Love, Mercy, Peace, Forgiveness, Compassion, Joy and all the fruits of the Holy Spirit are characteristics of God. All these words are used frequently of God in the Old Testament and the New Testament. God always shows love, mercy, peace, forgiveness, compassion, joy and all the fruits of the Holy Spirit by actively helping those who are miserable due to circumstances beyond their control. Thus, it is an attribute of both God and the good human being.

Sin deserves divine punishment because it is a violation of God's command and Holy character. As a prerequisite for a renewed relationship between God and Israel. The Old Testament system of worship provides sacrifices for expiating the guilt of those who have sinned unwittingly or repented of their sins. - Lev. 1-7 - but sacrifice must always be accompanied by a proper disposition. The true prophets testify repeatedly that God desires to forgive human sins and asks for mercy and repentance.

From the booty the people took the best sheep and oxen of what was under the ban to sacrifice them to Yahweh your God in Gilgal. But Samuel replied: [Samuel does not condemn sacrificial practice as a whole, but obedience of the heart is what pleases God, not mere external ritual. To practice the second against God's will is to do homage to something that is not God, to be guilty of idolatry, a crime here suggested by 'sorcery' and the mention of teraphim, tutelary idols of houses and property, Gen. 31:19, 30; 1 Sam. 19:13. On consulting teraphim Ezk. cf. 21:21]

"Is the pleasure of Yahweh in holocausts and sacrifices
or in obedience to the voice of Yahweh?
Yes, obedience is better than sacrifice,
submissiveness better than the fat of rams.
Rebellion is a sin of sorcery,
presumption a crime of teraphim." - 1 Sam. 15:21-22 -

Since what I want is love, not sacrifice;
knowledge of God, not holocausts. - Hosea 6:6 -

But now, now - it is Yahweh who speaks -
come back to me with all your heart,
fasting, weeping, mourning.
Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn,
turn to Yahweh your God again,
for he is all tenderness and compassion,
slow to anger, rich in graciousness,
and ready to relent.
Who knows if he will not turn again, will not relent,
will not leave a blessing as he passes,
oblation and libation
for Yahweh your God? - Joel 2:12-14 - Is. 1:18-20 -

In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ continues the tradition of God; Love, Mercy, Peace, Forgiveness, Compassion, Joy, and all the fruits of the Holy Spirit. In reality, and the truth is; God initiates contacts with humans and forgives sins through the death of Jesus Christ [God only begotten Son] God's Love, Mercy, Forgiveness, Compassion, Joy and all the fruits of the Holy Spirit are variously described as justification, salvation and reconciliation.

Love, Mercy, Peace, Forgiveness, Compassion, Joy, are given to believer by the Holy Spirit as a gift to be practiced and exercised now and as a sign of the future consummation of that new creation which God has begun in Christ Jesus, a fulfilment of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. Because Love, Mercy, Forgiveness, Compassion, Joy, and all the fruits of the Holy Spirit does not originate in the human heart. It is not human possibility, it is a divine 'Gift.' It is the Lord Jesus Christ who now lives in the believer, therefore, the believer must practices and actualizes all these fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners. - Matt. 9:13 -

And if you had understood the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the blameless. For the Son of Man is master of the Sabbath. - Matt. 12:7-8 -

Then Peter went up to him and said, 'Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?' Jesus answered, 'Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.' - Matt. 18:21-22 - Luke 17:4 -

There was a lawyer who, to disconcert him, stood up and said to him, 'Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' He said to him, 'What is written in the Law? What do you read there?' You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.' 'You have answered right,' said Jesus 'do this and life is yours.' - Luke 10:25-28 - Matt. 22:34-40 - Mark 12:28-31 -

We have come here to tell you the Good News. It was to our ancestors that God made the promise but it is to us, their children, that he has fulfilled it, by raising Jesus from the dead. As scripture says in the first psalm: You are my son: today I have become your father. The fact that God raised him from the dead, never to return to corruption, is no more than what he had declared: To you shall I give the sure and holy things promised to David. This is explained by another text: You will not allow your holy one to experience corruption. Now when David in his own time had served God's purposes he died; he was buried with his ancestors and has certainly experienced corruption. The one whom God has raised up, however, has not experienced corruption. 

My brothers, I want you to realise that it is through him that forgiveness of your sins is proclaimed. Through him justification from all sins which the Law of Moses was unable to justify is offered to every believer. So be careful - or what the prophets say will happen to you. - Acts 13:32-40 -

Jesus who was put to death for our sins and raised to life to justify us. - Rom. 4:25 -

Does it follow that God is unjust? Of course not. Take what God said to Moses: I have mercy on whom I will, and I show pity to whom I please. In other words, the only thing that counts is not what human beings want or try to do, but the mercy of God. - Rom. 9:14-16 -

Just as you changed from being disobedient to God, and now enjoy mercy because of their disobedience, so those who are disobedient now - and only because of the mercy shown to you - will also enjoy mercy eventually. God has imprisoned all men in their own disobedience only to show mercy to all mankind. - Rom. 11:30-32 -

From now on-wards, therefore, we do not judge anyone by the standards of the flesh. Even if we did once know Christ in the flesh, that is not how we know him now. And for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here. It is all God's work. It was God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the work of handing on this reconciliation. In other words, God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself, not holding men faults against them, and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled. So we are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that we make in Christ's name is: be reconciled to God. - 2 Cor. 5:16-20 -

We wish you the grace and peace of God our Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ, who in order to rescue us from this present wicked world sacrificed himself for our sins, in accordance with the will of God our Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. - Gal. 1:3-5 -

But God loved us with so much love that he was generous with his mercy: when we were dead through our sins, he brought us to life with Christ - it is through grace that you have been saved - and raised us up with him and gave us a place with him in heaven, in Christ Jesus. - Eph. 2:4-6 -

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, and who judged me faithful enough to call me into his service even though I used to be a blasphemer and did all I could to injure and discredit the faith. Mercy, however, was shown to me, because until I became a believer I had been acting in ignorance; and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ filled me with faith and with the love that is in Christ Jesus. Here is a saying that you can rely on and nobody should doubt: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I myself am the greatest of them; and if mercy has been shown to me, it is because Jesus Christ meant to make me the greatest evidence of his inexhaustible patience for all the other people who would later have to trust in him to come to eternal life. To the eternal King, the undying, invisible and only God, be honor and glory for ever, and ever. Amen. - 1 Tim. 1:12-17 -

Free your minds, then, of encumbrances; control them, and put your trust in nothing but the grace that will be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Do not behave in the way that you liked to before you learnt the truth; make a habit of obedience: be holy in all you do, since it is the Holy One who has called you, and scripture says: Be holy, for I am holy. - 1 Pet. 1:13-16 -

In short, there are three things that last: faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love. - 1 Cor. 13:13 -

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Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -