"... And there was very great gladness." Neh 8:17

"...  And there was very great gladness." Nehemiah 8:17

What explained this very great gladness?

Do you want to experience such gladness?

a. They asked for the reading and hearing of the word of God:
- "they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses..." v1.
- "Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God." v18.

b. They reverenced the word of God:
- "And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up:" v5.
- "And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground." v6.

c. They listened to the word of God attentively:
- "And he read... before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law." v3.
- They did not rise up to play, and responded as fools Ex 32:6, Ec 5:1.

d. They were caused to understand the word of God:
- "... the Levites caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place. So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading." v8.
- They were neither fed nor drowned with sound-bytes.

e. They rendered prompt obedience to the law of God:
- "And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses... and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem... So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths..."

And the effect of all these:  And there was very great gladness.
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William Chan
Act 14:17; Heb 1:9 - gladness can be found here too.

Sing
Yes, the SOUND of gladness are found in both texts.

Gladness from God's works of providence (Acts 14:17) is distinctly different from gladness from God's works of redemption.

And both of them are distinct from the gladness of Jesus being honoured above all others. (Heb 1:9)

The SENSE of Scripture needs to be made to be understood!

Sound-bytism has misled enough people.

Heal yourself of that disease!

 

Soft skills to succeed in life?

 

Soft skills to succeed in life

I remember seeing a post on Soft Skills in a WhatsApp group. I'm a member to two or three groups only; I'm not a 'groupy' man. People who recycle cyber junk to me do get a private tick off. Maybe what's ginseng to them is junk to me. 🙂

I have been told on not a few occasions that I lack soft skills; it dawns on me that this is probably why I'm stuck where I am. I'm reminded that I don't have communication skill, no finesse; I remembered that WhatsApp message on Soft Skills. So, I took a closer look.

Among the soft skills listed in the post for one  to be successful are:

- Communication
- Leadership
- Teamwork
- Work Ethics
- Critical Thinking
- Conflict Resolution
- Professionalism

At the top is Communication; there are these subsets of skills captured in the screenshot below.

Good Listener:
I'm a poor listener; I read okay.

Public Speaking:
I'm a poor public speaker; I know because I tend to send the audience to sleep; always a painful reminder. I speak by necessity; otherwise, I prefer quietness.

Writing Ability:
I do write; most say I'm hard to understand.

Presenting Ability:
I'm a boring presenter; the audience is put to sleep.

Simplify Complex:
I'm inclined to multiply to stupefy; what an idiot.

Adjust to Audience:
Raising four children into adulthood - I missed the opportunity to learn this skill.

Stick to Point:
This I have a decent measure; I don't run amok in all directions; being lazy, I remain in one spot. I'm hopeless at multitasking, juggling many points at the same time.

Good Vocabulary:
There are still many words I need to learn so that I don't need to resort to "very" in every other sentence.

Body Language:
What's that? Don't expect much from a stiff old man.

Clarity and Concise:
I really need to work on this; I'm often 'agak-agak' and 'lawsaw.'

Sorry if I'm disappointing some of you.

Maybe gardening is bad for me; talking to plants and musing to myself is detrimental to cultivating communication skills.

Hard for an old dog to learn new tricks.

Let's look for a pedigree puppy and start all over again. Lord, help us.

"All things were accomplished... it is finished."

 

"Knowing all things were accomplished... it is finished."

John 19:28-30
28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

John 17:4
I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

What a faithful and glorious Saviour!
He wouldn't give up His ghost until ALL THINGS were accomplished; until the whole work of redemption was finished!

That's the heart of the gospel, the good news of the FINISHED work of redemption by Christ Jesus for His people.

The Father purposed that redemption for His chosen people.

The Son executed and accomplished that redemption for the same.

The Holy Spirit applies that redemption to each of the same at God's own appointed and approved time.

The recipients of such redemption are called to believe the truth of that salvation.

That's the function of the gospel ministry.

Some Common Fables related to John 3:16

"... whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
... that is, every believing one has everlasting life.
Even so, whosoever breathes has physical life.

#John3_16
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Some common fables drawn from this passage because it is not rightly understood, errors such as:

i. God so loved the world, i.e. the world as the whole of mankind, every single person without exception.

ii. God offers Christ as the Saviour to the world, to those without salvation, i.e. still dead in trespasses and sin.

iii. Those to whom God offers Christ, still dead in trespasses and sins, have the ability to accept Christ offered to them…

iv. The spiritually dead can, and must accept the offer, i.e. believe Christ, in order to obtain eternal life.

v. Those dead in trespasses and sins must hear, understand, and believe the gospel in order to have eternal life.

vi. The gospel ministry is a necessary means to bring eternal life to those dead in trespasses and sins… etc, etc.

All these errors have serious and grievous implications upon the Person and character of God, the nature of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit, and the spiritual state of man in his natural state, etc.

