Grace in Pittsburgh
I spelling-checked my Philippians Commentary this week and am also getting ready for Sunday presentation at Grace Baptist in Pittsburgh. The Boyles and I will go down there at 10 am Saturday and will be back on Monday. I am excited …
Getting ready for Grace Baptist in Hazleton this Sunday
I saw two new books on Philippians 1) Philippians from Jewish background, and 2) Philippians Commentary (PNTC). I am now reading them hoping that i may find some new and helpful thoughts for my Philippians commentary in Tedim Chin.
I am also preparing for this Sunday preaching and presentation at Grace Baptist in Hazleton. Please continue to uphold me in your prayer. Kim
in Lancaster
I was in Durham and Raleigh, NC for last weekend and preached to Burmese people. Four people professed Christ and others were encouraged in the Lord. I am now in Lancaster waiting to visit a church in Paradise this Sunday (Jan 15). Please pray that God would be glorified through my ministry presentation. Kim
still in Fort Worth, TX
I got a privilege of preaching a message on Hell and the love of God yesterday. People were so attentive. I prayed that God would trouble their hearts until they find peace in/with God. God willing, my teacher picks me up from Dallas tomorrow to spend time with him and his family on DTS campus. He taught me theology when i was in India seven years ago.
trip to Lancaster
Tuesday, pastor Ben and I went down to Lancaster and met pastor John Jewers of Calvary Baptist. We shared our philosophy of ministry and vision. He was very interested in what we are going to do. He gave us a tour to his church and then we were back, homed at 4:30 pm.
My work on Philippians commentary has been done – 286 pages in total. It is both exegetical and expository, sometimes with appropreate and timely illustrations. Trained pastors will see it helpful for supplementing their exegetical studies on this book (even for NT studies) and untrained pastors will be able to preach from and through it exegetically and expositorically. Let God’s word be preached clearly and rightly. Let’s pray that the Lord will generously provide the need for publishing this book. We would like to print 2000 copies in Chin. Two dollar and fifty cents will print a copy.
I am now working on another book/project, which may be described as “Christian Leadership from Great Characters of the Bible.” Wisdom I need from God indeed.
God willing, I’m flying to Fort Worth, TX on Saturday. I will keep my updates then.
Kim
this week
Pastor Ben and I had a great time with Dr. Stallard over lunch today. We are going to Binghamton, NY tomorrow to join a group of pastors at their breakfast. Pray for us.
The Crest
I am working on the Seminary Crest. Hopefully, I will present it to you soon.
EBS Catalog
The new Seminary Catalog is ready. I would be glad to send it to you in pdf file, if you would ask me to. My video presentation will be available in 10 days. Please wait patiently.
preaching from Mark 1:14-15
“Now after John was arrested, Jesus came.” In 1:1-3, we see John the Baptist is the messenger and the voice who prepares the way of the Lord. In 1:7 and 8, we see John saying, “after me, he who is mightier than I is coming. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Now, John’s job is done and so Jesus is coming. His role as the promised precursor ends with the coming of the Greater One who would baptize with the Spirit (1:9-13). “After John was arrested, Jesus came.”
John has fulfilled his role and he’s arrested. And then Jesus came to be arrested later. The word “arrested” or “handed over” is used 20 times in Mark in such as 1) John was arrested, 2) Jesus was betrayed by Judas, 3) Jesus is arrested by the priests and the scribes; 4) the disciples will be delivered into the hands of the priests and scribes. This word is usually used in a passive form that John/Jesus/the disciples are arrested according to the plan of God.
“Jesuse came into Galilee.” Where is he coming from? Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but he grew up in Nazareth, Galilee. So Galilee was Jesus’ home and the home of his disciples. He did much of his ministry in Galilee. But here, it says Jesus is coming to Galilee. Where is he coming from? Look at verse 9, you’ll see that Jesus coming from Nazareth of Galilee to get baptized by John in the Jordan, which is in Judea, some 60 miles away from Nazareth. He got baptized and then was thrust into the wilderness to be tempted for forty days. Then he began his ministry in Judea.
Mark was not recording here the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, since He had already ministered in Judea for about a year (John 1:35–4:45). So there seems to be about one year gap between verse 13 and 14. Mark is not much interested in the chronology of Jesus’ ministry, but the theology that John was arrested, fulfilled his messenger role, and then “the Coming One” came. As Jesus came back to His hometown, he met the Samaritan woman on the way and told her that he was the “Coming One, the Messiah.” He came from Judea back to his hometown, Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God.
In verse 4, John came proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; in verse 7, John came preaching about the coming one who is greater than he. Now, in verse 14, Jesus demonstrates himself to be the “Greater One” by proclaiming the gospel of God. John fulfilled his role as the messenger according to the prophecies of Isaiah and Malachi, and preached a baptism of repentance. Jesus also fulfilled his role as the “Coming one” according to the prophecy of Isaiah, found in Isaiah 61:1: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. Not like John who proclaimed a baptism of repentance, Jesus proclaimed the gospel of God.
What is the gospel of God? To answer this question, we have to know what the gospel is. What is the gospel? Is it belief in the Lord Jesus Christ? Is it love God and love your neighbors? Is it abundant life? Is it helping the poor? Is it saying that you are born a champion? Not really, we are born a sinner. Is it being born again? Well, we should not restrict the gospel just in being born again. Then what is it?
Gospel simple means good news. So what do we do with good news? We announce it. Gospel is good news which is announced. So what’s the gospel of God? The gospel of God is good news about God which is announced – good news about what God was doing in the world supremely in and through Jesus Christ. Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. That’s the gospel. So the gospel includes God sending his Son to die, raising His Son from the death, reconciling, justifying, adopting sinners in and through his Son, etc.
The gospel of God in verse 14 and the gospel of Jesus Christ in verse 1 are parallel. The gospel comes from God in and through Jesus Christ and brings us back to God. Paul called it “the Gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24) because there can be no salvation apart from grace (Eph. 2:8–9). There is only one Gospel (Gal 1:1–9), that is what God is doing in the word in and through Jesus Christ supremely on the cross (1 Cor 15:1–11). There is no other gospel. Let him who preaches another gospel be cursed.
So when Jesus made his proclamation, he made two declarations and two commands. The first declaration is the time is fulfilled. What does it mean? The Messianic time anticipated in the Old Testament is fulfilled. God’s appointed time of preparation and expectation, the Old Testament era, now stood fulfilled in accord with God’s plan (Gal 4:4; Heb 1:2; 9:6-15). The verb form of “fulfill” here expresses that there were events or processes that have produced this state. This is also what they called a “divine passive,” which means God is the agent. God made it fulfilled … to be cont.
