GOD’S AWESOME LOVE TO THE WORLD

Key Text: John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Introduction:

To understand the passage it might help if we put it in the context of the world's greatest demonstration of love, God's gift — His Son. Ephesians speaks of four specific dimensions. What are the width and length and depth and height of His love? Each of these dimensions can be seen in a verse many people can quote, but don't really "lay hold of." That verse is John 3:16

Taken in phrases, this familiar verse demonstrates and defines the four dimensions of which Paul speaks.

1. The Four Dimensions of God’s love – Ephesians 3:14-21

1.1. The width

The width of God’s love is embedded in the phrase, “For God so loved the world.” One cannot begin to describe God in physical terms. Suffice it to say that the width of God's love is so broad that when Jesus stretched out His arms on the cross He encompassed the entire universe, even me . . . even you.

1.2. The length

The length is represented in the phrase, "That He gave His only begotten Son." Think about it this way. If someone who had shown contempt for you needed a heart transplant, would you take your son to the hospital and say, "Take my son's heart and give it to him"? Imagine a love that is so forgiving that it gives up the very thing it loves the most. That is what God did for even me . . . even you.

1.3. The depth

The depth is represented in the phrase "whoever believes." The people around the foot of the cross did not understand that the death they were watching meant life. Certainly, they didn't seize the concept of life for Jews, Gentiles, or the "whoever" of the world. But, the reality was and is that death meant life for even me . . . even you.

1.4. The Height

The height is represented in the phrase, "everlasting life." This life they would later come to understand was not just some earthly carnal form. Its very nature would be eternal. But, the height would not be contained in some life form. You can only "lay hold" of the height when you realize that this life is a personal, permanent relationship with Christ, Himself. In other words: For God loved YOU so much that He gave His only begotten Son that YOU might have everlasting life.

2. God’s nature is love. God is nothing and knows nothing but love.

God’s love is beyond human comprehension.

2.1. 1 John 4:8

3. The object of His love – Romans 8:32

3.1. Fallen mankind – He who did not spare His Son, but delivered Him up for us

all…

3.2. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

4. For what purpose?

4.1. Whoever believes in Him shall not perish but enjoy eternal life

4.2. Only the person who accepts Jesus as His personal Savior can come out of common grace and enter a sanctifying and saving grace.

4.3. The person who experiences this satisfying and saving grace is antidote of the second death and this second death we are immunized against is everlasting death .

5. Conclusion

God loved you and me so much that He gave what He possessed best: His one and only Son. He gave the best of all and gave the best he knew how. In Christ is imbedded all divine gifts. There are all in One! What is your response to this great love? The only thing God requires of us in exchange of His selfless love is our hearts.

He says, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:11

John 13:34,35 – A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

John 17: 20,21 – “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.

May the Almighty God help us to love as he loved. This is the only prerequisite to enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:48

WHAT OTHER EVIDENCES DO WE NEED TO BELIEVE?


In Luke 23:44-49 we are given an account of Jesus dying on the cross for the sins of the world. Three unusual things happened from the sixth hour to the ninth hour, in modern time language telling, from 12pm to 3pm. First of all, the earth was totally engulfed in complete darkness. Secondly, the sun was darkened and could not shine. Thirdly, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom so that people could see in the most holy place of the sanctuary. These things were unusual. No other person had died in circumstances like these. People never posed to wonder why such events could precede the dying of the Man of the cross.

God gave these evidences so that the throng of people who were mocking, mistreating and scolding Jesus may know that He really is the Son of God. When the hour had come, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit." After uttering this, the King and the Creator of the universe breathed His last.

The crowd who came together to that sight, seeing what had been done, beat their breasts and returned. They did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God. But the Roman centurion who witnessed what had happened, glorified God, saying, "Certainly this was a righteous Man!"

As draw near the second coming of Jesus, many things are happening around and before our very eyes. People hear the rumblings in economic sphere, stocks are tumbling every day, the rise of criminality, the rampage of greed everywhere. Yet, people still are entrenched in their unbelief. God is sending wake-up calls everywhere but no seems to pay heed to what is going on. What other convincing evidences do we need to know that Jesus ' return is imminent? Whether you believe or not HE IS COMING AGAIN! Amen.

Samuel M. Ntawiniga

November 6, 2008

In the election of Barack Obama, as our nation’s first black president, we all made history together. Irrespective of our political convictions or party loyalties, we collectively share this historic moment. And while the painful story of slavery is permanently woven into the tapestry of our country’s four hundred year history, the decision of American voters in this election provides us all—black and white, young and old, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, believer and non-believer—the unprecedented opportunity to now write a new story of racial reconciliation. For that is the will of Christ. “‘So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples’” (John 13:34, 35 NLT).

