When There was Me and You...

Sunday, March 30, 2008

The Third Day (Part II)

haha blogging about the church camp again, because it really is an awesome camp and i can still feel the impact up to today. Shall share with you guys the message that i get from this camp.

Day 1: The meaninglessness of Life: Climbing the Ladder to nowhere.
(Read Ecclesiastes 4-6)

According to that bible verses, the life of christian is hard. We will face many Opression (v4:1-3) from non-christians.

And i saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man's envy of his neighbour. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

All humans, even Christians, will face enviness in all aspects of their life, like competing with other people, and fear of losing out.

If life is all that it is now, without anything beyond, then how meaningless our lives will be. We rise up to the highest place, earn big bucks, only to fall back to our state of nothingness at death. We are climbing the ladder to nowhere

Naked a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labour that he can carry in his hand (Ecclesiastes 5:15)

However, Christians should not be worried about this things as we had secured a place after death. Yet, at the same time in our earthly lives, we should not feel worthless as we have a Friend in high places (v5:8-9)

v5:10-17 talks about materialism. Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. THe sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep. Basically, it is telling that we are never satisfied with what we have and we keep going for more. enuff said

Therefore, we migh as well "eat, drink and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him" (v18-20)" this is God's gift.

Day2: The meaning of Life: Resurrection on the 3rd Day

Because we cannot discern any indications that we were put on the Earth to fulfill a purpose greater to us by an intelligent being, our existence does not appear to be some part of a greater plan (Keith AUgustine - Death & Meaning of Life)

We humans have a fear of meaninglessness. We are more than just atoms put together by random chance of nature, there has to be a bigger thing out there.

Then we discussed on Jesus' Resurrection on the cross on the 3rd day, which must happen because it was prophesized a couple of times in the Old Testament.

The bible talks about the Judgement Day (Daniel 7 & 12) and why Jesus has to be resurrected on the Third Day (Jonah 1:17, Jonah 2:9-10, Matthew 12:40, Hosea 6:1-2)

We should not be afraid of death because Jesus, by his death, has destroyed the devil who holds the power of death. (Hebrews 2:14-15) Every man will face death, but we will be resurrected in higher places. Christians should have no fear of meaninglessness, because we have a greater God to shape our lives for us.

Day3: Walk the Talk: Belonging to the King
(Read Ephesians 2:1-10)

Verse 1-3 corrects our view of sin. Sin is less about what we do and more about who we are and who it is we do things for. However, we will still face the affection for sin nevertheless, because all of us are still of this world (1 Corinthians 15:56)

Verse 4-7 corrects our view of Heaven. We have to make sure that we get to heaven by accepting Jesus into our hearts. Salvation is not about coming out of the future hell that we might be subjected into after our death, but about coming out of the present hell that is this world.

verse 8-10 corrects our view of works. In verse 9, we have to remembe that being saved has nothing to do with the work that we do. Being saved is a gift from God after we believe in Jesus.
Some people are so far into sin that we didnt realise that we need saving
And we didnt become Christians by coming to church or reading the bible, but it is by God's Grace.

We dont have to do anything to be saved except to believe in Jesus, because no matter how good a person can be, we are never be good enough in God's standard. There is no good person in God's Judgement. We just have to accept Jesus in our hearts and we will naturally be transformed.

Day 4: Living the Resurrection Hope
(Read the whole book of Revelations)

By knowing the future that is prophesized in this last book of the bible, we now have a certainty about what must soon take place. Basically the book prophesized about Jesus' second coming into the world

What must soon take place:

a. Indisputable power of Jesus (Rev 1)
In v12-16, "in His right hand he held the seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp double-edged sword" - this symbolises that His words are powerful
In v17, it says that Jesus is the first and the Last
In v18, Jesus is the living one. "I was dead and behold i am alive for ever and ever."
In v20, He will be walking in the middle of the 7 Golden Lampstands, which signifies the 7 churches.

b. Unfolding the Horror of HIstory (Rev 5-6)
There will be an opening of the scroll with 7 seals. Each seal representing a disaster that is yet to come. By the time the 6th seal is opened, it signifies the end of the world (v12). In v15-17, it pictures Jesus' second coming into the world. The increasing number of wars and disasters recently since the 1990s could signify that Jesus' coming is near.

c. Furious frustation of Satan (Rev 12)
Satan has the power of death over us. In v7-9 it said about the defeat of Satan through the resurrection of Jesus. Satan knows that his time is short (v12), so he will send many persecutions to many Christians (v17).

d. Dramatic Fall of Babylon (Rev 17-18)
Babylon - the Mother of Prostitues (17:5).
It is a national prostitute, which symbolises materialism (17:15)
18:1-4 talks about the lure of materialism in our lives.

e. Ultimate defeat of Satan (Rev 20)
First satan will go out to decieve the nations (v8) and attack the Christians (v9). Then he will be thrown into the lake of fire for eternity (v10). That is the ultimate defeat of Satan.

f. Heaven; the Garden City (Rev 21-22)
After Satan is defeated, there will be no more pain, suffering and death (v4), and God will be dwelling among his people (v3).

These are the things that must soon take place (22:6, 1:1)

Though we will face many persecutions in time to come, the bible encourages us to endure patiently for the second coming of Jesus, and do not listen to the lures of the devil.

Now, we can find the meaning of our lives in Jesus. I have.

Anyway more pictures that i got for the church camp. hahaha...

eating together with my bible study group...