clement

godliness is sharing and having the very nature of god - FAITH, HOPE & LOVE, LOVE BEING THE GREATEST BECAUSE GOD IS LOVE ("for god so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..." - john 3:16). strict morality, on the other hand, is an outward appearance of godliness that denies the power of it. it is also a form of spiritual pride; holier than thou attitude that does not build godly character.

fallen man is naturally inclined to dead works. when adam & eve saw their own nakedness, they made clothings for themselves out of fig leaves. legalism is attractive because its self-dependence, logically earning our blessings. it breeds spiritual pride, and self-righteousness - like the incident of the pharisee and the tax-collector in the temple. the self-righteous pharisee looked down on the tax-collector, boasting in his dead works to justify himself. inevitably, legalism hardens the heart, blind the soul, and bring about bondages (from fear of God's judgment) when we fail to perform as required. the gospel of grace (un-deserved, un-merited, un-earned) is the good news that came to set us free. free to choose a life pleasing to God in response to His goodness and mercy in our lives. living a Godly life so that others can see Jesus in and through us.

tried and tested - to military specs; because in any conflict the margin for error and or failure of men and machine WILL BE FATAL. the kingdom of god suffers violence, and the strong shall take it by force? christian leadership calls for moral courage and personal intregrity to see us through both good and bad times.

Proverbs 16:32 - He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. a "leader" who is not objective, and see the good in the bad ; and walk not in LOVE is downright dangerous to those around him...

christian leadership calls for The 2Cs :- 1) christ-centredness AND 2) commitment only a committed person can be entrusted with the Lord's little ones. how then can we tell if the person is suitable for leadership position? obviously, through the management of his own family; AND his relationship within and without. paul is advocating leadership criteria along the line of a good tree producing good fruits; telling us to look for the quality (or lack of) of the person's fruits as an outworking of his faith. truly, a person is known for his fruits. strangely, in many western countries, the opposite is true. the questionable private lives of many politicians are implicitly ignored so long as they are able to keep the status quo and deliver food on the table. which could very well explain the mess we are in.....

Q5. (1 Timothy 2:11-15) How should Paul's instructions about women teaching and leading in the church be applied in the twenty-first century? How do you support your view? 1 tim 2:11-15 has to be read and interpreted according to the context of its time - namely women during that age were mostly unschooled and therefore lack necessary training to assume leadership positions, and secondly they would be actively involved in the day to day running of their own families to be able to commit themselves effectively for ministry. since then, times have changed. today, women are out-performing the men at school - just crunch the numbers at any acedemic institutions; anywhere. some are even exceling at male-dominated professions like engineering, hard sciences etc though they remain in the minority due to differences in sexual endowments. women were and are designed to complement - not compete with men. personally, i have observed in 10 years of ministry as a missionary that the sisters are indispensable as support/back-up as they are naturally multi-taskers. indeed, 99% of secretaries are females. why? because they are able to do so much all at once! we men would crash & hang given the same multi-tasks to perform. amen? however, men are more focussed and know what they want & need - just look at shopping patterns. men do not browse/window-shop as much as women. we go in, take what we want/need; pay-up and are out in 30 mins? women can spend the whole day at the mall, because its part of the fun for them? and wow! so many distractions i remember a lame joke of a women at the mall eyeing a translucent dress; and the husband in way of discouragement telling her :- "honey, you can see-through it!" to which the wife replied, "not when i'm wearing it...." or what about most women's eternal struggle with having a wardrobe full of nothing to wear? anyone still remember imelda marcos' three thousand pairs of designer shoes & endless handbag collection? the present-day church should not; and must not have anything against women leadership in any capacity whatsoever. the sole yardstick being; and in conclusion i quote john c. maxwell :- 1) know the Way 2) show the Way & 3) go the Way amen?

"all things are lawful for me; but not all things are useful.." 1 cor 6:12 there are 2 ways to look at this :- a) dressing up for church to honor God, and each other - which would suggest modesty & good taste without causing undue offense and division. dressing up for church to show-off the lastest wardrobe acquisition & or to seduce. it is clear that church leadership need to set the pace & to educate the people in what is appropriate and proper; even more - in what is "useful" as we are indeed the light and salt of this world. pre-believers do not read the bible or know jesus; but they do read us christians everyday - what we do, say, how we conduct ourselves, the way we dress, spend our time & money; all speak volumes to a lost and dying world. amen...

the condition of the heart is an excellent reflection of our belief - any beliefs for that matter. a) lifting up holy hands - made holy by the blood of jesus; the righteousness of god in christ! without wrath - forgiving freely as we have been forgiven freely; for they do not know what they do... c) without doubting - because god hears us always; based on the righteousness of christ - NOT OURS... amen?

for God so Loved the world (=everyone) that He gave... - john 3:16 God's Salvation Plan is for one and all. however, man in the natural has a tendency towards exclusivity and self-preoccupation and self-promotion. and so, we need constant reminders; do we not? i totally agree with hausmouse that the prayers of the righteous avails much; for a conducive environment to preach the good news.

