Some Great Quotes by a Great Man, my tribute to Nelson Mandela

Nelson,  " Madiba " Mandela,  1918 - 2013

I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.”

What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.’

‘There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.’

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - OFFICIAL Trailer - In Theaters May 2014

Cole-Slaw: The Pressure to Plagiarize, Part One

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The Simple Prayer That Brought My Wonderful Bride

The Simple Prayer That Brought My Wonderful Bride

5 Things Jesus Can Teach You About Your Future Husband by Jarrid Wilson

Here are 5 things Jesus can teach you about your future husband:

1. Purity

Any man who deserves to marry you should honour and respect your purity. Although everyone has made mistakes, purity before marriage is an important aspect of anyone who is looking to have a relationship that honours Jesus. Purity paves the way to intimacy.

1 Timothy 5:2 – Treat older women as you would your mother, and treat younger women with all purity as you would your own sisters.

2. Kindness

A kind man is the type of man you bring home to mom and dad. Kindness is key to any thriving relationship and marriage. Don’t just look at kindness as someone who is nice, but instead someone who is slow to anger in times of trouble. Kindness is key.

Galatians 5:22-23 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

3. Respect

Respect in any relationship is key. Any man who can respect you no matter the circumstance, is a man worth giving your time and energy to. Not only is respect something that will spill over to other aspects of your relationship, but any man who knows the value of respect will know how to treat his future wife in a way that is reflective of Jesus himself.

Philippians 2:3 – Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself.

4. Patience

Patience is one of the those things everyone talks about wanting in a man, but I think many don’t actually know what they are asking for when they say it. A man after God’s own heart will not only be patient amidst everyday aspects of life, but will also be patient when it comes to the speed in which your relationship moves.

Isaiah 40:31 – Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

5. Honesty

Honestly can make or break any relationship, no matter how strong. Any man you are considering “marriage material” should be a man who has the utmost integrity in what he says and does. Honesty goes a long way, and it’s always wonderful to know that you can trust anything your future husband says.

Proverbs 6:13 – Righteous lips are the delight of a king, and he loves him who speaks what is right.

***

What else can Jesus teach you about your future husband? Comment below.

November 29, 2013     by Jarrid Wilson in Relationships

Words for the Wise, Encourage each other to remain Strong, 1 Thessalonians 5

1 Thessalonians 5

New Century Version (NCV)

Be Ready for the Lord’s Coming

5 Now, brothers and sisters, we do not need to write you about times and dates. ² You know very well that the day the Lord comes again will be a surprise, like a thief that comes in the night. ³ While people are saying, “We have peace and we are safe,” they will be destroyed quickly. It is like pains that come quickly to a woman having a baby. Those people will not escape. ⁴ But you, brothers and sisters, are not living in darkness, and so that day will not surprise you like a thief. ⁵ You are all people who belong to the light and to the day. We do not belong to the night or to darkness.

⁶ So we should not be like other people who are sleeping, but we should be alert and have self-control. ⁷ Those who sleep, sleep at night. Those who get drunk, get drunk at night. ⁸ But we belong to the day, so we should control ourselves. We should wear faith and love to protect us, and the hope of salvation should be our helmet. ⁹ God did not choose us to suffer his anger but to have salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁰ Jesus died for us so that we can live together with him, whether we are alive or dead when he comes. ¹¹ So encourage each other and give each other strength, just as you are doing now.

Final Instructions and Greetings

¹² Now, brothers and sisters, we ask you to appreciate those who work hard among you, who lead you in the Lord and teach you. ¹³ Respect them with a very special love because of the work they do.

Live in peace with each other. ¹⁴ We ask you, brothers and sisters, to warn those who do not work. Encourage the people who are afraid. Help those who are weak. Be patient with everyone. ¹⁵ Be sure that no one pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to do what is good for each other and for all people.

¹⁶ Always be joyful. ¹⁷ Pray continually, ¹⁸ and give thanks whatever happens. That is what God wants for you in Christ Jesus.

