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PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY August 16 - 31, 2016
FAITH AND RELIGION
PROFILES OF THE GODHEAD
GOD THE SONband Superstar”
Wisdom from
the Word
Ben Berto
For to which of the angels
did He ever say:“You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You”?[c] And
again: “I will be to Him a Father,
And He shall be to Me a
Son”?[d]6 But when He again
brings the firstborn into the
world, He says: “Let all the angels
of God worship Him.”[e]7 And of
the angels He says: “Who makes
His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of fire.”[f]8 But to
the Son He says: “Your throne,
O God, is forever and ever;
A Scepter of righteousness is the
Scepter of Your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore
God,
Your
God,
has
anointed
You
With the oil of gladness more than
Your companions.” Hebrews 1:
1-8 NKJV
“In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. 2 He was
in the beginning with God. 3 All
things were made through Him,
and without Him nothing was
made that was made. 4 In Him
was life, and the life was the light
of men. 5 And the light shines in
the darkness, and the darkness
did not comprehend[a] it….And
the Word became flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His
glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of
grace and truth.
John 1: 1-5, 14, NKJV
The Scribes, the Pharisees and Sadducees, the clerics
of Jesus’ day profiled Jesus as
a lawbreaker, trouble maker, an
iconoclast, friend of tax collectors prostitutes, and other sinners. Even when Jesus told them
he was from above and they are
from below, they did not believe
him. They were afraid of losing
influence among the people especially as he was able to raise
the dead to life again, and heal
all kinds of diseases. Even today,
there are other religions that deny
Jesus as the Son of God. But
what does the Bible say? Let us
continue reading from the Seventh-day Adventists statement of
belief on the second Member of
the Godhead.
“Our hope of salvation centers exclusively in Jesus
Christ. One of the titles by which
we know Him is “ Son of God”.
This t itle reflects His place in the
plan of salvation—a role that was
established before the world began. He was born in our planet
as a human being (Hebrews 1:
5,6). Prior to His incarnation, He
existed from all eternity as God in
Moments
Fr, Jerry M. Orbos, SVD
The story is told about Jesus
walking into a restaurant and saying to the receptionist: “A table for
26 please.” Confused, the receptionist does a quick head count,
and says: “But there are only 13
of you.” Jesus replies: “Yes, but
we are all going to sit on the same
side, as we did in the Last Supper,
remember?”
***
In today’s Gospel (Lk. 14: 1,
7-14), Jesus reminds His disciples
to mind seating arrangements
when invited to meals and gatherings. They were to avoid choosing
places of honor; rather, they were
to choose the lowest place. “For
everyone who exalts himself will be
humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
***
Let’s face it: We all need
and want to be noticed, acknowledged, and recognized. But for
some people this need or want is
so pronounced, and it becomes
a lifetime passion, almost an illusion, to be in the limelight whenever they can, every time they
can.
***
Please remember that no
the most complete and exalted
sense. He is God by nature, power and authority (John 1: 1, 2; 17:
17: 5, 24; Philippians 2: 6). Christ
is the Creator of all things(John 1:
3; Colossians 1: 16, 17; Hebrews
1: 2). After Adam and Eve sinned,
Christ had intimate and constant
contact with our world. He was
the Member of the Godhead who
would divest Himself, be made “in
human likeness” and would become “obedient to death—even
death on a cross.(Philippians 2:
7,8). Through Him the character of God is revealed to fallen
humanity , human salvation is
consummated, and the world is
judged. (John 5: 25-29).
One of Us
“As God for all eternity,
Christ also became a human being, Christ also became a genuine human being in every sense
of the word. Hundreds of years
before He came to our world, the
prophets predicted His virgin birth
and the place where He would be
born: Bethlehem (Isaiah 7:14; Micah 5:2). Conceived by the Holy
Spirit and born of the virgin Mary,
He grew up in Nazareth, a mountain village in Galilee.
“During His life on earth
Jesus experienced temptation as
a human yet He never sinned.
Thus, He modeled God’s love
and His justice in a most outstanding way, giving us a perfect
example to imitate( Hebrews 2:
16-18; 1 Peter 2: 21 22) Christ
lived a humble and generous
life. As a child, as an adult, and
as a youth, He helped at the carpenter shop in Nazareth. He was
always friendly and took interest
in others. At abouth the age of
thirty (Luke 3: 23) He was baptized by immersion in the river
Jordan by John the Baptist (Matthew 3: 13-17). However, He was
not baptized in order to cleanse
Himself from sin, for He never
sinned. Rather , as He put it, He
was baptized in order to “fulfill all
righteousness” (Matthew3: 15).
Through baptism He identified
Himself with sinners, walking the
path we must walk and doing
what we must do.