And it also is the will of God that we join hands in fervent prayers for our new president-elect. On the morning after the election, Peter Baker wrote in the New York Times: “No president since before Barack Obama was born has ascended to the Oval Office confronted by the accumulation of seismic challenges awaiting him. Historians grasping for parallels point to Abraham Lincoln taking office as the nation was collapsing into Civil War, or Franklin D. Roosevelt arriving in Washington in the throes of the Great Depression” (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/us/politics/05ahead.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin). Surely our new leader, young and untested, desires the fervent intercessions and prayers of churches and synagogues and mosques across this land. The Bible commands this moral duty: “Pray this way for kings and all others who are in authority, so that we can live in peace and quietness, in godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior, for he wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth” (I Timothy 2:2-4 NLT).

Note carefully the apostle’s rationale for our prayers—not for the cause of political success, but rather we are to pray for the sake of the divine mission to save lost humanity in this generation! For this is the “primetime generation.” In this election, you who are young have shown us the political influence you can wield. Now I earnestly appeal to you to show us the spiritual impact you can have, not on a single nation, but on an entire planet! You were born for this hour—which is why, more than the government, the church needs you. Lead us in a radical following after Jesus “into all the world”—and I promise you, the church will follow in your steps. For as history will show, you are the greatest leaders to emerge from this election.

Authored by Pastor Dr Dwight K. Nelson,

Senior Pastor at Pioneer Memorial Church

Andews University

New Perceptions

http://discoveries08.netadventist.org/index.php?option=com_na_content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=29

Le capitalisme touche à sa fin"

LE MONDE | 11.10.08 | 20h18 • Mis à jour le 11.10.08 | 21h04

ignataire du manifeste du Forum social de Porto Alegre ("Douze propositions pour un autre monde possible"), en 2005, vous êtes considéré comme l'un des inspirateurs du mouvement altermondialiste. Vous avez fondé et dirigé le Centre Fernand-Braudel pour l'étude de l'économie des systèmes historiques et des civilisations de l'université de l'Etat de New York, à Binghamton. Comment replacez-vous la crise économique et financière actuelle dans le "temps long" de l'histoire du capitalisme ? Immanuel Wallerstein : Fernand Braudel (1902-1985) distinguait le temps de la "longue durée", qui voit se succéder dans l'histoire humaine des systèmes régissant les rapports de l'homme à son environnement matériel, et, à l'intérieur de ces phases, le temps des cycles longs conjoncturels, décrits par des économistes comme Nicolas Kondratieff (1982-1930) ou Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950). Nous sommes aujourd'hui clairement dans une phase B d'un cycle de Kondratieff qui a commencé il y a trente à trente-cinq ans, après une phase A qui a été la plus longue (de 1945 à 1975) des cinq cents ans d'histoire du système capitaliste.

Dans une phase A, le profit est généré par la production matérielle, industrielle ou autre ; dans une phase B, le capitalisme doit, pour continuer à générer du profit, se financiariser et se réfugier dans la spéculation. Depuis plus de trente ans, les entreprises, les Etats et les ménages s'endettent, massivement. Nous sommes aujourd'hui dans la dernière partie d'une phase B de Kondratieff, lorsque le déclin virtuel devient réel, et que les bulles explosent les unes après les autres : les faillites se multiplient, la concentration du capital augmente, le chômage progresse, et l'économie connaît une situation de déflation réelle.

Mais, aujourd'hui, ce moment du cycle conjoncturel coïncide avec, et par conséquent aggrave, une période de transition entre deux systèmes de longue durée. Je pense en effet que nous sommes entrés depuis trente ans dans la phase terminale du système capitaliste. Ce qui différencie fondamentalement cette phase de la succession ininterrompue des cycles conjoncturels antérieurs, c'est que le capitalisme ne parvient plus à "faire système", au sens où l'entend le physicien et chimiste Ilya Prigogine (1917-2003) : quand un système, biologique, chimique ou social, dévie trop et trop souvent de sa situation de stabilité, il ne parvient plus à retrouver l'équilibre, et l'on assiste alors à une bifurcation.

La situation devient chaotique, incontrôlable pour les forces qui la dominaient jusqu'alors, et l'on voit émerger une lutte, non plus entre les tenants et les adversaires du système, mais entre tous les acteurs pour déterminer ce qui va le remplacer. Je réserve l'usage du mot "crise" à ce type de période. Eh bien, nous sommes en crise. Le capitalisme touche à sa fin.

Pourquoi ne s'agirait-il pas plutôt d'une nouvelle mutation du capitalisme, qui a déjà connu, après tout, le passage du capitalisme marchand au capitalisme industriel, puis du capitalisme industriel au capitalisme financier ?