¹⁹ Do not hold back the work of the Holy Spirit. ²⁰ Do not treat prophecy as if it were unimportant. ²¹ But test everything. Keep what is good, ²² and stay away from everything that is evil.

²³ Now may God himself, the God of peace, make you pure, belonging only to him. May your whole self—spirit, soul, and body—be kept safe and without fault when our Lord Jesus Christ comes. ²⁴ You can trust the One who calls you to do that for you.

²⁵ Brothers and sisters, pray for us.

²⁶ Give each other a holy kiss when you meet. ²⁷ I tell you by the authority of the Lord to read this letter to all the believers.

²⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

NIV Application Commentary

Congregational Responsibilities Toward God (5:16–18)

In 5:16–18 Paul turns from instructions covering attitudes and actions toward fellow believers and other human beings to instructions dealing with attitudes toward God. Whereas 4:3 established “holiness” as God’s will with respect to individual behaviour, here three closely connected imperatives (5:18b goes with all three commands, not just the last one in the series) spell out “God’s will in Christ Jesus” for the Thessalonians as a community.

With regard to the command to “rejoice always” (nrsv; cf. Phil. 4:4), “the emphasis on joy is not so much on the experience of joy, but the active expression of it.” Thus the translation “rejoice” (nrsv, nasb), which makes it clear that an action or attitude is involved, is preferable to “be joyful” (niv), which misleadingly suggests more an emotional state. Though the basis for joy is not indicated here, the earlier references in the letter to joy (1:6; 2:19–20; 3:9) make it clear that the basis is God’s activity and work among his people.

In urging the Thessalonians to “pray” and to “give thanks” (5:17–18a), Paul is giving advice he himself modelled (cf. 1:2; also 2:13; 3:9–10, 11–13; 5:23; 2 Thess. 1:3, 11; 2:13, 16–17). Similar encouragement to pray occurs in several letters (cf. Eph. 6:18; Phil. 4:6; Col. 4:2; 2 Thess. 3:1). For “continually” (cf. 1 Thess. 1:3; 2:13), “persevere in prayer” (Rom. 12:12, nrsv) gives the sense.

Giving thanks (5:18) is another common command or theme (cf. Rom. 14:6; 1 Cor. 14:16; 2 Cor. 1:11; 4:15; 9:11; Eph. 5:4, 20; Phil. 4:6; Col. 2:7; 3:17). Like the command to rejoice, it is deeply rooted in Paul’s theology, that is, his understanding about God. Because he was convinced that in any and all circumstances God was at work on behalf of his people (Rom. 8:28), he could therefore urge the Thessalonians to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thess. 5:18). This was so even if the circumstances involved the death of a believer because, even though death was an awful reality, it was not the last word or act (cf. Rom. 8:31–39). The last word or act belongs to God, and it is resurrection and life. Thus for Paul, both rejoicing and giving thanks become forms of worship or praise of God.

From NIVAC: 1 & 2 Thessalonians by Michael W. Holmes. Published by Zondervan Academic.

The Bible Panorama

1 Thessalonians 5

V 1–3: SUDDEN SURPRISE When the world least expects Christ, and when it is said that peace and safety has come, Jesus will return ‘as a thief in the night’. This is as sure to happen as the labour of a pregnant woman will bring forth birth. 

V 4–11: WAKEFUL WATCH The world is not prepared for that. Christians should be ready and waiting for the coming of the Lord. Preparation for this event involves living a sober life characterised by faith, love, assurance of salvation, comforting one another, and building one another up in the faith. Christians, whether sleeping the sleep of death or awake at Christ’s coming, rejoice that He died for them and that they will be together with Him. Salvation, not wrath, awaits them. This knowledge comforts those worried about the salvation of Christians who have died. 

V 12–22: WISE WORDS Paul then exhorts the Thessalonians in different practical matters. We see in these that true spirituality is always translated into practical living, working on good relationships with others, turning from evil, rejoicing, prayer, honouring God’s Spirit, Christian discernment, and submitting to God with thankfulness for who He is and what He has done. 

V 23–24: COMPLETE CONSECRATION Paul prays that God will sanctify the Christians completely in spirit, soul and body, so that they are ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus who is faithful to them.