"beware the leaven of the pharisees..." matthew 16:6 i recently came across an article written by a bible student entitled "how a man can curse himself." in this article, she quoted extensively and exclusively from the old testament on how a believer's failure to keep God's HOLY Law can bring upon himself ALL the curses of God; and be cut-off from His Salvation to boot. tragically, the finished work of christ jesus on the Cross was totally ignored! false doctrine; if not corrected promptly - results in a spiritually; and thus physically WEAK flock anywhere; including ephesus. gradually, believers degenerate into pettiness, and pride of the flesh takes over (just like the self-righteous pharisee deriding the tax-collector beating his breast in the temple). a church mired in doctrinal controversy only serves to promote self-righteousness - religious followers puffed up thinking the best of themselves (and the worst of other believers) based on their ability to keep up appearances. a friend once told me a true story of an incident that happened in saudi arabia some years ago. a women's hostel caught fire late one night, and the women's fire bridgade was duly summoned to the rescue. due to the urgency of the fire, and also the late hour; many of the students were taken by surprise. as such, some of them did not have time to be properly dressed in order to be rescued. based on strict islamic laws, improperly dressed women cannot be seen in public; and fire fighters had no choice but to let these unfortunate souls perish in the fire - burned alive! and so our lord said it well - "sabbath for the man, and not man for the sabbath." a church that lacks understanding perishes (of course!); we don't even need to talk about this church walking the talk and bearing ANY fruit...

we need constant reminders of our High calling in Christ because we are naturally (in the flesh) inclined to be pleasers of men rather than pleasers of God. human niceties? "fight the good fight" to me, means nothing more than holding on to the Victory that Christ has given us. the accuser's ONLY foothold upon a believer is to get him under the Law (that was not given to justify men, but to bring them to the end of themselves and to christ). once satan succeed in laying a guilt trip on a believer, that believer has put himself in satan's hand - just like Job. God did not put Job in satan's hand; job did, through his negative confessions.

Praising God and what He has done for us :- 1) acknowledges the Righteousness of Christ in our lives; and 2) it gives God permission to manifest His Goodness and His Mercies in our lives on a daily basis. remember, we gave God permission to be saved; it does not stop there. speaking forth in agreement with His Word operates on the same principle as seed time and harvest time. you know, He created everything (except Man - who was hand-made) by the power of His Word spoken forth in majesty and glory! and scientists today tell us that the universe is still growing... the reverse is also true! constant confessions of sin(s) fear(s), and worries about what dreadful doom tomorrow may bring? is an open invitation for the devil to enforce all that we fear (just look at what happened to Job). therefore, fear is not only the opposite of faith - BUT the total rejection of His Word and goodness. "if the Light in you is darkness; how great is that darkness.." matt 6:23

old habits die hard. even today, many christians still rely on their law keeping to "deserve" God's blessings given freely on the Cross. having said that, many of us still do not understand what it means to be "the Righteousness of God in Christ." God did not save us from the penalty of sin merely by His Grace or His Mercy (although that was what moved Him to send His Only Son to us - john 3:16). going by either Grace OR Mercy would mean EVERYONE making it to heaven. that would imply :- 1) God going soft on His moral standards, and God 2) doing great injustice to all that sin has hurted! could God still be God? if He allowed mankind to be saved apart from Faith in Christ's Righteouness? therefore, the Lamb of God was born to die. He had to; the Only Way - He took My Fall, and gave me His Righteousness. so that ALL who believed in Him will be saved to the uttermost! amen! to conclude, our faith (And blessings we WILL receive) MUST be based upon Christ's Righteous Act on the Cross. NEVER our good/bad behaviour; NEVER AGAIN to allude to sins of commissions and omissions because that would be SLAPPING CHRIST on His Face; denying His Precious Blood...

in a nutshell, "a house that is not built upon The Rock shall fall." luke 6:48 false doctrine is the first step to the devil's deception; just like in the garden.