Magnifying Christ (1)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bible Verses ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phil. 1:20 According to my earnest expectation and hope that
in nothing I will be put to shame, but with all boldness, as
always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether
through life or through death.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Words of Ministry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Part 1 of 3)
Now we must consider what it means to magnify Christ. The
word magnify means to make something large to our sight.
Perhaps you are wondering how Christ can be magnified since
He is already universally great. According to Ephesians 3,
the dimensions of Christ--the breadth, length, height, and
depth--are immeasurable. They are the dimensions of the
universe. Although Christ is vast, extensive, and
immeasurable, in the eyes of the praetorium, the imperial
guard of Caesar, Christ was virtually nonexistent. In their
eyes, there was not such a person as Jesus Christ. However,
Paul magnified Christ; he made Him great before the eyes of
others, especially before the eyes of those who guarded him
in prison. As a result, some eventually turned to Christ.
Evidence of this is found in 4:22, where Paul speaks of the
saints of Caesar's household. Through Paul's magnification of
Christ, even some in Caesar's household were saved.
At the time of Paul's imprisonment, the Jews were despised by
the Romans. The Romans were the conquerors, and the Jews were
the conquered ones. Among these conquered ones there was a
man named Jesus. Although He is great and most wonderful, in
the eyes of the Romans He was nothing. But as Paul was held
captive in a Roman prison, he magnified Christ, making Him to
appear great in the eyes of his captors.
In our daily living we also should magnify Christ, making Him
great in the eyes of others. Where you work or go to school
people may look down on Christ. They may ridicule Him and
take His name in vain.. Therefore, you need to let others see
Christ not in a small way, but in the way of enlargement, of
magnification. We should also magnify Him at home. The
parents of some of the young people may not believe in
Christ, but rather may despise Him. Hence, these young people
must bear the responsibility to enlarge Christ before their
parents. Instead of simply preaching to their parents about
Christ, they need to magnify Him. We need not simply the life
within, but also the living without. Through the proper
living Christ will appear to be great in the eyes of others.
Young people, let your parents see Christ's greatness in you.
(Continued tomorrow)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible
and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of
Philippians, pp. 48-49. Both are published by Living Stream.
Please visit us at www.emanna.com
Comments to: comment@emanna.com.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe ultimate.philippine.travel.blog@blogger.com from the mailing list, simply click on the link below:
http://mail.emanna.com/smpro/s.pl?r=1&l=2&e=ultimate.philippine.travel.blog=:blogger.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Email: ultimate.philippine.travel.blog@blogger.com
ID: 14760
Time Completed: 11:09 PM
Language: English
List: 2.list
Email type: plain
Message Date: 01/29/2009