JESUS’ MINISTRY
“When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended
on Him in a visible form as a dove,
and God’s voiced from heaven,
pronounced these words; “This is
My Son whom I love; with Him I
am well pleased”(Matthew 3: 17).
Following His baptism, Jesus
ministered unselfishly for three
years, sharing God’s love and the
message of salvation with the rich
and poor, Jew and Gentile. Jesus’ teachings were unmatched
in their simplicity yet filled with a
power that drew people’s hearts
to Him and changed them. Even
the guards who were sent to arrest Him as He was teaching the
people were unable to take Him
into custody, so
powerfully did His words affect them. When they were asked
why they hadn’t apprehended
Him, they could only reply, “No
one ever spoke the way this Man
does”.
(To be continued)
For prayer, questions and
Bible study, call Ben at 604-5811278, Junjun at 778-927-8040,
and Stanley at 604-700-3053.
You are invited to worship with
us every Sabbath (Saturday) at
the Abundant Life Community
Seventh-day Adventist Church at
13062-104 Avenue, Surrey. Welcome.
We will be welcoming our
new Filipino Pastor in October
this year. He is Pastor Leomar Macaraig. He will also shepherd the
Vancouver Filipino and Burnaby
FilCan SDA churches. Pastor Levi
Estores will be the district Pastor
for the Filipino districts comprising six churches.
Honor
matter how we try, we
cannot stay in the limelight or at center stage forever. We
are all just passing by. We do our
part, then we move on and we are
gone. “Letting go and letting God”
is one of the most basic lessons
we need to learn in life.
***
If we take the road of humility
and being hidden, we don’t need
to seek the limelight. Rather, we
seek the true light. A person who
has seen the light does not need
an audience, a stage, a forum, an
event, or a venue to feel his or her
self-worth. Our true worth is what
God says, not what other people
say; what God wants, not what we
want.
***
“As we grow older, our main
goal in life is not happiness but
Godliness, not reputation but
character, not wealth but virtue,
not fame but faith, not the approval of people but the approval
of God.” This text message says a
lot. In fact, this text message says
it all.
***
“Ang taong mapagkumbaba
ay pinagpapala; ang taong mayabang ay tinatamaan” (A lowly per-
son will be blessed; a proud person
will be stricken). Let us remember
this as we journey on in life, as we
journey on to God’s heart.
***
For people who are obsessed
to go up the ladder, our advice is:
Go further. Aim high. Aim beyond
the ladder. Aim for heaven! The
worldly ladder can bring us to the
top, above the rest, but it can be
lonely up there especially when
you stepped on others just to get
there. Instead of climbing up the
worldly ladder, try the stairway to
heaven.
***
“What’s in it for me?” No
matter how noble or how holy the
things we say or do, there are always ulterior, hidden, selfish motives behind. Only in prayer can
we see, accept, and purify our
selfishness and pride. Let us continue to pray to the Holy Spirit for
guidance, enlightenment, and purification.
***
There is a sequel to the story
about Jesus in the restaurant.
When they were all seated, the
waiter brought the wine list and
asked if they wanted some wine.
Peter was supposed to have said:
“Thanks, just bring us water. We
have with us our Master. The wedding in Cana, remember?”
***
The Lord reminds us today
that there is no substitute for hard
and honest work. Connections,
contacts, and even luck can help
us. But more than these, we need
to help ourselves, and be constantly attuned to what God wants
and be obedient to His plans.
***
What is a “social climber”? A
person who climbs up the ladder
using other people. And what is a
“cliffhanger”? A person who tenaciously holds on to anything or any
person so as not to fall. Suggestion: Why not be a God-climber or
a God-hanger instead?
***
Tomorrow is National Heroes
Day. We honor them. Real heroes
are those who did not seek to be
honored in their lifetime. In fact,
many of them were prosecuted,
ostracized, slandered, rejected,
and even killed because of their
beliefs and convictions. Heroism
is not sought. It is earned.
***
The “ber” months are here.
Along with September is the re-
WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM
minder that December is not far
behind. Let us pray that we will
still be around on Christmas. Let
us pray that Christmas will be
better for all of us, in all aspects.
Let us also resolve to help make
Christmas better for others in all
aspects, in Jesus’ name. Amen!
***
Let me end with a story
about an ambitious guy who
prayed: “Lord, give me work, a big
car, surrounded by many girls!”
Guess what? His prayer was answered—he now works as a bus
driver at an exclusive girls’ school.
Lesson? We have our prayers,
wishes, and ambitions, but it is
God who determines the answer,
the execution and the conditions.
Whatever, just pray on!
***
Think about this: When we
are engaged in God’s work, and
we encounter setbacks, we can
carry on calmly because “we are
the servants of the God of heaven
and earth” (Ezra 5, 11). Obstacles
and delays may discourage us,
but it is God’s power that enables
us and let us remember that it is
His work, not ours.”