Mercredi, 11 Fevrier, 2015
Verse of the Day: « L’amour
est patient, il est plein de bonté; l’amour n’est pas envieux; l’amour ne se
vante pas, il ne s’enfle pas d’orgueil, il ne fait rien de malhonnête, il ne
cherche pas son intérêt, il ne s’irrite pas, il ne soupçonne pas le mal. »—1
Corinthiens 13.4-5
Quote of the Day: “Every man in his night goes towards his light.”—Victor Hugo
« Chaque home
dans sa nuit s’en va vers sa lumière. »—Victor Hugo
Information About
France: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/fr.html
What’s Really
Happening Over Here:
Weather – Clear,
Precip. 0%
Temperature – 47⁰F
News – A
baby is born…pregnant.
More News – http://www.20minutes.fr/
A Day In the Life:
Well, the adventures continued yesterday. I spent most of
the early part of the day studying and catching up on schoolwork. That part of
my day was boring. In fact, I should have said, “the adventures continued last
night”, because that’s the part of my day that will make you laugh at me.
I mentioned in yesterday’s blog that I am living with a new host family now. There is a team here that has agreed to let me train with them, and so I went to do so last night for the first time. The level was good and the guys were great, one of them actually knew where Akron was!
« Tu viens
de quelle ville aux États-Unis? »
« Akron. »
« Akron? Comme
LeBron James ? »
« Haha ouais
c’est ça ! »
The stadium was about a 10 minute bike ride from my host
home, and Jean had driven me there earlier in the day so I would know how to
get there. The way there was fine, even though I guessed wrong at one point and
took a wrong turn, I eventually figured it out without any problems. But, as I’m
sure many others have experienced, everything can look a lot different at
night.
When I left the training session I was pretty confident that
I’d get back without any problems. I started off well, went up a road I
recognized, and then veered left where I thought I should. But as I kept going,
I saw a cemetery on my left side with a huge wall, that I didn’t remember
passing before. I kept going, and came up to a small round-a-bout that I
definitely didn’t recognize, so I turned around. No biggie, I had made a bad
guess on the way there and that had turned out fine. I went back to where I had
veered, and tried another road. This time there was a bridge I didn’t remember.
I went back to my starting point and tried the third road. Another bridge. I
started to head back, but on the way there I noticed something on the road that
I remembered from earlier in the day – that was something. I turned right and I
thought I was getting somewhere, when 5 minutes later I ended up back at the
first bridge. I took another guess. Cemetery. Guessed again, the second bridge.
No exaggeration, this same exact thing happened for the next two hours. Mind
you, it was very cold outside (my cleat bag was covered in frost when I picked
it up at the end of training, and I actually cut my knee up on the frozen grass
at one point during training.) At first my hands were frozen, but by the end of
the first hour they started to come back. My left foot did not.
Eventually, after trying every combination I could think of
at least twice, I accepted the fact that I wasn’t going anywhere. I needed to
get to the city. I figured that maybe I could use a phone at a store to call
the police, maybe they could give me their address or something (I was REALLY
grasping at straws at this point.) You might be wondering, “Why didn’t you just
get the directions on your phone?” I don’t have data over here, and I had no
wifi either. “Well, why didn’t you ask for directions?” I didn’t know their
address; I didn’t even know the name of the street they lived on. All I knew
was what their driveway looked like, and the fact that the only directions that
Jean gave me for the way there were: “Reste sur la rue principal [stay on the
main road]” It had worked fine on the way there, but not so much on the way
back. I literally had no way of finding the house. I looked at the time and it
was 9:47 – like 95% of the stores besides McDonald’s close at 10. I had 13
minutes to find the city and make the call before I would be homeless for the
night. I picked up the pace a bit, and about 5 minutes later I saw a guy about
to pull into his driveway. I flagged him down, and asked him how to get there.
He was really chill, and parked his car right away and came back onto the sidewalk,
making sure I stayed there so that his gigantic dog wouldn’t eat me (it was so
big, and once the fence closed, it was clear that those were his intentions by
the way he was sticking his head through the gate and barking). Just as the guy
started to answer my question, these two guys pulled up and asked where the
nearest McDonald’s was! He told them and they headed off, and I was like “actually,
I think I’m just gonna go to McDonald’s, thanks”.
Thank God for the golden arches. I got there at about 10:05
(it was pretty close by), locked up the bike, and limped in – not out of pain, but
because I had no feeling whatsoever in my left foot. Thankfully everything else
was warm. But, whatdoya know – the wifi didn’t work on my phone. The wifi. At McDonald’s. DIDN'T work. You better believe I prayed! I bought a ‘P’tit Wrap’, and asked
the cashier what was up with the wifi. She didn’t really give me any help, but
eventually I had the thought to try my ipod (which I almost decided to leave at
home before I left). It worked just fine on my ipod. There was hope! Also,
earlier that day I had become Facebook friends with Jean to get some of the
pictures from yesterday, so I realized I actually did have a way of contacting him and
getting the address. The only thing was, this McDonald’s closed at 10:30, and
now I had to pray that Jean would see my message and respond in the next 20
minutes, or I would still be screwed. All I had of anyone I knew so far were
e-mail addresses, because my phone still doesn’t work here yet, and I knew from
experience that none of them check their e-mail very often at night. Also, the
church directory on the church website required a password to access (which
totally makes sense, I just didn’t have the password).
