Re: Only God can bring us back home (Psalm 23:3)

Dr. Ben and my friends. Thank you for your report and brotherly love for me. Though small, I pray for West Loop daily. 

May the Lord bring all of us new life, free from condemnation, liberate us so that we may freely choose to do your will. 

Praise God. 

Happy New Year! 

Joshua Hong

On Tue, Dec 28, 2021 at 8:08 PM Benjamin Toh <benjamintoh@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Joshua, this is my brief report.

In the last few years at West Loop UBF, Ben Toh preached through:

• Matthew's Gospel [mainly referencing Stanley Hauerwas].
• Parables of Christ [as explained by Kenneth Bailey, who's book "Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes" won Christianity's book of the year].
• 1 Corinthians [from commentaries by Richard Hays and Gordon Fee], and 2 Corinthians.
• Currently, we began studying Exodus [by Jewish professors Robert Altar and Leon Kass].

A few brief things we learned in the last few years:

• "He brings me back" or "My life, He brings back." From Psalm 23, the King James Bible popularized the phrase "he restores my soul," which has inspired and encouraged multitudes of Christians over the centuries. The NIV translates it as "he refreshes my soul" (Psalm 23:3). But it is a paraphrase from the Hebrew which literally says, "He brings me back" or "My life, He brings back." Just as the good shepherd [representing God/Christ] finds and brings the lost sheep back (Lk 15:1-7), and the woman combs through her house to find her lost coin (Lk 15:8-10), and the father who longs to bring back both of his lost sons (Lk 15:11-32), the psalmist King David confesses that God brought him back to Himself. We are encouraged to learn that only God can restore a lost sinner.
• Freedom from judgment. Consciously or not, we often judge others and then insist that our judgment is absolutely correct. But Paul says, "I care very little if I'm judged by you or by any human court...it is the Lord who judges me" (1 Cor 4:3,4). We learn that one is truly free when they live before the judgment of God rather than the judgments of men.
  
• "New creation" (2 Cor 5:17). We incline toward doing things--even good things--habitually. But in Christ every single day, every single morning, every single moment is a brand new day and a brand new morning, not the same old, same old boring habitual predictable routine.
• Liberation from...liberation for. As we now begin studying Exodus, we learn that God gives us freedom not to do whatever we want, but that we can now freely choose who to serve: Pharaoh [boss, leader, supervisor, a human being] or God alone.

Attached are the couples of West Loop.

UK SEO

Just checked blogger.com for its ranks and it could really use a boost

If you ever need Google updates free whitehat SEO plans, we are the right
team for you

Results oriented monthly plans to make your SEO trend climb like never
before


https://www.digitalsy.org.uk/seo-pricing/









Unsubscribe:
https://mgdots.co/unsubscribe/

<> Business Traffic Plans <>

Hello

Tired of keep looking for quality business traffic?

your search is over, we provide the best business traffic available on the
market

check our deals and offers here
https://basedbusinesstraffic.co/









Unsubscribe:
https://mgdots.co/unsubscribe/

My Story in Scriptures

The Pixar hit movie "Up" began with an 8 minute montage of the story of a shy young boy who married his childhood sweetheart. But she died young without having any children. The movie then begins with him as a lonely grumpy unfriendly old man who had lost the love of his life. The montage was my favorite part of the entire movie, for it moved me more than the rest of the movie. I would have been quite satisfied if I had just watched the montage, which was itself well worth the price of admission.

As I begin 2022, this is my story not in a montage of pictures, but in the Scriptures that have shaped and formed my life for the last 40 years.

1. Emptiness (Gen 1:2): "The earth was formless and empty..."
2. God (Gen 2:17): "You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil..."
3. First (Mt 6:33): "But seek first his kingdom..."
4. Self-denial (Lk 9:23; Mk 8:34; Mt 16:24): "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves..." ["If anyone would come after me he must deny himself"].
5. Peace (Jn 14:27; Phil 4:7): "My peace I give you." "The peace of God that passes human understanding..."
6. Love (Jer 31:3): "I have loved you with an everlasting love."
7. Sovereignty (Rom 8:28): "And we know that in all things God works for the good..."
8. Harm (Gen 50:20): "You intended to harm me but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done..."
9. Fear (Prov 29:25): "Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe."
10. Control (Gen 3:5; Rom 1:21): "You will be like God." "They neither glorified him as God..."
11. Restoration (Ps 23:3): "He brings me back."
12. Being judged (1 Cor 4:3): "I care very little if I'm judged by you or by any human court..."
13. Cross/Gospel (1 Cor 1:23; 2:2): "We preach Christ crucified." "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." A theology of the cross cf. a theology of glory.
14. Discipline (1 Cor 9:27): "I discipline my body and keep it under control" (ESV). "I beat my body and make it my slave..."
15. New (2 Cor 5:17,21): "New creation." "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us."
16. Thorn (2 Cor 12:7):  "...in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me."
17. Life (Ac 20:24,27): "I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the good news [gospel] of God's grace."