 V 25–28: GRACIOUS GREETINGS Paul’s greetings include a request for prayer, a holy kiss for them all, an instruction to read the letter to everyone, and the desire that they will know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ with them.

The Bible Panorama. Copyright © 2005 Day One Publications.

Words for the Wise Therefore Encourage Each Other, 1 Thessalonians 4

1 Thessalonians 4

New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

Living to please God

4 As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. ² For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

³ It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;

 ⁴ that each of you should learn to control your own body^[a]in a way that is holy and honourable, ⁵ not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; ⁶ and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister.^[b] The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. ⁷ For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. ⁸ Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.

⁹ Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. ¹⁰ And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, ¹¹ and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: you should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, ¹² so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

Believers who have died

¹³ Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. ¹⁴ For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵ According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord for ever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Footnotes:

a.  1 Thessalonians 4:4 Or learn to live with your own wife; or learn to acquire a wife

b.  1 Thessalonians 4:6 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family.

Dictionary of Bible Themes

8210 commitment, to God’s people

Commitment to God means a commitment to his people. Believers are meant to be nourished and supported by the church, and to work towards its edification.

Commitment to the church

Ac 2:42; Eph 4:3-4; Col 3:15 Paul uses the picture of the body to describe the interdependence of believers: Ro 12:4-10; 1Co 12:12-27

Commitment to other Christians is an expression of love made known in Christ

Jn 13:34-35; Col 3:13-14; 1Pe 1:22 See also Jn 15:12,17; Ro 12:10,16; Ro 13:8; Gal 5:13; Eph 4:32-5:2; 1Th 3:12; 1Th 4:9; 2Th 1:3; Heb 13:1; 1Pe 2:17; 1Jn 3:11,23; 1Jn 4:7,21; 1Jn 5:2

Such commitment is expressed in mutual responsibility and concern

Gal 6:2; Heb 10:24-25; 1Pe 3:8 See also Ro 14:13;Ro 15:7,14; 1Co 1:10 Paul’s concern for unity among believers; Eph 5:21; Col 3:13 the responsibility of believers to forgive one another; Col 3:16; 1Ti 5:11;Heb 3:13; Jas 4:11; 1Pe 4:9; 1Pe 5:5

For its leaders, commitment to the church may prove a joy and a burden

Ac 20:28 Paul speaking to the elders of the church at Ephesus; 2Co 11:28 See also Col 1:24; 1Th 2:8; 1Th 5:12-13; 1Ti 3:1; Heb 13:17; 1Pe 5:1-3

The Bible Panorama

1 Thessalonians 4

V 1–2: INCREASE AND INSTRUCTION Their spiritual lives should increase continually and abundantly. They should remember Christ’s commandments received through Paul and his Christian colleagues.

 V 3–8: SANCTIFICATION AND SEX God’s will is to have a holy people in contrast to the unregenerate Gentiles. This means that sexual immorality has no place whatsoever in the life of any believer. Adultery and lustful passion is out. To reject this clean and holy teaching is to reject God and His Holy Spirit.

 V 9–12: LOVE AND LIVING Heavenly love towards each other must predominate. As it increases, it will produce a quiet, industrious, ordered life. This will ensure that they have a good testimony to those outside and that their needs are met by their daily work.

 V 13–18: COMFORT AND COMING Some suggested to the Thessalonians that Christians who had died had missed the blessing of Christ’s second coming. Paul teaches them that, when Christ comes, those who have died physically will be raised with a resurrection body first and be reunited with Christ in the air. Christ will bring their redeemed souls with Him, so there will also be another reunion—that of the body and soul of the believer. Then those who are alive physically will join that blessed reunion with their returned Lord of glory. This is, of course, a great comfort. The Christian who has died and the Christian who is alive both have their future gloriously secured in Jesus Christ. Those who died trusting Christ only fell ‘asleep’ in death, and awoke immediately in His eternal presence. Now they will be given a resurrection body also when Christ brings them back with Him.

The Bible Panorama. Copyright © 2005 Day One Publications.