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Praise Church of West Covina

Church in West Covina

Contemporary Service on Sundays @ 10 am

Children’s Sunday School available

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Praise Church of West Covina

Children’s Sunday School Provided

God’s will, however, for the husband was ambiguous. Should he contend for the miracle as an expression of faith in God, despite of the doctor’s prognosis? Or, should he accept this as God’s will and agree with the doctor? By agreeing with the doctor, would he then give up on God and his wife?

What do I say? My mind raced through the catalogue of biblical texts I’ve memorized and analyzed the theological concepts I’ve stored. What ended up stammering out of my mouth was something like this.

On the one hand we always contend for God to heal from sickness and save us from peril because our God is more than able. This is faith.

On the other hand, we cannot presume God’s will always means healing from our sickness and always deliverance from our peril. So we trust in God’s Word that what is better than human existence here in this life is the human existence of dwelling in God’s glory in the life to come. This is also faith.

Now that I’ve had more time to think, I can summarize what I wanted to say in a more condensed, yet nuanced statement. That is, faith is not measured by victory over trials, but rather by perseverance in the face of it.

Steadfastness is itself the triumph of faith. It is not always prevailing over trials or difficulties. The life of faith does not always involve success by the world’s standards.

Faith and suffering are not incompatible. There is a clear biblical relation between the two: faith sanctifies our suffering. Namely, suffering is the means by which our faith in God is tested and authenticated, provided we persevere.

The bible never guarantees an easy Christianity. It is quite the opposite. The bible guarantees suffering (1 Th 5:9).

Thus, the measure of faith is perseverance in the midst of suffering, not necessarily gaining victory over that suffering.

In the first half of Hebrews 11:32-38, the author details Gideon, Barak, Samson, David, Abraham all by faith conquered kingdoms, shut the mouths of lions, put enemies to flight, and escaped the edge of the sword.

But what if they did not escape the sword? What if the lion’s mouth devoured Daniel, instead of Daniel shutting it? What then becomes of their faith?

The second half of the passage answers the question.

Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.  37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated–  38 of whom the world was not worthy–wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth (Heb 11:36-38).

Perseverance not deliverance is the true measure of faith.

God’s sovereignty functions to assure us that things are not getting out of control. Coupled with his love, God’s sovereignty assures the Christian that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28, emphasis added).

This is particularly important where suffering is compounded by sheer uncertainty. A young mother who learns that her mate has disappeared on a military front, with nothing heard from him in the ensuing weeks, will suffer not only the loss, the fear, the loneliness, but also agonizing uncertainty. If someone were to come up to her at that point and glibly quote Romans 8:28 to her, it might well be unbearably insensitive, even cruel—not because the text is not true, but because the quick quotation could easily be viewed by her as a formulaic sop thoughtlessly uttered by someone who did not understand the depth of the hurt. Such pastoral questions I shall briefly address in the next chapter. Yet the fact remains that this young woman needs to discover and rest in Romans 8:28 for herself. Her uncertainties will not thereby disappear, but they will be reduced to proper proportions: they will be brought under the hand of the God she knows. She may not know the future, but she knows the God who controls the future.

To our limited perspectives, there are plenty of accidents that determine so many tragedies. To the eyes of faith, there are, finally, no accidents, only incidents; and in these, Paul assures us, God is working for our good. To walk into the unknown with a God of unqualified power and unfailing goodness is safer than a known way.

By referring to Christ as the “image of the invisible God (Col 1:15), the text invites its reader to consider Christ in light of Adam, whom Moses asserts as having been “created in the image of God” (Gen 1:26-28).

Take a look as to how Christ relates to Adam and its bearing on the meaning of Christmas.

Christmas Celebrates the Invisible God Becoming the Visible-Ideal Adam from Praise Church WC on Vimeo.

Explanation of Colossians 1:15-20 in light of its OT Background.

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Church in West Covina

Contemporary Service on Sundays @ 10 am

Children’s Sunday School available

Such a claim is so astounding that it evokes  skepticism because it repulses the modernist sensibilities.

The specific mention of the census, the town of his birth, and the eyewitnesses not only establishes the time, place, and people respectively, but more importantly buttresses the plausibility of the Christ event’s historicity.

The Grace of God did appear bringing salvation to all people. The mystery of our religion is great: God became Man in the God-Man, Christ. Merry Christmas!

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Praise Church of West Covina

Church in West Covina

Contemporary Service on Sundays @ 10 am

Children’s Sunday School available