English > UOGCC Publications
Where to get the courage and strength? (+german version)
Post date: 2019-04-14Autor: BCP
Jesus says to the apostles several times: “Do not be afraid!” And where to get the courage and strength? In prayer. In God’s presence. When you pray, do not talk to yourself, for such prayer will not give you strength. First realize: Where is Jesus? He is here and He is waiting for you. He is waiting for you to come into contact with Him, to give Him your sin and your problems. Jesus is with us in every problem, we only need to be aware of it.
Michael Faraday – scientist and Christian
Post date: 2019-04-12Autor: BCP
Every true scientist should be a believer if he is a real expert in his field. Michael Faraday was the man who invented the dynamo. He died in 1867. He was a devout believer. When asked what his idea was about what would happen after death, he said he had no idea but he was sure about it. He quoted the Scripture from the letter to Timothy: "I know whom I have believed" (2Ti 1:12). And he added: "I'm sure. I'm sure that after I die, I’ll pass into Jesus' arms. I trust the Word of God."
Reflection on Rom 7:14-15
Post date: 2019-04-06Autor: BCP
The Apostle Paul shows here a contradiction, a kind of spiritual schizophrenia, which is caused by original sin in us. The law of God is holy but every one of us is subject to carnality and mentality, and both the body and soul are influenced by the law of sin. Our spirit thirsts for God but is bound and imprisoned by our corrupt nature. Everyone can see by experience that the law of sin is at work in us. This is proved by the fact that we want to do good and we love good but we do evil which we hate and do not want to do. There is a law of sin here. Law is a principle which repeats itself; it is not something that happens just once. The law of sin is at work while we live this life in time. This is what we must reckon with and what the Word of God tells us about. Therefore we need to walk by faith. For there is not only the law of sin but also the law of the Spirit – which will be mentioned in the next verses – and the latter is at work if in concrete situations we unite ourselves to our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Word of Life – Rom 7:14-15 (7/4/2019 – 21/4/2019)
Post date: 2019-04-06Autor: BCP
“For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.”
Additional explanation for the preceding Word of life (Romans 7:5-6)
Post date: 2019-04-06Autor: BCP
The reality is that even if we have been converted and try to follow Christ, the power of original sin, which is in us, is still at work. Its source is deep in our soul. We should bury it into the death of Christ, paralyze it by faith. It means that at a particular moment we surrender ourselves, or our will, wholly to God and unite ourselves by faith to Christ crucified. At that moment the source of evil is paralyzed and we cannot sin. But because our life continues in time, after some time we are faced with a test again. We are influenced by the world, the devil and the source of evil – our corrupt nature. They want to deceive us again to make us believe in lies, lose contact with Jesus and begin to do good on our own, without God.
Let us do works of worth for eternity (+german version)
Post date: 2019-03-26Autor: BCP
Let us do works which are of worth for eternity. Let us do them together with Jesus. Let us be with Him. This is of worth for eternity; otherwise it is good for nothing. We tend to do things for effect and desire the praise of others. More often than not we receive no praise but are rather beaten and persecuted and there is no effect – it seems to us that we just wasted our time, energy… You can say: “Well, that’s how things are, but You know, Lord, that I acted in faith.” And then it is of worth for eternity, and the fruit will come later.
Word of Life – Rom 7:5-6 (24/3/2019 – 7/4/2019)
Post date: 2019-03-23Autor: BCP
“For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”
Reflection on Rom 7:5-6
Post date: 2019-03-23Autor: BCP
The passions, which are produced by sin in us, bear fruit to death. Union with Christ’s death makes us able to serve God, i.e. commit ourselves wholly to God, in the newness of life. The Spirit of God, who participated in the resurrection of Christ, then works in us, so that this new life in us may grow.
Reflection on Rom 7:4
Post date: 2019-03-09Autor: BCP
In the previous verses 1-3, we find a picture of a wife and two husbands. The first husband represents the law of God, which is just and perfect. The other husband represents Christ. So long as the woman is joined to the first husband, there are always demands made on her, but the perfect husband, the law, never lifts a little finger to help her carry them out. She desires to marry the other husband, but she cannot be freed from the first one. And because he refuses to die, the only way out for her is to die herself. Next, the verse says that we should bear fruit to God, but the condition is that we should be married to another – to Him who was raised from the dead – Jesus. Then we will bear much fruit. Jesus said: “Without Me you can do nothing.”(Jn 15)
Word of Life – Rom 7:4 (10/3/2019 – 24/3/2019)
Post date: 2019-03-09Autor: BCP
“Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another – to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.”
