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The Deity of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew - Part 2

...d them to sin. Along with this curse God pronounced judgement on them, man was driven out of the garden, separated from the presence of God and the tree of life that could enable them to live forever as sinners. (Genesis 3:24): “So He drove the man out; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.” since then God has been working towards reversing this event, undoing the effects of sin, chief among them the broken fellowship mankind has with God. God chose Abraham as the one through whom his blessing will reach all nations (Genesis 12:3) and after...

Why do bad things happen to 'good' people?

...use collapsing and killing his family etc.) - you can read about all the sudden calamities in Job 1. But at the end of the first chapter describing all the bad things happening, verse 22 simply says, "In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing." Though there is debate about whether Job is a historical account, or simply an allegorical story to try and give an answer to a similar question, I think the principle of the story is that despite the circumstances of life, we should still praise God and keep ourselves righteous in his sight no matter what - to persevere in faith even when those around us doubt - like Job's wife and friends did: Then...

Lent Day 40: Leo the Great: Sermon LXXII: ON THE LORD'S RESURRECTION, II

...nt of the sin which has passed upon all men”, that taint being “weakness and mortality, which were not sin, but the penalty of sin”. The “Redeemer of the World” suffered these things for our sake, “that they might be reckoned as the price of redemption”. In us is the “heritage of condemnation”, but in Christ is the “mystery of godliness” (1 Tim 3:16) Through the enemy, Jesus had “His spotless flesh” tortured. Because of this, because Jesus willingly went to die for us, now “believers in Him might find neither persecution intolerable, nor death terrible, by the remembrance that there was no more doubt about their sharing His glory th...

The Coming of Jesus: Our Future Hope - What Now?

...s for pleasing God and removing sin was done away with; now Christ has come, a new law and rule had also come: the Law of Christ/Love (Gal 6:2; 1 Cor 9:21). Grace abounds and love rules. sin and death are defeated (2 Tim 1:10) and those who believe on Christ are given new life and right to be heirs to eternal life (Titus 3:6-7)! The old has passed and the new has surely come (2 Cor 5:17)!   Through baptism we are born again into our new bodies, spiritually speaking (Col 2:12), whilst we wait to put on and clothe ourselves with immortality fully upon physical death by our resurrected bodies (1 Cor 15:54).   In terms of the new creation in contrast to the o...

On the Feast of the Nativity, a sermon by Leo the Great

...In the days leading up to Christmas, I wanted to share a sermon from a man known as Leo the Great (aka Pope Leo I), who was a Pope from 440-61 AD. He was one of the most significant and important men in Christian antiquity, as he tried to combat the heresies which seriously threatened church unity in the West, such as Pelagianism. This sermon of his about the incarnation of Christ and what it means for us has always stuck with me since I first read it last April when writing my own book on the Early Church Fathers. It's not that long, so take the time to read it through and let the words sink in as we prepare for Christmas to remember and celebrate the birth...

From Dust to Redemption: The Meaning of Ash Wednesday

...orrow for sin and a desire to turn back to God (e.g., Job 42:6, Daniel 9:3, Jonah 3:6). By the 8th century, the imposition of ashes on the forehead became a common practice in the Western Church. Pope Urban II (r. 1088–1099) helped formalise Ash Wednesday as the official beginning of Lent, reinforcing the idea of a season of penitence leading up to Easter. The name “Ash Wednesday” itself comes from the tradition of marking the faithful with ashes, typically in the shape of a cross, while the priest or minister recites words such as, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19) or “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Ma...