiedag rond Bijbelse Beeldtaal

Dutch aricles about this subject:

Zeggingskracht van beelden in de Bijbel #1 Uitnodiging
Zeggingskracht van beelden in de Bijbel #2 Vorm van beeldtaal
Zeggingskracht van beelden in de Bijbel #3 De Gelijkenis
Zeggingskracht van beelden in de Bijbel #4 Verpersoonlijking
Zeggingskracht van beelden in de Bijbel #5 Voorafschaduwing

Being fit to take care of a garden

"Unless we know the difference between flowers and weeds, we are not fit to take care of a garden.
It is not enough to have truth planted in our minds.
We must learn and labour to keep the ground clear of thorns and briars, follies and perversities,
which have a wicked propensity to choke the word of life."
- Clyde Francis Lytle

"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means:
When people hear the message about the kingdom and do not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their hearts. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to people who hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to people who hear the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to people who hear the word and understand it. They produce a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."
Matthew 13:18-23

God, I am grateful that the sower has sown the word
and that I could receive it
let me cherish it and let the earth on which is sown be well maintained and properly edited.
Let me also bear good fruits,
that I ask You  in Jesus name, amen.

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Het verschil weten tussen bloemen en onkruid
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English: An icon depicting the Sower. In Sts. Konstantine and Helen Orthodox Church, Cluj, Romania. Español: Ícono representando la parábola del sembrador, en la Iglesia Ortodoxa de Helen, en Cluj (Rumania) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2013 update:
 

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