Le capitalisme est omnivore, il capte le profit là où il est le plus important à un moment donné ; il ne se contente pas de petits profits marginaux ; au contraire, il les maximise en constituant des monopoles - il a encore essayé de le faire dernièrement dans les biotechnologies et les technologies de l'information. Mais je pense que les possibilités d'accumulation réelle du système ont atteint leurs limites. Le capitalisme, depuis sa naissance dans la seconde moitié du XVIe siècle, se nourrit du différentiel de richesse entre un centre, où convergent les profits, et des périphéries (pas forcément géographiques) de plus en plus appauvries.

A cet égard, le rattrapage économique de l'Asie de l'Est, de l'Inde, de l'Amérique latine, constitue un défi insurmontable pour "l'économie-monde" créée par l'Occident, qui ne parvient plus à contrôler les coûts de l'accumulation. Les trois courbes mondiales des prix de la main-d'oeuvre, des matières premières et des impôts sont partout en forte hausse depuis des décennies. La courte période néolibérale qui est en train de s'achever n'a inversé que provisoirement la tendance : à la fin des années 1990, ces coûts étaient certes moins élevés qu'en 1970, mais ils étaient bien plus importants qu'en 1945. En fait, la dernière période d'accumulation réelle - les "trente glorieuses" - n'a été possible que parce que les Etats keynésiens ont mis leurs forces au service du capital. Mais, là encore, la limite a été atteinte !

Y a-t-il des précédents à la phase actuelle, telle que vous la décrivez ?

Il y en a eu beaucoup dans l'histoire de l'humanité, contrairement à ce que renvoie la représentation, forgée au milieu du XIXe siècle, d'un progrès continu et inévitable, y compris dans sa version marxiste. Je préfère me cantonner à la thèse de la possibilité du progrès, et non à son inéluctabilité. Certes, le capitalisme est le système qui a su produire, de façon extraordinaire et remarquable, le plus de biens et de richesses. Mais il faut aussi regarder la somme des pertes - pour l'environnement, pour les sociétés - qu'il a engendrées. Le seul bien, c'est celui qui permet d'obtenir pour le plus grand nombre une vie rationnelle et intelligente.

Cela dit, la crise la plus récente similaire à celle d'aujourd'hui est l'effondrement du système féodal en Europe, entre les milieux du XVe et du XVIe siècle, et son remplacement par le système capitaliste. Cette période, qui culmine avec les guerres de religion, voit s'effondrer l'emprise des autorités royales, seigneuriales et religieuses sur les plus riches communautés paysannes et sur les villes. C'est là que se construisent, par tâtonnements successifs et de façon inconsciente, des solutions inattendues dont le succès finira par "faire système" en s'étendant peu à peu, sous la forme du capitalisme.

Combien de temps la transition actuelle devrait-elle durer, et sur quoi pourrait-elle déboucher ?

La période de destruction de valeur qui clôt la phase B d'un cycle Kondratieff dure généralement de deux à cinq ans avant que les conditions d'entrée dans une phase A, lorsqu'un profit réel peut de nouveau être tiré de nouvelles productions matérielles décrites par Schumpeter, sont réunies. Mais le fait que cette phase corresponde actuellement à une crise de système nous a fait entrer dans une période de chaos politique durant laquelle les acteurs dominants, à la tête des entreprises et des Etats occidentaux, vont faire tout ce qu'il est techniquement possible pour retrouver l'équilibre, mais il est fort probable qu'ils n'y parviendront pas.

Les plus intelligents, eux, ont déjà compris qu'il fallait mettre en place quelque chose d'entièrement nouveau. Mais de multiples acteurs agissent déjà, de façon désordonnée et inconsciente, pour faire émerger de nouvelles solutions, sans que l'on sache encore quel système sortira de ces tâtonnements.

Nous sommes dans une période, assez rare, où la crise et l'impuissance des puissants laissent une place au libre arbitre de chacun : il existe aujourd'hui un laps de temps pendant lequel nous avons chacun la possibilité d'influencer l'avenir par notre action individuelle. Mais comme cet avenir sera la somme du nombre incalculable de ces actions, il est absolument impossible de prévoir quel modèle s'imposera finalement. Dans dix ans, on y verra peut-être plus clair ; dans trente ou quarante ans, un nouveau système aura émergé. Je crois qu'il est tout aussi possible de voir s'installer un système d'exploitation hélas encore plus violent que le capitalisme, que de voir au contraire se mettre en place un modèle plus égalitaire et redistributif.

Les mutations antérieures du capitalisme ont souvent débouché sur un déplacement du centre de "l'économie-monde", par exemple depuis le Bassin méditerranéen vers la côte Atlantique de l'Europe, puis vers celle des Etats-Unis ? Le système à venir sera-t-il centré sur la Chine ?