John 3:16 is a statement declaring certain immutable truths concerning God's love.

i. The depth, breadth, and height of His love, “For God so loved…”

ii. The object of His love: the world. What’s the world here? What is the world that He so loved? A world in enmity against Him.

iii. The evidence of His love: He gave His only begotten Son

iv. The assured blessing of that love: eternal life to His people.

v. The manifestation or evidence of that eternal life: the believing ones in the Son of God.

vi.  The assured safety of the believing ones in Christ: should not perish… because they possess eternal life.

vii. There is absolutely no offer of anything, much less any offer of the salvation of any sort, to anyone!

"Grace alone" has an exact and precise meaning; don't contaminate it with fables.

The Jailer asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

 

The Jailer asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

And they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Acts 16:30-31.

Multitudes of teachers insist that the Jailer wanted to know what he must do to be saved from the lake of fire, and that Apostle Paul told him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in order for him and his household to be saved from it.

Do you believe the same too?

=======

Sing
Supposing you do, ARE you NOT making Apostle Paul teach, and do you not also believe this NONSENSE:
- eternal salvation from hell by proxy - jailer's believing shall save NOT ONLY him BUT ALSO his household from hell;
- eternal salvation from the lake of fire is through some activities of men.

Go figure, FB friends! Tell me if the obvious conclusions are faulty! Ideas have implications, just remember that.

Just what was uppermost in the Jailer's mind when he asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" What did he want to be saved from... he and his household?

And who is his household? And how shall his household be saved through his believing?

Please give me some sensible answers. Thanks

Michael Green
He likely wanted to save his head at that moment!

Sing
Acts 16:27 "And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled."

What explains his action?

Roman law demands that if a prisoner escapes, the jailer responsible for guarding that life shall forfeit his life for the life that escapes!

Yes, no one escaped... but "he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had fled."

He was overwhelmed by the fact that none of the prisoners had escaped YET... they still could... the doors were all still open. Should anyone decide to escape, the jailer would lose his head! "What must I do to be saved" so that you would all remain and escape not... ....

Jailer's household - his wife and children? Or his fellow prison officers under his jurisdiction?

Lydia's household - her husband and children? Or her servants under her jurisdiction?

Chase Harrison
Just to share my thoughts:

"And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled." - Acts 16:27

I have always viewed this whole situation as the Jailer was certainly not inquiring about eternal salvation. That's not what was on his mind at that very moment! What was on his mind? The above verse gives us strong indication of the context.

It was a serious offense for a Roman soldier or guard to fall asleep at their post and not keep watch over their prisoners, especially if any prisoners escaped. The penalty of that was death. So, it appears, that out of fear of the penalty of death under Roman law (because he assumed the prisoners would flee and supposed that they did flee), the Jailer goes to enact the penalty of death upon himself.

But Paul cries out with a loud voice and tells the Jailer to do no harm unto himself because "we are all here", meaning they hadn't actually fled as the Jailer supposed. So, when the Jailer then asks his question about what must he do to be saved?, to me, he is obviously still worried about the penalty of death that the Roman government would execute upon him for falling asleep at his nightly watch. He figures that once the "magistrates" find out what has happened that they will surely have him justly put to death by Roman law.

So while the Jailer's question is most likely with the context of being saved from the penalty of death, what Paul tells him is not only going to save him from that penalty of death but in a much more abundant way. Through this whole experience, the Jailer and his house are about to be saved to the gospel truth of Jesus Christ and blessed to come into the church of the Lord Jesus Christ in water baptism. What a blessing!

I liken the salvation here contextually to Acts 2:37-41, where many were pricked in the heart after they heard the gospel preached and wanted to know what should they do?? And after Peter answered what they should do, he followed up with an interesting statement, "Save yourselves from this untoward generation". Right after that statement we read "then they that gladly received his word were baptized". Here we have a salvation tied to hearing the gospel, believing the gospel, then being obedient to the gospel and being added to the Lord's church by water baptism. This is obviously purely discipleship and not sonship. These people were saved from an untoward generation to the gospel church and truth of Jesus Christ, and not saved from hell to Heaven.

I think the same thing applies to the situation with the Jailer. He was not only saved from a physical death, but he and his house were blessed to receive the truth of Jesus Christ and come into the gospel church that day!

"And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." - Acts 16:33,34

- (all this referring to the Jailer and his house)

Chase Harrison
Furthermore, if the Jailer was worried or concerned about his eternal destination and being saved eternally..... then why would he kill himself?? That seems absurd to me!

If I was worried about my eternal destiny (and by the grace of God I'm not), but IF I was, then I would not kill myself while in that state! I would do everything I could (at least in my mind) to be sure of my eternal destiny before I died.

Obviously, the Jailer was greatly and immediately concerned with the imminent penalty of death that he knew would be enacted upon him for allowing prisoners to escape on his watch.

Mark Thomas
Brother Keith, the prisoners were no longer contained and still could have overpowered one man and left the prison. Thus the fact that they were all still there was not sufficient to set aside all of his fear.

Sing
Was Apostle Paul conscious that if any of the prisoners escaped, the Jailor and his officers will pay with their lives???

Charles Page
hell, no, hades yes! Paul was leading the jailer and his household from the torture of hades and over the chasm into paradise. They certaintly were not led from the lake of eternal destruction they were regenerate!!!