I messaged him, and thankfully he answered 2 minutes later with the address and directions. I got back to the house easily within about 10 minutes. And, of course, I saw that I had actually passed the street the house is on twice while I was lost, I just didn’t think to turn. I got back in, dragged myself up the stairs, took a hot shower and watched my left foot go from completely purple back to its normal color, thinking "there's no way that just happened."
It amazes me that in spite of my dunceness, He still
answered my prayer and provided a way for me to get back safely. The chances of
me deciding to look at the time when I did, to try to find the city when I did,
of that guy pulling in when he did, and those other guys just happening to be
looking for McDonald’s when they did, and me taking my ipod, and Jean and I
becoming Facebook friends that morning, and him being on the computer at that
exact time – you get where I’m going. And believe it or not, I’m so grateful for
the experience and the exercise in my faith. And that I found the house. I’m
pretty happy about that too.
Law and Grace
The most obvious and striking
division of the Word of truth is that between law and grace. Indeed, these
contrasting principles characterize the two most important dispensations: the
Jewish and Christian. "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth
came by Jesus
 |
| C.I. Scofield |
It is not, of course, meant that
there was no law before Moses, any more than that there was no grace and truth
before Jesus Christ. The forbidding to Adam of the fruit of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:17) was law, and surely grace was most
sweetly manifested in the Lord God seeking His sinning creatures and in His
clothing them with coats of skins (Gen. 3:21)-a beautiful type of Christ who
"is made unto us . . . righteousness" (1 Cor. 1:30). Law, in the
sense of some revelation of God's will, and grace, in the sense of some revelation
of God's goodness, have always existed, and to this Scripture abundantly
testifies. But "the law" most frequently mentioned in Scripture was
given by Moses, and from Sinai to Calvary, dominates, characterizes, the time;
just as grace dominates or gives its peculiar character to the dispensation
which begins at Calvary and has its predicted termination in the rapture of the
church.
It is, however, of the most vital
moment to observe that Scripture never, in any dispensation, mingles these two
principles. Law always has a place and work distinct and wholly diverse from
that of grace. Law is God prohibiting and requiring; grace is God beseeching
and bestowing. Law is a ministry of condemnation; grace, of forgiveness. Law
curses; grace redeems from that curse. Law kills; grace makes alive. Law shuts
every mouth before God; grace opens every mouth to praise Him. Law puts a great
and guilty distance between man and God; grace makes guilty man nigh to God.
Law says, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth"; grace says,
"Resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn
to him the other also." Law says, "Hate thine enemy"; grace
says, "Love your enemies, bless them that despitefully use you." Law
says, do and live; grace says, believe and live. Law never had a missionary;
grace is to be preached to every creature. Law utterly condemns the best man;
grace freely justifies the worst (Luke 23:43; Rom. 5:8; 1 Tim 1:15; 1 Cor.
6:9-11). Law is a system of probation; grace, of favor. Law stones an
adulteress; grace says, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no
more." Under law the sheep dies for the shepherd: under grace the Shepherd
dies for the sheep.
Everywhere the Scriptures present
law and grace in sharply contrasted spheres. The mingling of them in much of
the current teaching of the day spoils both, for law is robbed of its terror,
and grace of its freeness.
Three errors have troubled the
church concerning the right relation of law to grace:
1. Antinomianism- the denial of all rule over the lives of believers;
the affirmation that men are not required to live holy lives because they are
saved by God's free grace, "They profess that they know God; but in works
they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work
reprobate" (Titus 1: 16).
"For there are certain men
crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation;
ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the
only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ" (Jude verse 4).
2. Ceremonialism- the demand that believers should observe the
levitical ordinances. The modern form of this error is the teaching that
Christian ordinances are essential to salvation.
"And certain men which came
down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after
the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved" (Acts 15:1).
3. Galatianism- the mingling of law and grace; the teaching that
justification is partly by grace, partly by law, or, that grace is given to
enable an otherwise helpless sinner to keep the law. Against this error, the
most wide-spread of all, the solemn warnings, the. unanswerable logic, the
emphatic declarations of the Epistle to the Galatians are God's conclusive
answer.
"This only would I learn of
you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of
faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect
by the flesh?" (Gal. 3:2- 3).
"I marvel that ye are so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
which is not another [there could not be another gospel]; but there be some
that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an
angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:6-8).
The above indented information is a direct quote from the
sermon, which can be found in its entirety here.
What Made It Great?
Scofield goes on to clearly define what the law is according
to Scripture, and what grace is according to Scripture. For me, what made this
speech great, was that he successfully upheld the burden of proof. Towards the
beginning of his sermon, he brings up a daring point that “It is, however, of
the most vital moment to observe that Scripture never, in any dispensation,
mingles these two principles.” This is daring, for if it is true, it will
change the perspective of many in the audience almost immediately. If it is
false, it could lead them astray. However, he clearly defined his points, and
his arguments are riddled with Scripture, so that it is revealed to be no
longer an argument at all, but the Truth itself. This was an appeal to the
logic of the spirit, and should the listener allow it to convict them, they
would be changed. This should be the end goal of all public speaking.
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