La crise que nous vivons correspond aussi à la fin d'un cycle politique, celui de l'hégémonie américaine, entamée également dans les années 1970. Les Etats-Unis resteront un acteur important, mais ils ne pourront plus jamais reconquérir leur position dominante face à la multiplication des centres de pouvoir, avec l'Europe occidentale, la Chine, le Brésil, l'Inde. Un nouveau pouvoir hégémonique, si l'on s'en réfère au temps long braudélien, peut mettre encore cinquante ans pour s'imposer. Mais j'ignore lequel.

En attendant, les conséquences politiques de la crise actuelle seront énormes, dans la mesure où les maîtres du système vont tenter de trouver des boucs émissaires à l'effondrement de leur hégémonie. Je pense que la moitié du peuple américain n'acceptera pas ce qui est en train de se passer. Les conflits internes vont donc s'exacerber aux Etats-Unis, qui sont en passe de devenir le pays du monde le plus instable politiquement. Et n'oubliez pas que nous, les Américains, nous sommes tous armés...

Propos recueillis par Antoine Reverchon

Article paru dans l'édition du 12.10.08

SAVED BY GRACE

John relates in Revelation 7:9-14 that, after seeing the 144,000 sealed from all the tribes of Israel, he looked and there before him was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
"Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:
"Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.

Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes - who are they, and where did they come from?"

I answered, "Sir, you know."

And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

The redeemed are in heaven not because of their merit but because of God's grace. Some of them were murderers, adulterers, fornicators, thieves, liars; others experienced broken relationships. At last, they are in heaven. They are there not because of they have done but because of what Jesus has done on the cross of Calvary; they are there not because of what they are but because of who God is. A timeless, self-existent, loving and merciful God. The only thing they did to be in heaven was to accept God's white robes, a symbol of God's immaculate character to cover their filthiness. My dear fellow pilgrim, do not yield to discouragement due to the sinful plight you are in now. Jesus is on the front porch waiting for you. He wants to offer you a white robe washed in His blood. He wants to change you and count you among the multitude of the redeemed from all ages. Now is the time to accept Jesus' gracious offer. Tomorrow may be too late! Saved only by God's grace!

Samuel M. Ntawiniga
Your fellow pilgrim

Has Wall street become a four-letter word?

October 1, 2008

Has Wall Street become a four-letter word? The headline for Jeff Cox’s report on CNBC’s home page earlier this week caught my eye: “As Bailout Looms, Fear is Market’s Biggest Problem.” His piece opened with these words: “The government rescue plan may help cure some of the ills that are afflicting the banking industry, but it’s unlikely to remedy Wall Street’s greatest malady right now: fear. . . . ‘People are confused and they are scared. Baby boomers are remembering what their parents told them about the Depression and they’re afraid they’ll be next,’ says Kathy Boyle, president of Chapin Hill Advisors in New York. ‘Everybody’s worried about their money, everybody’s worried about their future, everybody’s worried about whether their retirement is safe.’” (http://www.cnbc.com/id/26942317/)

Just four letters long, but how iron-fisted its grip: f-e-a-r. Unfortunately, however, the alphabet soup of this nation’s and world’s financial crisis is about more than fear. Truth be told, that four-letter word is the byproduct of a five-letter word: g-r-e-e-d. Nearly to a man and woman, commentators have recognized that what has driven us to the brink of this credit market crisis has been the wanton scramble for fees, pay-backs and quick profits from the credit industry’s calculated generation of toxic subprime “wink and nod” mortgages, sold to gullible first-time buyers, who played the same silly game by inflating their own financial worth in hope of acquiring that coveted “American dream,” their own home.

Thus we all have been led straight into the lair of this six-letter reality: c-r-i-s-i-s. Let this crisis go on long enough and we shall eventually reap its baleful seven-letter harvest: d-e-s-p-a-i-r. And that is the stuff of our grandparents’ once-upon-a-time Great Depression sagas.

But enough of this toxic alphabet soup. For in an ancient prediction Jesus made are both the poison and the remedy. He prophesied the toxin in the human stream just before his return: “‘People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world.’” But as quick as his prediction comes his promise: “‘Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near’” (Luke 21:26, 28 NRSV). For the toxin of fear Christ offers the promise of hope—two poles-apart four letter words.

We’ve been getting plenty of the first through the news media of late. Isn’t it the right time that we imbibe on hope instead? Hope in Bernacke, Paulson, Bush, McCain and Obama? No. Hope and confidence in this same Jesus who promised that in an unraveling world of fear we would find the compelling sign of his soon return. And who better to be looking for than the Savior who wrote the alphabet of hope in the first place!

By Dwight K. Nelson
Andrews University Pioneer Memorial Church