Word of Life – Rom 7:3 (24/2/2019 – 10/3/2019)
Post date: 2019-02-24Autor: BCP
“So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.”
Reflection on Rom 7:3
Post date: 2019-02-23Autor: BCP
God’s purpose in uniting us to Christ was not merely negative; it was gloriously positive – “that you should be joined to another” (Rom 7:4). Death has dissolved the old marriage relationship, so that the woman, driven to despair by the constant demands of her former husband, who never lifted a little finger to help her carry them out, is now set free to marry the other Man, who with every demand He makes becomes in her the power for its fulfillment. And what is the issue of this new union? “That we might bring forth fruit unto God” (Rom 7:4). By the body of Christ that foolish, sinful woman has died, but being united to Him in death she is united to Him in resurrection also, and in the power of resurrection life she brings forth fruit unto God. The risen life of the Lord in her empowers her for all the demands God’s holiness makes upon her. The Law of God is not annulled; it is perfectly fulfilled, for the risen Lord now lives out His life in her, and His life is always well-pleasing to the Father.
The meaning of life and suffering (+german version)
Post date: 2019-02-13Autor: BCP
Let us always remember the words of Jesus who says that we know neither the day nor the hour when the Lord will call us. True wisdom is to be mindful of death, judgment, eternity and the meaning of our life and suffering, which can be physical or spiritual. In the first place, Jesus wants us to deny our self, our pride, lies or our point of view and to accept the view of God. And if we can suffer for the sake of Christ, if we are humiliated, ridiculed or even if people spit in our face, we should be exceedingly glad. Unite to Jesus and offer it to Him as a sacrifice. This is the most important thing.
Word of Life – Rom 7:1-2 (10/2/2019 – 24/2/2019)
Post date: 2019-02-09Autor: BCP
“Or do you not know, brethren, that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.”
Reflection on Rom 7:1-2
Post date: 2019-02-09Autor: BCP
In Romans 6 we saw how God delivered us from sin; in Romans 7 we see how He delivers us from the Law. In chapter 6 we were shown the way of deliverance from sin in the picture of a master and his slave; in chapter 7 we are shown the way of deliverance from the Law in the picture of two husbands and a wife. The relation between sin and the sinner is that of master to slave; the relation between the Law and the sinner is that of husband to wife.
Word of Life – Rom 6:23 (27/1/2019 – 10/2/2019)
Post date: 2019-01-26Autor: BCP
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Reflection on Rom 6:23
Post date: 2019-01-26Autor: BCP
The root of sin in us bears poisoned fruits which are harmful both to us and others and set us against God. The verdict is final – death. We need to be aware of it. That’s the reality. There is only one way out – only in time; on the day of God’s judgment there will be no more chance of salvation, for the time of test and trial, which is our life, will have ended. Therefore we have to know and bear in mind that the solution – salvation from eternal death – is only in Jesus who is the Son of God and became man just for our sake, to deliver us from sin.
Reflection on Rom 6:22
Post date: 2019-01-12Autor: BCP
The condition for being set free from sin is to become slaves of God. Chapter six of the Epistle to the Romans very often uses the term “slave”. On the one hand, there is a reality of slavery to sin. Even if we want to get out of this slavery by our own efforts, we cannot. We can be set free from this kind of slavery neither by our own efforts nor by any other means but only by the power of God, and we receive this power under one condition – that we give ourselves wholly to God. It means that we accept His commandments and are guided by the Spirit of God, and no longer by the spirit of the world, the spirit of lies. This freedom, however, has one basic condition – we must lose our soul for Christ’s sake and the Gospel’s (Mk 8:35).
Word of Life – Rom 6:22 (13/1/2019 – 27/1/2019)
Post date: 2019-01-12Autor: BCP
“But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”
Reflection on Rom 6:19
Post date: 2018-12-29Autor: BCP
This verse expresses again what this chapter has already said before, namely that we should not present our members as slaves of uncleanness, or of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness. On the contrary, we should now put our members fully at the disposal, i.e. present them as slaves, of righteousness for holiness. The Apostle indicates here that sin particularly exploits uncleanness and lawlessness. Therefore we have to stand firmly on the side of righteousness. There are as it were two banners here – the banner of slavery to evil against the banner of true freedom. In this battle, we have to learn the art of fighting. Above all, we should avoid the near occasion of sin, which is a sign of true humility and wisdom.